Packer Central

Here’s What Paves Path to NFL Playoffs for Packers

With the Green Bay Packers off to a 2-2 start, can they survive an early onslaught of injuries to reach the NFL playoffs?

Bill Huber

Here’s What Paves Path to NFL Playoffs for Packers
Here’s What Paves Path to NFL Playoffs for Packers /
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – With the Packers’ 13 NFL championships, Green Bay has earned the nickname “Titletown.” With championship aspirations fueled by Hall of Fame-level play from their quarterbacks, the Packers’ Super Bowl wins in 1996 and 2010 are equal parts achievement and failure.

The championship-or-bust mentality was embodied by former coach Mike McCarthy. With the kickoff to the 2016 season approaching, he didn’t care in the least that the Minnesota Vikings were the reigning NFC North champions.

“Frankly, I don't want to be flippant about it,” McCarthy said. “Division titles are important, but I don't lose any sleep over it because we have a bigger goal. We don't hang division title banners around here.”

He added: “It’s about winning the world championship. It’s part of our everyday fiber here in Green Bay.”

For the 2023 Packers, a lowered bar is appropriate. Jordan Love is a first-year starting quarterback throwing the football to a bunch of first- and second-year players. Getting to the playoffs and getting a taste of the postseason urgency and atmosphere is a worthy goal.

Can they do it after splitting the first four games – all of which were winnable?

Yes, because most of the next 13 games are winnable, too.

Using the analytical stat Expected Points, Pro Football Focus computed strength of schedule based on offensive and defensive strength of opponents through four games. By plotting those on a graph, the Packers are one of just a handful of teams that will face teams that are squarely in the bottom-left quadrant of below-average offenses and defenses.

Green Bay will play at the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night before a Week 6 bye and a Week 7 trip to Denver to face the Broncos. They are two of the worst teams in the NFL. Las Vegas is 1-3 with its only victory coming over Denver. Denver is 1-3 with its only victory coming over Chicago.

The Packers will return home to face the Minnesota Vikings (1-3), whose only victory came over the winless Panthers, and Los Angeles Rams (2-2), who are in rebuilding mode but still have some premier talent.

That’s followed by a trip to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers (2-2) and a home game against the Los Angeles Chargers (2-2).

From there, it’s a Thanksgiving game at the Detroit Lions (3-1), home against the Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs (3-1), at the struggling New York Giants (1-3), home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1) and a Christmas Eve date at the Carolina Panthers (0-4).

The regular season will conclude with back-to-back division games: at the Vikings (1-3) and home against the Bears (0-4).

The games against the Lions, Chiefs and Buccaneers are the only matchups with teams with winning records through four games. Meanwhile, the Vikings (twice), Raiders, Broncos and Giants are 1-3 and the Panthers and Bears are 0-4.

Of course, all those teams are looking at the Packers as a winnable game, as well. At FanDuel Sportsbook, the odds favor the Packers falling short of the playoffs. Love has cooled after a fast start, the offensive line is banged up and the run defense is typically porous.

“Having a Monday night game gives you a really good opportunity to go back and look at everything, from just asking your players what to do, to the situations we’re in, so there’s a lot of good information that we’re gathering,” coach Matt LaFleur said this week. “Hopefully, we can use that to offset certain tendencies and improve upon some certain things which we know we have to do in order to win football games.”

They are 1.5-point favorites over the Raiders.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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