After the Green Bay Packers lost to the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night, a Week 18 matchup with the Minnesota Vikings doesn’t have the same punch as usual. The loss locked the Packers into the No. 7 seed in the playoffs, and the Vikings were eliminated from contention roughly a month ago, leaving their lone goal to finish with a 9-8 record.
But just as the two sides would only have bragging rights at the local watering hole on the line, a former Packer adversary tried to stir the pot. In a post from his X account on Saturday night, former Vikings head coach Mike Tice aimed at his former NFC North rival and threw shade on their chances for a deep run in the playoffs.
“The Packers are FAKE. Zero toughness,” Tice wrote. “Bad Loss. The Packers are lucky the Lions crapped the bed. One and Done at Best. They do not deserve the playoffs but in today’s NFL, that is what we get.”
Mike Tice Exposed a Problem That Could Jeopardize a Packers Playoff Run
It should be noted that Tice has not worked in the NFL since 2017 and has not been a head coach since his scandal-laden tenure with the Vikings ended in 2005. For all of the reasons why Packers fans would immediately disregard anything the disgraced former coach would have to say about their team in such a weirdly presented social media rant, Green Bay is far from a perfect team, and the Ravens reminded the league of that on Saturday.
Tice’s analysis came after Baltimore ran over the Packers for 307 rushing yards on Saturday night. This came one week after the Chicago Bears went for 150 yards on the ground during their overtime win in Week 16 and has been part of a stretch where Green Bay has allowed over 100 rushing yards in seven of its past nine games.
As a result, the Packers entered Sunday ranked 15th in the NFL, allowing 116.5 rushing yards per game. Those numbers have exploded over the past two games, creating a massive problem as Green Bay heads into the postseason, where matchups with Saquon Barkley of the Philadelphia Eagles, Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers, and the Bears’ rushing tandem of D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai could be waiting for them.
Of course, Tice’s other point may ring true. The NFL added a seventh seed to the playoffs for the 2020 season. While Matt LaFleur was able to guide the Packers to the NFC Championship Game in 2019 and to the No. 1 seed in 2021 with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, the Packers have been the No. 7 seed in each of the past three seasons after Rodgers was traded to the New York Jets following the 2022 campaign, where they missed the playoffs.
Being a borderline playoff team for the fourth straight season since Rodgers left town should have Packers fans upset, and their long list of injuries may be the first counterargument they would use to Tice’s comments. While Green Bay fans could also refer to Tice’s decision to scalp his Super Bowl tickets in 2005 and the “Love Boat” incident his team had a few months later, he also scored a playoff victory in Green Bay during the 2004 season.
If Tice’s comments were a shot at the Packers’ injuries, that may be one thing. But calling them soft after the way teams have run over their defense in recent weeks could have some validity. While they’re likely to rest some starters against the Vikings, toughening up their run defense should be their top priority if they don’t want Tice’s prediction to come true.