Packer Central

Packers Fall Two Spots in SI’s NFL Beat Writer Power Rankings

The Green Bay Packers are in the Top 10 and the Seattle Seahawks are just outside entering their Sunday night game.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) gets tackled by Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell (46).
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) gets tackled by Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell (46). / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers fell to No. 8 in this week’s On SI NFL Power Rankings.

They were No. 6 last week but lost to the Detroit Lions on Thursday night.

The Lions are No. 1 and the Minnesota Vikings are No. 5, meaning the NFC North controls three spots in the top quartile of the rankings, which are voted on by the On SI NFL team publishers.

On Sunday night, the Packers will play at the Seattle Seahawks, who are 11th.

The NFC North is the only division to have three teams with at least nine wins.

Even with the Bears’ slump, they are plus-2 in touchdowns. That means all four NFC North teams are above water in net touchdowns – the Lions are plus-27, the Vikings are plus-12 and the Packers are plus-8.

With their 9-4 record, the Packers would lead the AFC South, NFC South and NFC West. They’d be in at least second place in the other seven divisions.

Instead, they’re in third place and fighting to stay out of the No. 7 seed, which could mean a playoff death march. If that season were to end today, the No. 7 seed would face the No. 2 Philadelphia Eagles. If the No. 7 seed scores a wild-card upset, they’d travel to the No. 1 Lions for the divisional round.

With four games to go, the Packers are in charge of the No. 6 seed in the NFC. That could mean a return trip to NFC North-leading Seattle for the wild-card round.

The Packers’ playoff probability is over 95 percent, including 97 percent at NFL.com.

Here’s how I filled out my ballot.

1. Detroit Lions, 2. Philadelphia Eagles, 3. Minnesota Vikings, 4. Kansas City Chiefs, 5. Buffalo Bills, 6. Pittsburgh Steelers, 7. Baltimore Ravens, 8. Washington Commanders

9. Green Bay Packers, 10. Los Angeles Chargers, 11. Houston Texans, 12. Denver Broncos, 13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 14. Seattle Seahawks, 15. Los Angeles Rams, 16. San Francisco 49ers

17. Miami Dolphins, 18. Indianapolis Colts, 19. Cincinnati Bengals, 20. Arizona Cardinals, 21. Atlanta Falcons, 22. New Orleans Saints, 23. Jacksonville Jaguars, 24. Dallas Cowboys

25. Cleveland Browns, 26. Chicago Bears, 27. New York Jets, 28. Carolina Panthers, 29. Tennessee Titans, 30. New England Patriots, 31. Las Vegas Raiders, 32. New York Giants.

The Packers have won 10 consecutive games against NFC West teams, including 3-0 this year.

Seattle has won four consecutive games. This marks Green Bay’s third consecutive game against a team with a winning streak of at least three games, a first since 1975.

To win again, the Packers will have to handle Seattle’s surging defense. The Seahawks are allowing 15.5 points per game during their winning streak.

“Definitely, this is his offense,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said on Wednesday when asked if Green Bay’s offense was similar to those of the NFC West rival 49ers and Rams.

“You feel that this is his vision for his players, and you have to have a starting point somewhere. You can't just have no one invent stuff. Everyone learns from people and kind of comes up through the ranks. That's what Matt does, but you can definitely tell this is his vision for their offense.”

Here are the full rankings.

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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.