Vikings' magic number is 3 as Packers free fall into the abyss
The Green Bay Packers have a 5% chance to make the playoffs, according to the newest odds from FiveThirtyEight following the Titans' win at Lambeau Field Thursday night.
Since Aaron Rodgers took over for Brett Favre in 2008, this is the earliest the Packers have had their playoff hopes on life support. Green Bay went 6-10 in Rodgers' rookie season and then made the playoffs every year from 2009 to 2016. They were en route to the playoffs in 2017 until Rodgers was hit hard by Anthony Barr and broke his collarbone.
They missed the playoffs again in 2018 and fired Mike McCarthy, replacing him with Matt LaFleur, who guided the Packers to three straight 13-win seasons (2019, 2020 and 2021). The expectations for 2022 were the same, but the Packers have been miserable from the start and now sit at 4-7, the Vikings almost out of view at 8-1.
If the Vikings beat the Cowboys on Sunday to improve to 9-1, the Packers will be six games back in the loss column with six games to go. They would need to win out and hope the Vikings win no more than two games rest of the way to tie for the division lead.
For the Vikings, their magic number is down to three. Any combination of Vikings wins and Packers/Bears/Lions losses equaling three will eliminate all of them from the NFC North.
The Packers' remaining schedule:
- at Philadelphia Eagles
- at Chicago Bears
- vs Los Angeles Rams
- at Miami Dolphins
- vs Minnesota Vikings
- vs Detroit Lions
A win for the Vikings over the Cowboys and the magic number is two, meaning the Vikings could eliminate the Packers from the North as soon as next week when they host the Patriots Thanksgiving night and the Packers play at Soldier Field against the Bears.
For a shot at the No. 7 seed, the Packers have to catch the 49ers (5-4), Commanders (5-5), Falcons (4-6) and Cardinals (4-6). That doesn't seem as impossible, but their 5% playoff odds suggest otherwise.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.