Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
PETE DOUGHERTY
Many still wondering if Packers are legitimate playoff team
Green Bay — Anybody who has seen all the games knows the 2019 Green Bay Packers have plenty of shortcomings.
They haven’t dominated anybody. Their rhythm on offense has been more off than on. On defense, they’ve allowed sustained drives and a lot of yards.
They’ve been taken to the wire by some teams at the bottom of the standings, and twice (by the Los Angeles Chargers and San Francisco 49ers) they’ve been blown off the field.
Yet, here they sit, 11-3 with only two weeks to go in the regular season. They’ve clinched a playoff spot. The No. 2 seeding in the NFC and the NFC North title are theirs to lose, and they even have a shot at the top seeding in the conference.
Their methodical, narrow 21-13 win over Chicago on Sunday really wasn’t any different than their wins over the New York Giants and Washington in the two weeks before. Except this time, instead of feeding on a struggling team, they beat one that was playing well recently — the Bears had won four of their last five — and that features some of the best defensive talent in the NFL.
So, as has been the case for a while now, we’re still left wondering whether the Packers are just a pretty decent team, winning primarily because of their uncommonly good health and favorable schedule, that will be dealt a harsh reality in January, or a resilient, find-a-way survivor that poses a real threat in the postseason.
“I don’t know that we have the full respect of the entire league at this point,” Aaron Rodgers said after the win, “based on some of our performances where we got beat by a couple scores and kind of the reaction, I would assume, to those situations.
“But we’re 7-1 at home, we have the inside track at the (No.) 2 seed. Obviously, we have an opportunity to wrap up the (NFC North) division next week, which guarantees a home game and the third seed, at worst. I like our chances. I like our football team.”
Maybe the Packers’ game next Monday night against the surging Minnesota Vikings will reveal more. Or maybe not. All that really matters now is what happens in the playoffs, because the Packers got in when the Dallas Cowboys drubbed the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday afternoon.
But the final two weeks got even a little more interesting because of San Francisco’s loss to Atlanta on Sunday. The Packers now are one of four teams atop the NFC with only three losses (the 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints are the others).
The Packers have the tiebreaker over only the Saints, which is enough to put them at the No. 2 seeding for now because whoever wins the NFC West holds the top spot, with the other automatically dropping to the top wild-card spot (No. 5 overall).
But the 49ers and Seahawks face each other in the regular-season finale, so one of the two will get a fourth loss (barring a tie), and while Seattle plays next week against Arizona (4-9-1), the 49ers’ other game is against the Rams (8-6). If the 49ers and Seahawks each lose another game and the Packers win out, the Packers would be the top seed.
Those things will be decided on the field in the next two weeks, but no matter how you look at it the Packers are one of the mild surprises in the league. With a young first-time head coach in Matt LaFleur, they were not a good bet to finish much above .500. Surely his inexperience was going to show up in their record, right?
But it hasn’t and was evident only in the blowout loss in San Francisco three weeks ago.
Yet, now that they’re here, it’s a different matter. As any player who’s been in the league for a while knows, you don’t often get this kind of season, with this record and this health at this stage in the year. You have to strike when you can in this league.
The Packers’ good health really is astounding. They have no likely starters on injured reserve, and all seven of their game-day inactives Sunday were healthy scratches. They didn’t appear to sustain a significant injury during the game, either. Teams are rarely this healthy this late in an NFL season.
But whether these Packers have what it takes to strike in January is still a big question.
Rodgers is having a better season than Brett Favre in similar circumstances — in 2006, with new coach Mike McCarthy, the Packers went 8-8 and Favre had a 72.7 passer rating; Rodgers already is 11-3 and after Sunday has a 100.4 rating in LaFleur’s first year. But it’s not like Rodgers is dominating games or in the MVP race.
On Sunday, for instance, he got the Packers on the scoreboard with a slick fourth-down audible to Davante Adams for a 29-yard touchdown that took all the quarterback’s experience and arm talent. But he finished with only a 78.2 rating despite not being intercepted and had three chances to put away the Bears in the fourth quarter that ended in three three-and-outs. That included coming up empty after Dean Lowry’s interception set them up at the Bears’ 33 with 61⁄2 minutes to play.
“The great teams can finish off opponents in that situation,” Rodgers said. “We’re going to have to keep improving to get to that great status.”
At any rate, the win sets up the Packers’ biggest game of the season to date, next Monday night at Minnesota. Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins has been on a roll, and U.S. Bank Stadium will be a wild, hostile place.
Chances are we won’t learn anything definitive about the Packers in that game — even if they lose they’ll probably win the division — but with playoff seedings on the line maybe we’ll see just how gritty they really are.