After the Bears win tonight, the Green Bay Packers officially have control of the road to the playoffs. With wins over the Rams and Saints and earlier this season and the Falcons being the leaders in the South with games against the Buccaneers and Vikings left this season. Regardless of the outcome Sunday night vs KC, the Packers CONTROL the road to the playoffs.
The Seahawks play the Cowboys, Eagles, and 9ers, making them unlikely to be better than 9-8 and are banged up.
The Packers and Vikings game will be incredibly important but they look awful, Bears look pitiful. Panthers are terrible. Giants are feisty but not good. Buccs are decent but that’s in Lambeau, odds are Packers win. Packers not only control their own destiny, but the path to the playoffs for everyone below them because of their H2H wins over LA and the Saints who are below them with games vs the Buccs and Vikings on deck.
Unless the Saints win out, or the Seahawks shock a few teams, Packers are the Odds on favorite to make the playoffs not just as the 7th seed, but the 6th seed. Which means a likely rematch at Ford Field vs the Lions. Who haven’t won a playoff game in decades.
Go Pack Go!
There is only two ways to win the division. Absolute total collapse by the Lions or the Packers win out and get help from three of these 5 teams: Dallas, New Orleans, Minnesota OR Chicago, and Denver. There are a few other scenarios, but it gets super complicated. Most likely the Lions finish 12-5 and Green Bay finishes 10-7 at best.
Detroit also MUST lose (or tie) against either Minnesota or Chicago. No way in without that. If they win all remaining divisional games, that’s three more wins and the best we can do is tie them and they’d own the tiebreaker by way of divisional record.
In order to beat them outright without tiebreakers, we need them to lose more than three games, which naturally must include a divisional loss given their remaining schedule. A tie against Minnesota or Chicago would also work if they lose all three non-divisional games.