While the Green Bay Packers have officially clinched a playoff spot for the third straight season, they have absolutely zero momentum heading into the postseason.
After winning four straight and taking control of the NFC North at 9-3-1 following a Week 14 win over the rival Chicago Bears, Matt LaFleur & Co. have since taken three consecutive losses. First was a 34-26 defeat to the Denver Broncos, which honestly felt like two defeats, as Micah Parsons was lost for the season with a torn ACL.
Then, of course, there was the overtime loss in the rematch with Chicago in which the Packers blew a 10-point lead in the final five minutes of regulation. And this past Saturday, Green Bay was completely embarrassed in a 41-24 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, which officially knocked the Packers out of the NFC North race.
The loss to the Ravens featured a piece of history, although not the good kind for Green Bay, as Derrick Henry rushed for 216 yards, the most ever by a visiting player at Lambeau Field, and matched a career high with four touchdowns, thus shining a spotlight on one of the Packers' biggest issues heading into the postseason, as their inability to stop the run has become a massive problem.
Things have gotten so bad, in fact, that ESPN's Mina Kimes recently opined that any team the Packers face in the playoffs shouldn't even bother passing the football.
"If I'm someone playing the Packers in the postseason," Kimes said on NFL Live. "I'm watching this tape, and I'm thinking: Why throw the ball?"
The two possible playoff opponents for the Packers have strong rushing attacks
Kimes obviously makes a strong point.
Early in the season, Green Bay was one of the best teams in the NFL against the run, allowing just one team to hit triple digits in their first seven games, that being the Dallas Cowboys (117) in that wild 40-40 tie back in Week 4.
In their last nine games, however, the Packers have given up at least 100 rushing yards seven times and have surrendered an average of 145.8 yards per game on the ground.
What we failed to mention about the Ravens' game was that even outside of Derrick Henry, Baltimore gained an additional 91 rushing yards, with Tyler Huntley going for 60 and Keaton Mitchell adding 31. Those 307 yards were the most allowed by Green Bay at home in 47 years, by the way. They also gave up 25 runs of five yards or more, the most by any run defense in the last four seasons.
As the Packers are locked into the No. 7 seed no matter what happens in Week 18, they only have two possible opponents for the Wild Card Round, those being the Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles, either of whom could claim the No. 2 seed this weekend, depending on how their respective matchups play out.
But no matter which team takes that slot, the Packers are in trouble. The Eagles, of course, have Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts, so there's not much more that needs to be said there.
And the Bears, with the combination of D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, have been one of the best running teams in the league all season, averaging 149.1 yards per game, good for the third-most in the NFL. And Caleb Williams has certainly proven he can do some damage with his legs when necessary.
So, again, no matter who the Packers face in the opening round, they're going to have big problems unless they can magically fix their problems against the run between now and then.