GREEN BAY – NFC seed # 1 is even closer to being available to the Packers.
So much so that Green Bay has two ways to take first place with just one additional victory to win the only goodbye to the playoff of the first round of the conference, plus the advantage of playing at home that comes with it.
With 11-3 with two games remaining, here are the ways Packers can secure seed # 1 with yet another win:
- Beat the Tennessee Titans this week and make the Seahawks lose one of their last two games OR
- Beat the Chicago Bears next week
That’s it. That is all that matters.
With that in mind, the most important game elsewhere in Week 16, then, is obviously the LA Rams (9-5) in Seattle (10-4). It’s Sunday afternoon, so the Packers will know the result before their game with the Titans starts in prime time.
Clearly, rooting for the Rams to beat the Seahawks it is in the interest of Green Bay, and if it does, the Packers would enter the field on Sunday night with the chance to win seed number one.
If not, the Packers’ control over first place will boil down to beating the Bears next week.
There are several other games worth paying attention to.
First, on Christmas Day, Minnesota (6-8) is in New Orleans (10-4). If things go well for the Saints, they can still steal the Packers number 1 seed, with fans or without fans, nobody wants to visit the Superdome in the postseason.
Minnesota’s hopes in the playoff are on the line, but in the first game of the week, the Vikings are still alive. In any case, pull to the Vikings to bring down the saints, which would be a repeat of his playoff turnaround last January.
Then, on Saturday, Tampa Bay (9-5) travels to Detroit (5-9) while San Francisco (5-9) visits Arizona (8-6).
There is a scenario in which the Buccaneers and Packers could end up tied for first place with 11-5 records, in which case Tampa Bay’s face-to-face victory over Green Bay would decide first place. So just to be safe, hope for Lions will disturb Bucs.
Regarding the Cardinals, they are currently in seventh place in the NFC with the final wild card slot, a game ahead of Bears, with Chicago (7-7) in Jacksonville (1-13) on Sunday.
Presumably, he would help the Packers in Week 17, if they needed to win, if the Bears were eliminated and were not playing for anything. So in that case, hope for the Cardinals to defeat the 49ers is for the jaguars to surprise the bears. If all of this happens, Chicago’s playoff hopes will be dashed.