The Green Bay Packers are in a great spot to make the playoffs for the second straight year. While it's not looking great for the Packers to win the NFC North, getting into the postseason is the next best thing, even if they have to do it as a wild card.
Unfortunately, the NFC North is a gauntlet this year with the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings both sitting with better records than the Packers' 9-4 record. The Lions are 12-1 while the Vikings are hot on their trail, sitting at 11-2. The Packers would have to win out and hope for both of those teams to collapse in the final month of the season if they wanted to win the division and the odds of the second part of that equation happening aren't likely.
The good news is that reaching the playoffs is likely NFL Next Gen Stats has given the Packers a 97% chance of reaching the playoffs, which means the Packers just need to focus on taking care of business on their end and they'll be in the dance. Heck, the Packers can even clinch a playoff spot as early as this week though that's unlikely.
With that said, let's look at the Packers' final four games on the schedule and predict what their final record ends up being and where they might be seeded in the playoffs.
Week 15 @ Seattle Seahawks
Up first on the final four-game stretch is an away game to Seattle where the Packers and Seahawks will battle it out on Sunday Night Football. The Packers have won four of their last five games against Seattle but that was Pete Carroll's Seahawks, these Mike Macdonald-led Seahawks are a feisty bunch. They sit with an 8-5 record and lead the NFC West.
In other words, this will be a tough game for the Packers and while it's on the road, Packers fans travel well. Let's hope the Pack are able to come out on top for this one and continue to climb toward clinching a playoff berth.
Prediction: Packers 24, Seahawks 18
Week 16 vs. New Orleans Saints
The Packers will continue their primetime tour with a Monday Night Football game against the Saints in Week 16. The Saints are not a good football team and things got worse for them after they lost Derek Carr for the season. That means that either Jake Haener or Spencer Rattler will be playing against the Packers on Monday night next week.
While sometimes these late-season games against below .500 teams can be considered trap games, especially with a match-up against Minnesota looming, this one doesn't fall into that category. The Saints barely fended off the Giants. Green Bay should win this one handily.
Prediction: Packers 38, Saints 20
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Week 17 @ Minnesota Vikings
It has to be frustrating for the Vikings that while they're doing great things with Sam freaking Darnold at quarterback and are 11-2 on the year, that somehow isn't good enough to win the division. The Vikings' only hope is that they continue to win while the Lions drop a couple of games before the end of the year.
Anyway, the Packers get the heavily-motivated Vikings in the second-to-last game of the regular season and Minnesota took the first match-up between these two in a tight 31-29 final. With this game being on the road and the division still potentially being there for the taking for Minnesota, this is one game I don't see Green Bay winning.
Prediction: Packers 17, Vikings 22
Week 18 vs. Chicago Bears
Packers fans had to hear all about how Chicago was finally going to get over the hump and be a lethal team in 2024. Yeah well, that hasn't happened. Caleb Williams hasn't even been bad necessarily, the Bears just haven't been able to win games and Packers fans love that the team people kept saying were a quarterback away clearly weren't.
The Packers' final regular-season game and final home game of the season will come against the Bears and hopefully, this is a good-old fashioned curb stomping against Green Bay's divisional foe. It wasn't that last time these two met with the Packers needing a blocked field goal to stave off a Bears comeback win.
With this being the final game of the year, the hope is that the Bears are playing for their draft placement more than pride. The Packers could still have playoff seeding to sort out at this point so they'll be more motivated and the better team should win this one.
Prediction: Packers 21, Bears 14
If these predictions play out this way, Green Bay would finish the season with a record of 12-5. It'd be frustrating to finish with 12 wins and somehow finish third in the division but that's how stacked the NFC North is this season.
A 12-5 finish would probably land the Packers the six-seed in the postseason, meaning they'd be headed to whoever wins the NFC West. The Lions are likely going to win the division and the one seed while the Vikings will get the top wild card spot and play the winner of the NFC South. If the Packers can stay ahead of the Commanders, the sixth-seed will likely be theirs.