It’s a great position to be in, but there’s a long way to go

Three months after an embarrassing 38-3 loss to New Orleans in their season opener, the Green Bay Packers now sit as the top seed in the NFC playoff race with four games to go.

What an amazing 90-day ride it’s been if you’re a Packers fan.

Being in this spot means absolutely nothing. Heck, the Packers haven’t even clinched a playoff spot yet. Actually, it seems odd for mid-December that no NFL team has officially clinched a playoff spot yet. A large part of that is due to the 17th game on everyone’s schedule this year.

Talent wise, I don’t think it was ever a question Green Bay could reach this point with a 10-3 record. I’ve been on record saying on paper this might be the most talented team I’ve seen in my 40-plus years as a fan. To do what the Packers have done with how much of that talent has been sidelined by injuries and for the length of time those players have been injured is pretty special.

Think about it. All-pro offensive tackle David Bakhtiari hasn’t played a down. Second-team All-Pro pass rusher Za’Darius Smith played hurt in one game. Second-team All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander has missed nine games. A potential All-Pro lineman in Elgton Jenkins will miss the last six games and the playoffs. An upper-level tight end in Robert Tonyan will miss the last nine games plus the playoffs. Davante Adams missed a game. Aaron Rodgers missed a game. Aaron Jones missed a game. The team is down to one of its opening-day starters on the offensive line and that’s a rookie, Royce Newman.

When you add the off-season chaos surrounding the quarterback position, the COVID hits the team has taken at times and how the team could have come apart following the debacle against the Saints, the success is pretty remarkable. You have to give a ton of credit to Matt LaFleur and his coaching staff for their steady work. Well, everyone except special teams coach Maurice Drayton.

Credit also to Aaron Rodgers. I’ll be the first to admit I wasn’t sure, even as mentally strong as he’s been throughout his career, he could be as all-in and as focused as he’s been amid the discussion about his playing future. I’m on record saying he sounded like a player with one foot out the door when training camp started. He now sounds like a player with one foot in the door for next year, but that’s a discussion for later.

Broken toe and all, he’s playing like Aaron Rodgers and that will always give Green Bay a chance.

Getting that number-one seed isn’t the end-all, be-all determining factor in who will represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. History has proven that many times. Remember, the Packers didn’t even have a home playoff game the last time they won the Super Bowl after 2010. Running the table is ultimately more important in midto late January than it is now.

But it probably goes without saying, the odds would be tilted a noticeable amount if the path to the George S. Halas trophy comes through Green Bay. I like the thought of playing Los Angeles or Arizona at Lambeau in January. You certainly don’t want to play Tampa Bay or Dallas on their home turf. You would respect any of the teams still in the wild card hunt, but you don’t fear them. If you bleed green and gold, you hate to say it, but there would at least be some nervousness to playing that purple team with Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen in its arsenal.

But you take some solace in knowing you were a slight bobble with two minutes left away from likely beating them in their place with a short-handed team last month.

Speaking of depleted, health remains the numberone issue this fan is watching in the home stretch of the regular season. It looks like Alexander will be back soon, giving an already good secondary a huge boost. I was at the Rams game Nov. 28 and Alexander came out the tunnel in pre-game rotating his injured shoulder around for all to see as if to say, “sooner rather than later.” The Bakhtiari watch continues to drag out longer than anyone hoped, but to me, as long as he’s back by the Minnesota game on Jan. 2, I’ll take it. If the Packers face Tampa Bay in the playoffs, they’ll absolutely need him. If they face Dallas and likely rookie of the year Micah Parsons, he’d be a big help. He’d be huge in a rematch with the Rams.

Za’Darius Smith adding anything would be a bonus. Getting Billy Turner or Josh Myers back on the offensive line would be big. Conversely, losing one more offensive lineman before any of the potential returners gets back could be devastating. The Christmas Day game against Cleveland is no gimme with the Browns’ pass rush and the Packers depleted line.

And don’t forget, the world’s most talked-about pinky toe has to hold up for another seven weeks.

As we all saw Sunday, the Packers are in trouble come playoff time if their special teams don’t find some duct tape and patch something reasonable together the rest of the way. Not that any of us has scientific data in front of us to prove it, but I think we’d all agree Sunday night’s performance against Chicago might have been the worst compilation of special teams play in a single NFL game any of us have ever watched. You lose playoff games by giving a team the ball beyond their 40 after a kickoff once. Do it three times and you’re dead. Give up a 97-yard punt return in the playoffs, odds are you won’t recover. Don’t even mention onside kicks to Packers fans.

The only saving grace Sunday was Mason Crosby made every kick. You know what, I will still bet on Crosby making big kicks come playoff time.

This is going to be such an intriguing finish to the season. It could go so many different ways. Thirteen games in, Tampa Bay and Green Bay, to me are the teams to beat in the NFC, but Dallas, Los Angeles, Arizona and even Minnesota are capable on any given day. Tampa Bay’s chances of going 4-0 the rest of the way are really good, better than Green Bay’s for sure. The Cardinals play the Colts and Cowboys yet. The Rams play the Vikings and Ravens yet. Minnesota gets the Bears twice, the Rams and the Packers in its push for a wild card spot.

The AFC has some interesting stuff going on too, but we’ll worry about that later. At least, we hope to have to worry about that much later.

Matt Frey is the Sports Editor at The Star News.

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