Green Bay Packers Still Have Opportunity to Clinch Playoff Spot v. Bears
By Paul Bretl
As I wrote about prior to Week 14 of the NFL season beginning, the Green Bay Packers’ magic number to clinch the division crown was just two games.
This means that with either two wins, two Minnesota losses, or one win and one Vikings loss, the Packers will once again be division champions. But, unfortunately, with Minnesota’s win over Pittsburgh, Green Bay’s magic number still sits at two—meaning that clinching the division will have to wait at least one more week.
However, the Green Bay Packers do still have the opportunity to clinch a playoff spot with a win over Chicago and a little help from two AFC counterparts.
The first result that Packers fans should be rooting for is that the New York Jets knock off the New Orleans Saints–or at least tie. At 5-7, a Saints loss coupled with a Packers win would make it impossible for the two teams to finish with the same record.
Although incredibly unlikely, if the Packers lost their final five games and the Saints won their final five games, the two teams would have the same record, and New Orleans would have the tie-breaker because of their Week 1 victory.
The other outcome to root for is for Cincinnati to beat San Francisco. A loss for the Niners would make them 6-7, and a win for Green Bay would mean that the worst that they could finish the season at would be 10-7. The Packers hold the tie-breaker over San Francisco after beating them in Week 3.
While clinching a playoff spot is always the first step, as we all know, this Green Bay Packers team has much higher aspirations with their sights set on the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
At 9-3, Green Bay is currently the two-seed behind 10-2 Arizona. Since the Packers beat the Cardinals earlier this season, the two teams just have to finish the year with the same record for Green Bay to have the advantage.
Also at 9-3 is Tampa Bay, but with the Packers holding a better conference record than the Bucs, they hold the tie-breaker at the moment. The Dallas Cowboys are the current four-seed at 8-4.
So, in addition to rooting for the Jets and Bengals, we also want to see the Los Angeles Rams beat Arizona, and it wouldn’t be a bad thing to root for Buffalo over Tampa Bay either.
With the home stretch of the regular season here, it’s very easy to begin scoreboard watching, but for Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers, it’s all about taking care of their own business, and whatever else happens, happens.
"”I think if you start focusing on things outside of your control or outside of your football team, you’re not 100 percent focused on the challenges that lie ahead for your team,” said LaFleur on Monday. “We just gotta take care of our business and whatever happens in those other games, that’s the way it roles. We have many tough challenges in front of us, starting with Chicago, and just gotta make sure that we continually get better each week prior to whatever lies at the end of this thing.”"