Three Reasons Why Packers Will Lose to Vikings But Make Playoff Run

The Green Bay Packers have lost three consecutive games and will take no momentum into the playoffs. Nonetheless, here are three reasons why they are capable of making a playoff run.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love might kick off the postseason at the Chicago Bears. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are like a racecar entering the final laps with a leaking gas tank and a flat tire.

That makes this week the equivalent of a pitstop.

The Packers have lost three consecutive games heading into Sunday’s contest at the Minnesota Vikings. The Packers are resting most or all of their key players, treating this as the equivalent of a preseason game to make sure they’re as healthy as possible for next week’s playoffs.

So, even though the Packers are about to become the fourth team in NFL history to enter the playoffs on a four-game losing streak, here are three reasons to believe they are capable of making a shock-the-world playoff run.

1. Give Jordan Love the Malik Willis Game Plan

For most of the season, the Packers have played with a relatively conservative approach on offense. With an eye toward playing complementary football, coach Matt LaFleur was comfortable in riding his powerhouse defense and letting Jordan Love and Josh Jacobs do just enough to push the Packers over the finish line.

That was not an option against the Ravens last week, and LaFleur seemed to know it. He came out of the gates letting Malik Willis sling it all over the field. The Packers lost but Willis’ performance showed how explosive the passing attack can be with its multitude of weapons on offense.

So, now that Love will be ready to roll for the playoffs, why not let him do the same thing?

The defense isn’t good enough. The run defense was demolished by the Ravens. Perhaps Jeff Hafley could work around the shortcomings at defensive tackle if he could stack the box and rely on a potent pass rush or shutdown corners. He doesn’t have those things, either.

So, it’s time to let Love do his thing. Love is getting paid $55 million per season for a reason. Turn. Him. Loose. Trust Love to make the right reads and trust that his receivers will do what they did against the Ravens and get open.

If Love can lead the Packers to a win next week at Chicago or Philadelphia, maybe the Packers could be ready for a 2010-style run, when an injury-plagued team led by Aaron Rodgers won at the Eagles in the wildcard round to set the stage for a Super Bowl triumph.

“Definitely. I know playoffs is all about taking one game at a time,” Love said this week. “You win a playoff game, you’ll get a lot of momentum going forward and then you can build that and take it for a run. It’s win or go home so you’ve got to find it quick and no one’s going to feel sorry for you or anything. So, we’ll be good.”

2. Baltimore Game Was Blip on Radar

The Packers were due for a letdown. They had just come off a gauntlet of four division games with a showdown at Denver mixed in. That’s five big-time games in a row. With an NFC playoff berth locked up, the Ravens – and human nature – kicked the Packers’ collective butt.

So, was Green Bay’s defense as horrendous as it looked against the Ravens? Perhaps not. There had been some small blips on the radar but there’s a reason why the Packers entered the game ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in run defense. The Ravens pushed them around, to be sure, but one bad game shouldn’t erase 15 good games.

Yes, the Packers suffered devastating blows with the torn ACLs suffered by Tucker Kraft against Carolina and Micah Parsons at Denver. They were briefly sent reeling by Kraft’s injury, losing to Carolina and Philadelphia before running off four consecutive wins. They’ve definitely been staggered by Parsons’ injury, blowing a lead against Denver and then losing to Chicago and Baltimore.

However, the Chicago game is the one to remember. The Packers mostly dominated for 58 minutes. Terrible play in the red zone helped the Bears hang around before gaffes on defense and special teams cost them the game.

Still, the body of work against the Bears, who had won 11 of 13 games before falling just a few yards short against the powerhouse 49ers last week, shows that Green Bay has the horsepower to beat any team in the NFL.

Now, with fresh legs and healthier bodies (hello, Josh Jacobs) after their unofficial bye, they should be ready to compete in the playoffs. Whether it can make the plays necessary to win a playoff game against a high-quality opponent remains to be seen, but they should be nobody’s underdog.

3. Big-Play Trevon Diggs

Last season, the Packers finished third in the NFL with 17 interceptions. Entering Week 18, they are tied for 27th with seven.

It’s no surprise that the Packers aren’t good enough at cornerback, especially without Micah Parsons’ constant pressure making their lives easier.

Enter Trevon Diggs, who could be the salvation.

Yes, it’s a Hail Mary. Diggs didn’t even break up a pass in eight games (six starts) this season in Dallas. However, there is a track record. He had 11 interceptions in 2021 and 20 in his first six seasons.

“What I remember is just elite ball skills, the ability to read and anticipate, see the quarterback, anticipate routes, jump routes,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. 

“The one thing I can tell you when I saw him today, he’s a lot bigger and taller than I thought. I mean, he is a tall, good-looking corner, so that’s really all I got for you there. It will be our job quickly to figure that out, what he can do, what coverages he’s good in, pick his brain a little bit, get a feel for it and maximize his ability within our scheme as fast as we can.”

In the playoffs, all it takes sometimes is one play. Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold is third in the NFL and first in the NFC with 15 interceptions. Matthew Stafford has thrown only eight but tossed three in an upset loss to Atlanta last week. San Francisco’s Brock Purdy has played in eight games, with two games of two interceptions and one of three. Chicago’s Caleb Williams has the NFL’s lowest interception percentage but completed only 55 percent of his passes in two games against Green Bay.

“I know he’s been kind of in and out of the lineup a little bit, but a guy that has incredible talent,” LaFleur said of Diggs. “He’s got a great ability to take the ball away and do something with it.”

So, maybe Green Bay’s offense found something against Baltimore. Maybe the opposing quarterbacks will throw one or two to Green Bay’s defensive backs. Maybe Diggs will catch one of them and take it to the house, like Tramon Williams at Atlanta in 2010.

“He can help us tremendously,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “He can get the ball and I think that’s one thing that we missing, obviously, is getting the ball at a high rate. And I think he can be the guy that come in and really help us with that. In that way, I think it’s going to be a big help for us.”

If Diggs can make a play or two, the Packers could be playing into February.

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER