Packer Central

Updating Packers’ Spot in NFC North, Playoff Chase, Draft Race

With five games remaining, the Green Bay Packers are closer to a top-five draft pick than they are a spot in the NFL playoffs.

Bill Huber

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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers entered Sunday night’s game hoping to build “snowball effect” momentum to make an unlikely run to the playoffs.

With their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, their playoff chances are about as remote as a snowball’s chance in hell.

The Packers lost to the Eagles 40-33. Rodgers threw two interceptions before suffering injured ribs; the defense was overpowered and overwhelmed by Philadelphia’s powerful running game.

With the NFC portion of the NFL’s Week 12 schedule complete, the Packers are 4-8. Clinging to hope like it’s a branch on a rotting tree, Rodgers hopes the Packers can sweep their final five games to post a 9-8 record. That was good enough for the Eagles to get in last year.

“Obviously, when you lose games, you’re putting yourself farther out there,” Rodgers said. “We have a five-game stretch. We’ve got to win all five and probably need a little bit of help.”

The Packers ran away with NFC North titles in each of coach Matt LaFleur’s first three seasons. Not this year. The Vikings are 9-2. They’d have to lose their final six games while the Packers would have to win their final five games just to tie. That’s about as unlikely as winning the Powerball and Mega Millions in the same week.

With a 7-5 record, the Washington Commanders hold the final spot in the NFC playoff race. They’ve won six of their last seven games. That includes a victory over the Packers in Week 7 that gives them the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Meanwhile, according to Tankathon, the Packers would pick ninth if the NFL Draft were to be held today. They held the 13th spot before kickoff against Philadelphia.

Just like Green Bay can’t afford to lose to stay in the playoff chase, it can’t afford to win to stay in the race for a premium draft pick. With Pittsburgh (3-7) facing Indianapolis (4-6-1) on Monday night, there are eight teams that are 4-7 or 4-8. Thus, Carolina is 4-8 and owns the No. 6 pick and Detroit is 4-7 and owns the No. 13 selection.

Here are the NFC wild card standings.

No. 5: Dallas (8-3)

No. 6: N.Y. Giants (7-4)

No. 7: Washington (7-5)

No. 8: Seattle (6-5)

No. 9: Atlanta (5-7)

No. 10: Detroit (4-7)

No. 11: Green Bay (4-8)

No. 12: Arizona (4-8)

No. 13: Carolina (4-8)

No. 14: New Orleans (4-8)

No. 15: L.A. Rams (3-8)

No. 16: Chicago (3-9)

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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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