Packers’ potential playoff scenarios entering Week 16

No. 6 seed

This scenario is obviously the one the Packers need to avoid. With the NFC being as stacked as it is, the Packers will want to get at least one home game if they want to make some noise in the playoffs, let alone go to the Super Bowl.

What needs to happen

Luckily for Green Bay, if they lose their next two games, they aren’t automatically going to fall down to the last seed. There are a couple of things that will need to happen.

The Packers lose their next two games, at Minnesota and at Detroit. That would drop them to an 11-5 overall record and a 4-2 record within the division.

The Vikings would have beat Green Bay and would then need to beat Chicago at home in Week 17. Their record would be 12-4 with a division record of 4-2. They would win the division and the Packers would be the sixth seed.

Right now, it looks like the sixth seed will be either the Packers or the Vikings. Both the Seahawks and 49ers hold tiebreakers over the Packers.

The Saints are guaranteed a three seed or higher. As the winner of their division, they could finish with a worse record than both the Packers and Vikings and still host a playoff game against one of them. The winner of the NFC East, the Cowboys or Eagles, is locked in as the number four seed.