In the off-season, I thought Sunday night’s game between the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills could be a Super Bowl preview.
In the immortal words of Forrest Gump, “I am not a smart man.”
Entering the season, both small-market teams featured elite quarterbacks, excellent coaching, and incredible defensive talent. Still, they kept falling short of the big game.
While Buffalo looks like a true Super Bowl contender, Green Bay will be lucky to make the postseason if they keep playing like they are now. Despite having a talented team on paper, the Packers have myriad issues preventing them from living up to expectations.
But this is still an important game for the Green and Gold. It won’t be a Super Bowl preview if the Packers don’t turn things around quickly, but the game could represent a philosophical Super Bowl in its own way. Green Bay got through their stretch of “winnable” games with three losses. With their backs against the wall, facing the AFC’s best team, can the Packers show some heart and finally overcome adversity?
Green Bay is rarely the underdog with Aaron Rodgers under center. But the Packers haven’t been the Packers we’re accustomed to. On the road against the Bills, who have one of the league’s few truly dominant squads, the Packers are 10.5-point underdogs. Not only is this the biggest difference Green Bay has had in the Rodgers era, but it’s the first time Rodgers has ever been a double-digit underdog.
Green Bay and its fans aren’t used to losing like this, and the fandom has been particularly volatile these past few weeks. Despite differing opinions on where the blame ultimately should lie, it’s clear there isn’t a lot this team does well. Between a sputtering offense, an inconsistent and often tired defense, and a special teams unit that can’t seem to get out of its own way, it’s no wonder the odds are stacked against them.
The Packers needed a “get-right” game. However, they didn’t find it against the New York Giants, New York Jets, or the Washington Commanders. It’s hard to believe this team can roll into Buffalo and right the ship. But if they don’t, they’ll have a 3-5 record. That will make getting a playoff spot, let alone winning the division, an unlikely prospect.
But maybe if you back a piece of cheese into a corner, it will finally fight back. (That doesn’t make much sense, but it’s the mascot we have.)
This is a do-or-die game for Green Bay. A loss brings their Super Bowl aspirations to a halt and might put the final dagger in the Aaron Rodgers era. It could mean Green Bay becomes a seller with the fast-approaching trade deadline. If they don’t make a statement in Buffalo, it’s fair to wonder if the season is truly over.
Former head coach Mike McCarthy once said, “We’re no one’s underdogs.” But maybe an underdog mindset is what this team needs.
The Packers haven’t lost very often in the Rodgers era, particularly since Matt LaFleur took over. They’re used to winning. The playoffs are usually an expectation rather than a hope in a weak NFC North. But when this team has lost, it’s done so in ugly fashion. They haven’t shown grit when the chips are down and appear to coast from week to week.
Jets head coach Robert Saleh, LaFleur’s BFF, showed the blueprint for beating the Packers — punch them in the mouth, and they won’t get up. So far, that’s been true.
Facing the toughest opponent they’ll play all season, can they turn that narrative around?
On the one hand, the Packers squad we’ve seen so far doesn’t spark any hope. But in those losses, we’ve seen occasional signs of life, moments where things click, and one phase of the ball dominates for a short period of time. It just hasn’t happened for all four quarters, and the phases haven’t been good simultaneously.
We’ve seen teams with far less talent do more this season. We know Green Bay has talented players, and we’ve seen most of them consistently prove it over the last three years. You know what’s better than doing more with less? Having more and doing more.
So many of Green Bay’s problems are self-inflicted. We’ve seen these players excel. We’ve seen this coach scheme successfully. It’s easier said than done, but it isn’t impossible that the Packers can fix their mistakes. Momentum is a powerful thing in the NFL. A win in Buffalo, or maybe just being in the fight to the bitter end, could spark a turnaround.
Rodgers said that this slide could be the best thing for the team, and maybe Buffalo will overlook them. Is this an empty platitude, or will this team show some fight with their season on the line?
Green Bay might not have a Super Bowl-caliber roster, but it certainly has a better roster than recent performances would indicate. This team is consistently and notoriously slow when swapping personnel or committing to changing a plan. Still, we saw the Packers finally make necessary and drastic changes to the offensive line. Maybe, just maybe, they can get out of their own way and right this ship.
I honestly don’t know if they can, and I wouldn’t blame anyone for being skeptical. This team has some excellent puzzle pieces, but the time to put them together is quickly running out. Sunday’s game in Buffalo is the Packers’ biggest matchup of the season. It might not be the Super Bowl itself, but it’s the catalyst to see if the postseason is even in the equation for the 2022 Green Bay Packers.
