The Green Bay Packers lost ground in the NFC North Sunday, with a 20-17 loss to the Detroit Lions. It was the second frustrating divisional loss of the season to go alongside Week 1's collapse to the Minnesota Vikings. Now, Green Bay finds itself in a surprise position looking up at the rest of the North understanding that the road ahead is going to be far more difficult in comparison to early-season expectations.
Minnesota wasn't expected to be a contender after missing the playoffs last year and lacking any franchise quarterback answers. The franchise had defied expectations becoming the league's last undefeated team leaning on the defense of Brian Flores to cover up what has been an underwhelming offensive start to the year.
Chicago managead to survive the early-season loss of Caleb Williams and now appears to be rolling while the Detroit Lions are back to the standard they created under Dan Campbell. No question, Green Bay is playing in the league's toughest division and Sunday served as a reminder that the road to the playoffs is going to be far tougher in comparison to what was expected for the franchsie heading into the season.
It is important to note that this is in no way meant to indicate that the Packers aren't a capable roster or won't finish the season playing January football. Rather, that looking at the current standings and how divisional play has gone early in the year it is only fair to realize the difficulty of the road and the need for Green Bay to find ways to get better.
Packers Have Incredibly Difficult Path to Playoff Field as NFC North is Clearly League' Best Division
Obvious improvement will be made when Micah Parsons finally makes his expected return along with the offensive line getting healthier. However, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the Packers opt to be one of the more aggressive teams when it comes to this year's trade deadline. Winnning in the North is becoming an incredible accomplishmnet, with there not being one weak team or one void of legitimate playoff expectations.
The Packers need to do everything possible to put Sunday's loss behind them understanding it wa s a coin flip game where a missed field goal and poor officiating can easily be blamed for the frustrating failure. No matter the answer, the Packers can only embrace the difficult task that lies ahead.
It is going to need to be Jordan Love and the creativity of LaFleur that do the heavy lifting and pushes the Green Bay offense to take a consistent leap. This is the clearest path to dealing with lofty expectations and battling in a stacked group of contenders that could easily all find paths into the playoff picture.
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