It was just over a month ago that the Green Bay Packers dropped their fourth consecutive game, skidding to a 2-5 record that had fans checking their preseason excitement at the door. Winning three straight games and four out of five, most notably against contenders like the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs, has not only reinvigorated the fanbase but also created a level of expectation for the team over the closing five weeks of the season.
Just a few short weeks ago, certain writers (ahem) were simply trying to extract positives and moral victories from otherwise disappointing losses. Still, there’s undoubtedly been a shift in the swagger at 1265 Lombardi Ave. A 10-day stretch where the Packers went on the road and controlled a game against the division rival that’s had their number and then came home to knock off the defending Super Bowl champs in primetime will certainly put a pep in Green Bay’s step.
After beating the Chiefs 27-19 on Sunday Night Football, the Packers ascended from in the hunt to holy crap, we actually might make the playoffs on the postseason standings graphic. The Packers have already knocked off the appropriate intra-conference opponents like the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams. Green Bay has its destiny firmly within its control, with a potentially huge matchup lingering with the Minnesota Vikings on New Year’s Eve. With a dream slate of games remaining, including the likes of the New York Giants, the Carolina Panthers, and the Chicago Bears, the situation has risen to a level where it will be a disappointment if the Packers don’t find themselves in the playoffs at year’s end.
The Packers have found a way to keep their heads above water without David Bakhtiari, Jaire Alexander, and Aaron Jones for huge chunks of the season. Jordan Love‘s play cannot be understated. His ascension within his first season as a starter is no small reason why Green Bay is back at .500. He’s not only putting up yards (260-plus in each of the last three games) and touchdown passes (eight in three weeks). But he’s doing so at an efficient clip, completing 68.5% of his passes during the winning streak. He’s been on the same page as Matt LaFleur and executing within the offense’s constructs while taking the appropriate shots outside of them. Love’s rising tide has lifted all the boats in Green Bay, and they now face an important stretch within the transition out of the Aaron Rodgers era.
Even on the road, Green Bay will open up somewhere between six- and seven-point favorites over the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. Over the first 12 games of the season, the Packers were favorites only once, when they were 3.5-point favorites at home against Brett Rypien and the Los Angeles Rams. The Giants have won two games in a row — granted, against the Washington Commanders and New England Patriots. But Green Bay still garnered the oddsmakers’ respect heading into Week 14. If current trends hold, the Packers could certainly find themselves as favorites in each game moving forward, with the road game against Minnesota being the only real toss-up of the five remaining contests.
The Packers are the youngest team in the NFL and have largely been playing with house money this season. They’re so young at key positions across the offense, the secondary, and the relative inexperience of Jordan Love, of course. Therefore, Green Bay would have been granted a good amount of leeway should the early-season skid have gone even further off the rails. Going 4-1 through the teeth of the schedule in November has flipped the mindset of the season and presents the Packers with the opportunity to do one of the most difficult things in sports: competing during a rebuild.
While hopes of a playoff game at Lambeau Field are likely out of reach, there’s still a likelihood that the team will be getting healthy and playing its best football as the regular season winds down, which is all a semi-reasonable fan can ask for. If Aaron Jones can get healthy to help bolster the offense, Christian Watson‘s hamstring can hold up, and Jaire Alexander can be a difference-maker in Green Bay’s secondary, there’s a chance they’ll have something special brewing to close out December. The statistical models will tell you the Packers have about a two-thirds chance of making the playoffs. But with the way things are trending, they are hoping to make some noise in the process.
