The Packers are in the playoffs, that much we know. But we do not know their opponent, nor do we know whether this team is up to the task of standing toe-to-toe with the NFC’s best.
Green Bay has an 11-5 record, which is impressive enough. But the worrisome thing is that most of those wins have come against second-tier opponents. With Sunday afternoon’s 27-25 loss to Minnesota, the Packers now have played six games against fellow NFC playoff teams, and the team has gone 1-5 in those games, the lone win coming against the Rams in Week 5, back when L.A. was 1-4 and dealing with injuries to its two best receivers.
The Packers lost to the Eagles–their most probable first-round opponent in the playoffs–in the season opener and have lost both games against NFC North rivals Minnesota and Detroit. This is a concern, of course. The Packers have been solid all season but have been waiting for their moment to kick their performance level into high gear. And it just has not happened.
Packers’ Xavier McKinney: ‘We Haven’t Beaten Those Teams’
This is, of course, well known among Packers players. And star safety Xavier McKinney was asked about it after Sunday’s game. He had a stern warning for the team–and himself–about starting faster and playing, as he said, “cleaner.”
Asked if the Packers are on the level of other top NFC teams, McKinney said: “I want to say yeah, but, right now the story is, we haven’t–we haven’t beaten those teams. So I can’t sit up here and say, ‘Yeah, we’re on the same level,’ if we ain’t beat them. So in order to be on the same level, you gotta beat these teams.
“So, like I say, we gotta be more on our details, we gotta play cleaner, we gotta start faster. And that’s just what it is–we gotta stop saying, like, it’s here now. … It’s here now, that is just what it is. We gotta be in the moment, we gotta be present, where our feet are. We gotta do a better job, and me myself, I need to do a better job of making sure we start faster, making sure we play cleaner and getting everybody on the same page.”
The Packers will wrap up the season with Chicago in Week 18. If everyone wins out, the Pack will be the No. 7 seed and face the Eagles on the road to start the playoffs. If Green Bay beats Chicago and the Commanders lose in Dallas, the Packers will be No. 6, and likely face the third-seeded Rams.
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