Packers: Three teams to root for in Week 16 of 2021 season

The Green Bay Packers are in control of their destiny.

Win all three of their remaining regular-season games and the top seed will belong to the Packers for the second year in a row.

However, the NFC race is still very close. If the Packers don’t win out, they will need a little bit of help along the way. Here are three teams to root for in Week 16:

Washington Football Team (at Dallas Cowboys)

The Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost last week, which was good news. Now all of a sudden the Dallas Cowboys are in the mix for the top seed.

Dallas is currently second in the NFC, one game behind Green Bay. Importantly, it has a slightly better conference record than Green Bay. In the event of a two-way tie, the Cowboys would currently have the advantage.

A loss to Washington would help a few potential ways. The Packers would have the chance to pull two games in front. If they lost, they would still have a one-game lead. An added bonus is the Cowboys’ conference record would move to 8-2, the same as the Packers’.

Carolina Panthers (vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

The Buccaneers’ conference record took a hit last week with a loss to the New Orleans Saints. They will likely need to win out with Green Bay losing twice to be able to earn the top seed.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the Carolina Panthers all but finished off the Bucs’ hopes of getting home-field advantage?

Indianapolis Colts (at Arizona Cardinals)

Similarly, the Cardinals need a lot of help to get back in the race. Not only are they a game behind the Packers, but Green Bay also has a better conference record and has the head-to-head tiebreaker should it come down to that.

Coming off of consecutive defeats, the Cardinals face a tough test against the Indianapolis Colts. A Colts win here would help strengthen the Packers’ position in the NFC standings.