Coming out of their bye week, the Green Bay Packers are in a good spot heading into the second half of their season.
Despite taking a somewhat embarrassing loss to the Detroit Lions in their last outing, the Packers are still 6-3 on the year and are just three wins shy of matching last year's total.
While the 6-3 mark is only good enough for third place in the NFC North, it still has them sitting in the No. 7 slot in the NFC playoff picture heading into their Week 11 matchup with the rival Chicago Bears.
Chicago is the first of four teams Green Bay will face down the stretch who come into this week with losing records. And as the Packers have a second date with the Bears in Week 18, that obviously means five of the Packers' eight remaining games are against opponents who currently own sub-.500 marks.
So, there are plenty of winnable games left for Matt LaFleur & Co. If they win the five they're supposed to win, that'll put them at 11 wins, which should be good enough for a spot in the postseason. And even a 4-4 split over the final eight could do the job. So, again, the Packers are in good shape.
Let's quickly run through the rest of Green Bay's 2024 regular-season schedule and rank the games from easiest to hardest.
Ranking every remaining opponent on Packers' schedule from easiest to toughest
7. New Orleans Saints (Week 16)
Remember when the New Orleans Saints scored 91 points during their 2-0 start, and many pundits opined they were genuine contenders?
Oops.
Following that 2-0 start, the Saints lost their next seven, finally getting back in the win column this past week with an upset of the Atlanta Falcons. The Packers shouldn't have much of an issue here on this Monday nighter at Lambeau Field.
6. Chicago Bears: (Week 11, Week 18)
We'll just go ahead and lump the two Bears games together because, at the moment, it doesn't seem to matter if Chicago is at home or on the road. They look atrocious no matter where they're playing.
Truth be told, it simply seems as if that heartbreaking last-second loss to the Washington Commanders on Jayden Daniels' absurd Hail Mary killed the Bears' campaign. Because since that day, they've looked lifeless.
Chicago hasn't scored an offensive touchdown since that Week 8 loss to Washington and put up just 12 combined points against the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots the last two weeks. If there were any signs that the Bears were going to pick things up, I may not have put them in this position. But is anyone seeing that happen right now?
The Packers haven't lost to the Bears in six years, and they're not likely to lose either of these games either.
5. Seattle Seahawks (Week 15)
This is another team that got off to a strong start and has fizzled out.
The Seattle Seahawks started 3-0 but have since gone 1-5, beating only the Falcons in Week 7. Seriously, how are the Falcons in first place? But I digress.
Being without DK Metcalf for the last few weeks has undoubtedly hurt Seattle, but it's their defense that has been the real killer here. Since their undefeated start, the Seahawks have allowed 29.7 points per game. If that average were over the entire season, it'd be the second-worst in the NFL right now.
Metcalf will be back by the time Seattle welcomes Green Bay to town in Week 15, but if the defense keeps playing like this, Jordan Love and the Packers offense are going to have a field day.
4. Miami Dolphins (Week 13)
Some may not agree that the Miami Dolphins are a tougher test than some of the others mentioned above. But let's not forget that the only reason they're 3-6 is because Tua Tagovailoa missed a month and a half after suffering yet another concussion in Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills.
Since his return, the Dolphins have played a much better brand of football. While they took losses to the Cardinals and Bills, both of whom are division leaders, those were by a combined four points. And they just took an eight-point win over the Los Angeles Rams.
Assuming Tua is healthy when the Dolphins visit Lambeau on Thanksgiving night, this game could go either way.
3. San Francisco 49ers (Week 12)
Speaking of teams who've dealt with plenty of injuries throughout this season, we come to the San Francisco 49ers, who the Packers will host a week from Sunday.
We won't get into every single injury the Niners have had to deal with, whether season-ending or not, but it's been quite a few. And we're talking high-profile players here.
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Fortunately for San Francisco and unfortunately for their remaining opponents, one of those high-profile players just returned to action, that, of course, being Christian McCaffrey, who just racked up 103 total yards against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Niners have a knack for picking things up in the second half of the year, and with McCaffrey back in action and the defense starting to figure a few things out, this is a dangerous team.
2. Minnesota Vikings (Week 17)
Don't let the 31-29 final score from Week 4 fool you, as the Packers got rolled by the Minnesota Vikings in their first meeting.
If you recall, Minnesota jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, led 28-7 at halftime, and took that same 28-7 advantage into the fourth quarter. Green Bay valiantly clawed its way back, winning the final frame 22-3, but the outcome was never really in question.
The good news for the Packers is that the Vikings have regressed in recent weeks, dropping two of their last four. The Minnesota defense is still one of the best in the league, but the offense has struggled at times, and Sam Darnold now leads the league in turnovers with 13.
This game doesn't take place until Week 17, so it'll be interesting to see which version of the Vikings shows up.
1. Detroit Lions (Week 14)
Last but certainly not least, we come to the Detroit Lions, who are clearly the toast of the NFC at the moment and might just be the best team in the entire NFL, which the Packers just found out two weeks ago.
If one were to look only at statistics, the Packers looked like the better team here, gaining more total yards by a wide margin (411 to 261), gaining more yards per play (6.6 to 4.7), and earning more first downs (20 to 17).
But they wasted several opportunities, thrice failing to score from inside the Lions' 35-yard line. The 10 penalties certainly didn't help matters, nor did Jordan Love's ugly pick-six.
The Packers will need to be at their absolute best for this Thursday night matchup. But even that may not be enough.