Mike McCarthy led a sixth-seed Green Bay Packers team to a Super Bowl but watched his 15-1 squad lose their playoff opener. If one coach understands that bizarre juxtaposition, it's Coach McCarthy.
He understands the formula to win a Super Bowl. Now living in Green Bay, McCarthy has watched this year's team closely and believes they have the ingredients to make a deep playoff run. He didn't lose faith in them, even after brutal losses to the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles, and he's equally as optimistic now.
McCarthy appeared on The Pat McAfee Show this week and heaped praise on the Packers after their win over the Chicago Bears.
"I love what the Packers are doing. I think the number one most important part of your football team is the defense, and that defense is playing lights out. I just can't say enough about the consistency of how they've played week in and week out," McCarthy said.
"You cannot win enough close games throughout the season, especially this time of year. I've always felt that winning close games was critical to have on your path. I look back, and A.J. (Hawk) can attest to this one. We were 15-1. We had too many blowout wins ... You need those tough games, and I think when you get into these late division games, it gives you that, and I think it's great preparation for the playoffs."
Mike McCarthy believes Packers' run of close games will help them in the playoffs
It's such an underrated point we don't talk about enough. Oftentimes, the teams that make championship runs have had to overcome adversity and run the gauntlet in the regular season. McCarthy knows that better than anyone.
His Super Bowl-winning team in 2010 had to fight and claw its way into the postseason, requiring wins in its final two games just to clinch the final seed. By the time playoff football arrived, they were already battle-hardened with momentum behind them.
Fast forward to a season later. The Packers piled up points and won big, but they lacked those playoff-style reps, and it hurt them in an ugly home loss in the divisional round at Lambeau Field.
Look at the Detroit Lions a year ago. They ran up the score on everybody, and even Xavier McKinney called them out for trying to "embarrass people." They outscored their opponents by 222 points, by far the biggest point differential in the league. But what happened? The Washington Commanders, a team that had won five straight one-score games leading into the divisional round, humbled the Lions with a 45-31 victory at Ford Field.
This Packers team is battle-tested.
They've had to fight through the adversity of back-to-back home losses while overcoming Tucker Kraft's season-ending injury. Green Bay bounced back with four straight wins, three against NFC North rivals, and three of them went down to the wire. The Packers required game-sealing interceptions to beat the New York Giants and Bears, and a brave fourth-down conversion to take down the Lions.
With the AFC-leading Denver Broncos, winners of 10 straight, up next, and then the Bears, Baltimore Ravens, and Vikings, the Packers must run the gauntlet to secure the NFC North title and perhaps the conference's top seed.
They're not winning like McCarthy's 2011 team. This Packers squad is finding a way to close out tough games — much more like his 2010 squad. The past two wins felt like playoff matchups.
They have a scary, championship-level defense, a quarterback playing at an MVP level, and a team building momentum at the right time. The ingredients are there to make a run.