The Green Bay Packers entered their highly anticipated Week 8 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers as the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff picture, and they'll head into their Week 9 matchup with the Carolina Panthers in that same slot after Jordan Love outdueled Aaron Rodgers to lead the Green & Gold to a 35-25 victory this past Sunday night in prime time.
Facing Rodgers for the first and likely only time, Love put on one of the best overall performances of his young career, completing a season-best 78.4 percent of his passes, including 20 in a row at one point, for a season-high 360 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions, thus earning the best regular-season passer rating of his career at 134.2.
The only game in which he earned a higher mark was his postseason debut against the Dallas Cowboys following the 2023 campaign, a victory in which he also threw three touchdowns and no picks en route to a near-perfect 157.2 rating.
As far as this year's postseason picture is concerned, let's have a look at how the other teams in the conference stack up behind Green Bay.
Packers remain the No. 1 seed in the NFC heading into Week 9
Here's how the entire NFC playoff picture looks heading into Week 9. The top seven teams (four division winners, three wild cards), of course, will earn a postseason berth.
Updated NFC playoff picture
- Green Bay Packers (5-1-1, 1st NFC North)
- Philadelphia Eagles (6-2, 1st NFC East)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-2, 1st NFC South)
- Seattle Seahawks (5-2, 1st NFC West)
- Detroit Lions (5-2, 2nd NFC North)
- Los Angeles Rams (5-2, 2nd NFC West)
- San Francisco 49ers (5-3, 3rd NFC West)
- Chicago Bears (4-3, 3rd NFC North)
- Carolina Panthers (4-4, 2nd NFC South)
- Dallas Cowboys (3-4-1, 2nd NFC East)
- Atlanta Falcons (3-4, 3rd NFC South)
- Minnesota Vikings (3-4, 4th NFC North)
- Washington Commanders (3-5, 3rd NFC East)
- Arizona Cardinals (2-5, 4th NFC West)
- New York Giants (2-6, 4th NFC East)
- New Orleans Saints (1-7, 4th NFC South)
As you can see, had things gone differently for the Packers against Pittsburgh, not only would they have fallen out of the top spot in the conference, they also would've fallen out of first place in the NFC North, as the Detroit Lions, who were on a bye in Week 8, would've moved into the top spot in the division.
Furthermore, Green Bay wouldn't have even moved into the first wild-card slot at No. 5. With a loss to the Steelers, the Packers' 4-2-1 record would have given them a winning percentage of .643, which would have also put them behind the Los Angeles Rams, who own the same 5-2 record and .714 winning percentage as the Lions. As such, Green Bay would have fallen five slots into the No. 6 position.
Every win matters, folks, and the Packers will look to get their fourth straight this Sunday at Lambeau Field against a Panthers team coming off a 40-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills.