Over the course of the NFL’s history, the Green Bay Packers have been one of the best and most storied franchises in the league. The Packers have been at or near the top of the NFC on a number of occasions in the past couple of years including a Super Bowl victory in 2010 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. As of late, this legendary franchise has been borderline dormant.
The back-to-back MVP Aaron Rogers hasn’t looked like himself, and the Packer's defense has not done as well as they were expected to. Despite this, the 4-6 Packers are not out of the playoffs just yet. The NFC is in a much weaker state than in most years. They only find themselves two games outside of a playoff spot.
The biggest reason the Packers find themselves in such a position is because of their 5 game-losing streak, which includes losses to The Giants, Jets, Commanders, Bills, and Lions. Outside of The Bills, not one of those teams is particularly spectacular. The Giants, despite being 7-4 have had one of the weakest strength of schedules in football, with only two truly quality wins against The Ravens, and The Titans. The Jets who are currently 7-4 are even more volatile, the Jets are riding their elite defense to wins while Zach Wilson and the Jets offense limp to the finish line.
The Packers didn’t look good in a single one of those games, choking second-half lead after second-half lead to teams they should be beating handily. The Packers finally came out to play week 10 on Sunday Night Football and beat the previous 7-1 Cowboys. The Cowboys were heavily favored and looked like the better team through the first 45 minutes of the game until Christian Watson finally decided to make some form of an effort to contribute to the team. He reeled in 4 catches for 107 yards and 3 touchdowns. Before his Sunday night explosion, Watson had only brought in 10 catches for 88 yards and 0 touchdowns.
That kind of random blowup is not something Packers fans can begin to rely too heavily upon. The odds of a rookie receiver completely taking over the wide receiver room and consistently putting up numbers at that clip is close to zero. The real way for this Packers team is to rely heavier on their elite running back core in A.J. Dillon and Aaron Jones. Dillon serves as the primary goal-line and short-yardage back, and Jones is being used in a more dynamic running back/ wide receiver combo. In games, Jones has over 100 scrimmage yards the Packers are 3-1, and when he doesn’t have over 100 yards the Packers are a pathetic 1-7.
In the Packer's next 5 games to end the season (Bears, Rams, Dolphins, Vikings, Lions), I see them going 3-2, and falling short of .500, at 7-10. I wouldn’t say The Packer's odds of a playoff berth are zero, but I would give them a 5% chance to slip into the playoffs as a wild card, and if they do by some miracle make the playoffs, I have little confidence in their chances to make a run at the Lombardi.