The NFC has seen a huge leap in competition over the last season, with a lot of the conference seemingly featuring Super Bowl favorites headed into this year's championship game.
The NFC North alone features two contenders in the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions, while other teams like the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, and Washington Commanders are threatening to be in that same tier this season. The Packers, since trading for Micah Parsons right before Week 1 of the 2025 season, seemed to be atop that list to come out of the NFC.
Since their huge win over the Lions in Week 1, though, Green Bay hasn't looked sharp enough to be considered sure-things to win it all in February. Special teams and their secondary have been a big issue, despite some great play from Jordan Love and the Packers' offense.
As a result of that imbalance, Sports Illustrated has now pegged Green Bay on the outside looking in as Super Bowl favorites, while their rival - the Lions - are the number one option to make it out the conference.
Packers tabbed as borderline contenders in latest Sports Illustrated analysis
According to Jacob Slinkman of PackersOnSI, Green Bay falls into a still-formidable tier of Super Bowl contenders within the NFC, but one that means the Lions best them for the top team predicted to make it to the championship game.
"While the offense sputtered in the Week 3 loss to the Browns and the defense fell apart in the Week 4 tie at Dallas, mistakes on special teams played a huge role in both outcomes. Against Cleveland, a blocked field goal probably cost the Packers the game. Against Dallas, there was a missed extra point and poor tackling in kickoff coverage."
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Slinkman emphasizes in his piece that this is far from the time to panic if you're Green Bay. This bye week has come at the perfect time to figure out how to get cleaner in all three phases of the game, and gives rookies Matthew Golden and Savion Williams a perfect chance to practice a bit more with their punt returning.
Additionally, Green Bay can still hang their hat on the fact that Detroit couldn't get a lick of offense going against them in Week 1. That's going to be a huge advantage down the stretch of this race for the NFC North title, especially if both teams finish out the year strongly. The Packers can, obviously, handle the Super Bowl favorites listed here, and that's what'll matter come January.