The Green Bay Packers made the playoffs in four of head coach Matt LaFleur’s first five seasons. They’re now in week 16 of his sixth season as head coach in Green Bay, and they’re so close to landing LaFleur’s fifth trip to the playoffs and second in a row with Jordan Love as the starting quarterback.
This may not seem like a big deal at first glance with a team like the Kansas City Chiefs who have won multiple Super Bowls over the past few seasons and are currently looking for a three-peat, but take a moment to understand the context of these probable playoffs organized by the Packers.
The Packers are a legendary franchise established in 1919. They won three consecutive NFL championships from 1929 to 1931 and won the first-ever Super Bowl in January 1967 with Vince Lombardi as head coach. They also won Super Bowl II in January 1968, which was Lombardi’s last season coaching the team. Speaking of legendary, there is no NFL coach more legendary than Lombardi. The damn Super Bowl trophy is named after him, after all.
The Packers have been so good for so long that most current NFL fans don’t realize there were some truly dark periods in their history. They only made the playoffs twice between 1968 and 1992, Brett Favre’s first season. Favre flipped the script for the once-legendary Packers. The Favre era led to a victory in Super Bowl XXXI and an appearance in Super Bowl XXXII, and overall the Packers made the playoffs in 11 of his 16 seasons in Green Bay.
Favre gave way to Aaron Rodgers, so the Packers went from Hall of Famer to future Hall of Famer at quarterback. Rodgers led the Packers to the playoffs in his second year as a starter, and the Packers won Super Bowl XLV in his third season as starting quarterback. The Packers have made the playoffs in all but four of Rodgers’ seasons as starting quarterback in Green Bay, and now his successor, Love, is “this close” to being two-for-two as as starting quarterback participating in the playoffs.
It’s truly amazing when you break it down that way. The Packers have made the playoffs 23 times in the 32 full seasons since Favre and they are on pace to make it 24 times in 33, which is a 73 percent success rate. The key word in this statement is “on the verge of success,” because this thing is not won yet.
Here’s how the Packers can point their ticket during week 16.
The Packers win the playoffs if they beat the Saints
There is an easy way for the Packers to clinch their spot and that is to beat the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football. On the surface, this seems like a safe bet for the Packers. They are 10-4 and are coming off a convincing 30-13 road win over a playoff hopeful Seattle Seahawks team.
The Saints, on the other hand, are 5-9 and they have an interim head coach leading the way in Darren Rizzi. No offense to Rizzi, but it’s usually not a good sign for your team when an interim coach is in place, but that’s the reality for the Saints after Dennis Allen was fired after Week 9 due to ‘a 2-7 record featuring all seven players. these losses in a row.
Not only are the Saints not in a good position right now, but their starting quarterback, Derek Carr, will likely be out for the remainder of this season with a hand injury. Add in the fact that star running back Alvin Kamara is questionable due to a groin injury, and it just doesn’t seem like the Saints will have the fortitude to hang on to what has become a runaway offense of great power.
Even if Love and the passing game don’t get going, the Packers can count on Josh Jacobs to crush and submit the Saints. They are allowing 134.4 yards per game on the ground this season, meaning they have the sixth worst rushing defense in the NFL.
If the Packers beat the Saints, they will get their tickets to the big dance.
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Packers can clinch playoff spot even in loss
LaFleur won’t want his team to go that route, but there would still be a way for the Packers to clinch a playoff spot even if they missed the game against the Saints. In fact, there are two scenarios in which this would happen, although of course nothing would be under their control.
This isn’t the game you want to play for a Super Bowl hopeful, but here’s how it would work.
The Packers can lose and lose, but the Atlanta Falcons should lose to the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Rams should lose to the New York Jets. If this exact formula doesn’t happen, the Packers could also lose and clinch with a Falcons loss combined with a Seahawks loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
A loss to the Saints would indicate a deeper problem within the Packers that would set off all kinds of alarm bells in Green Bay, so LaFleur and his team are going to do everything they can to avoid those contingency plans.
