World’s Best Preview: 2019 Key Moments – Clutch When It’s Close

The Green Bay Packers are 12-3. Here's how they got to the doorstep of a first-round bye.

DETROIT – As the 2019 regular season and the 2019 calendar year come to a close, let’s take a look back at how the Green Bay Packers went from 6-9-1 last season to 12-3 and rolling into the playoffs this season.

Honorable mention

No. 10: Understated transactions

It took a while, but the Packers finally got a living, breathing returner when general manager Brian Gutekunst claimed Tyler Ervin off waivers from Jacksonville on Dec. 3. Through the first three months of the season, Green Bay’s longest punt return was for 3 yards and resulted in a fumble, and the team had a total of minus-8 yards. Ervin’s first five punt returns went for 10-plus yards and he’s averaged 9.9 yards on nine runbacks. Only one qualifying punt returner (the Jets’ Braxton Berrios) has a better average. He also returned a kickoff 45 yards.

While Ervin has made a dramatic splash, the return of Ibraheim Campbell has been just as important. Campbell joined the team at midseason last year but suffered a torn ACL in early December. Gutekunst re-signed him on Aug. 8, even though he wasn’t ready to play. On Nov. 5, he was activated from the physically unable to perform list and immediately filled the void at dime linebacker created by Raven Greene’s Week 2 ankle injury. His 12 tackles in six games don’t pain an accurate picture. First, it allowed Adrian Amos to move back to safety. Second, his heady, steady play is a reason why the defense has been so strong during a four-game winning streak.

“He gives us that guy that we can plug in at a lot of different places and it allows us to be as multiple as we are” defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said. “He’s playing well. He’s not a guy that’s going to fill the stat sheet, but as I always say in here, he’ll fill his grade sheet with a lot of pluses. He knows his job and he does his job.”

On March 18, four days after Green Bay announced the signings of its huge free-agent haul, it re-signed Marcedes Lewis. Lewis languished on the bench last season but his physicality has been a great fit in Matt LaFleur's offense. After playing 18 percent of the snaps last season, he's at 46 percent this season.

No. 9: No Mahomes but plenty of Jones

The Packers have received plenty of good fortune on the weekly injury reports, none more obvious than on Oct. 27, when they faced the Chiefs the week after reigning MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered a knee injury. Matt Moore played well but the Packers won 31-24, due in large part to Aaron Jones’ exceptional game. Jones caught seven passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns, including a 67-yard score. It was the most receiving yards by a running back since 2014. In his first two seasons, Jones caught 35 passes for 228 yards and one touchdown. Headed into Sunday’s finale, Jones is second on the team with 47 receptions for 431 yards and three touchdowns.

No. 8: The draft

Safety Darnell Savage, the second of the team’s first-round picks, and guard Elgton Jenkins, the second-round pick, have been superb additions. Savage’s range in center field is something the Packers have lacked for years. With a little more seasoning, he’ll routinely beat this year’s total of two interceptions and five passes defensed. Jenkins has been excellent in replacing veteran Lane Taylor for the past 13 games. He hasn’t allowed a sack in 513 pass-protecting snaps. He’s one of only six guards in the entire league to not allow a sack (minimum 400 pass-protecting snaps), according to Pro Football Focus.

“We don’t talk about that,” Jenkins, his game honed on the practice field at Mississippi State and on Saturdays in the mighty SEC, said with a smile.

No. 7: Close calls

Starting with a season-opening win at Chicago, the Packers are 7-1 in games decided by one score. Only Seattle (10) and Houston (eight) have more one-score wins than Green Bay. The Packers haven’t always been great but they’ve generally been clutch: Adrian Amos’ end-zone interception against the Bears in Week 1, Kevin King’s end-zone interception and a clinching drive against Minnesota in Week 2, a fourth-quarter comeback capped by Mason Crosby’s Lambeau Leap field goal against Detroit in Week 6, draining the final 5:04 against Kansas City in Week 8 and a goal-line stand against Christian McCaffrey and Carolina in Week 10. The other one-score wins were in back-to-back games against Washington and Chicago, with the Packers surviving a series of laterals to hold off the Bears.

“It’s a good lesson,” Pettine said. “And I’m glad we learned it without it being an expensive price tag on it.”

The only one-score loss was to Philadelphia, when Davante Adams suffered a toe injury and the Packers were unable to punch it in twice in the final minutes.