Packers are a genuine playoff threat following huge win over the Chiefs

Following a tough start to the season, the Green Bay Packers are now 6-6 and sit in a NFC Wildcard spot thanks to their big 27-19 win at home to the Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs. They are now on a three-game winning streak and have a favourable run of games left to finish off the regular season.

After struggling with first half offense for most of the season, a first quarter touchdown to Ben Sims got the Packers off to a great start, before their defence held Patrick Mahomes and company to just a field goal. The second quarter got even better for the hosts when young quarterback Jordan Love took his time in the pocket to find a resurging Christian Watson wide open in the endzone and head into the half time break with a 14-6 lead. 

Kansas City fought back instantly after the break with an Isiah Pacheco rushing touchdown to narrow the deficit, but a failed two-point conversion ensured they remained trailing. Love and Watson answered back with a 12-yard touchdown with Watson climbing above his defender to claim his second score of the game. 

The fourth quarter was back and forth with the Chiefs scoring again and the Packers kicking a field goal before a huge Keisean Nixon interception stopped the Chiefs in their tracks. Green Bay ran out 27-19 winners and go level with the Minnesota Vikings in both the division and Wildcard seeding. 

This win is made even bigger by the fact the Packers were without starting cornerbacks Jaire Alexander and Eric Stokes, along with star running back Aaron Jones.  They did lose Watson late on to a hamstring injury so his availability as it stands is unknown for the final weeks of the season.

Now a fun little stat that aids the Packers chances of making the playoffs is that under the stewardship of Matt LaFleur, they are 16-0 in December. As previously mentioned, their run is quite favourable too. The next play the New York Giants in the Monday Night Football game, followed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers, before rounding out the season with divisional matchups against the Vikings and Chicago Bears. Out of those remaining five games, the Vikings have the best record at 6-6.

The Packers will fancy themselves in all of those games and rightly so with Love playing at this level. In his last three games (wins vs the Chargers, Lions and Chiefs) he has completed 74 of 108 passes for 857 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions. His passer rating in those games are through the roof averaging out to a 116.9 passer rating.

In terms of a playoff threat should they make it, I think they could be a team that the top seeds probably won’t want to face. They will likely be the six or seven seed due to the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles having such superior records already and one will be a division winner and the other as the five seed, possibly then ruling out the potential of facing the NFC South winner. 

With that out of the way, I think the Packers can cause problems for the likes of the Lions and San Francisco 49ers. Overall, the Niners are a way better team than Green Bay, but Love and his teammates have absolutely nothing to lose.

You see arguably the best player in franchise history leave and of course expectation drops with the amount of inexperience across the roster. Teething issues out the way and now they are playing with such confidence, especially on offense with all the weapons chipping in with touchdowns and big plays.

What we have seen in recent games against the Lions and Chiefs, is a more aggressive approach on both sides of the ball. The defensive front led by Rashan Gary have been dominant with back-to-back three sack games as a unit. Love has been protected better than ever and the play calling has been much better. As a team they were far too conservative early on but now they are willing to go for the big plays on offense and without their top corners, they are being far more physical defensively and it is showing.

The Packers are a team to definitely keep an eye on with their end of season run-in and could cause an upset should they make the postseason. They might be the first of the “we don’t want to see them in the playoffs” team this season.