At the risk of sounding presumptuous: it's happening. It's happening this weekend.
We all kinda came to the realization, sometime in the last month, that the Packers are going to make the playoffs. Being a third-place team is sort of a misnomer this year, on account of the only good NFC teams all being in the same division (minus the Eagles I guess, sigh).
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So now it's just a matter of when. There are three games left in the Packers' season (Saints, Vikings, Bears), and at least one of those – maybe two – figure to feature a fair amount of backups.
At the earliest, they can clinch a berth this Monday night with a win over the Saints. And after some recent Saints' QB news dropped on Thursday, it seems like Monday night may be the night. According to Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi, New Orleans will go with Spencer Rattler at QB.
Saints' QB1 decision basically means the Packers are making the playoffs this weekend
#Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi told reporters that Spencer Rattler will start at QB on Monday against the #Packers. Meanwhile, RB Alvin Kamara is unlikely to play with a groin injury more severe than initially known.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 19, 2024
So, yeah. It's happening on Monday night. No disrespect to Rattler, who seems like he may be, at the very least, a fun watch – but I'm not sure how the Saints march into Green Bay on a Monday night in winter with QB3 and come out with a win. Rattler's yet to win a single game – or throw for over 250 yards – yet, and it doesn't seem like that's going to change against one of the NFC's elite teams. But maybe!
All jokes aside, the Packers have quite a bit of incentive to handle business on Monday night. After that comes the Vikings, who figure to be fighting for a division title-clinching win that week. After that comes the Bears, who figure to be fighting for literally any respect whatsoever. Both of those are tougher asks than the Saints, who are just fighting to stay healthy enough to fly to Cancun in a few weeks.