The Green Bay Packers enter their bye week with a tougher path to winning the NFC North after losses to the Minnesota Vikings and the division-leading Detroit Lions.
However, they are in a better position than they were at the same point last season.
If the playoffs started today, the Packers (6-3) would be the NFC’s No. 7 seed, the same spot they were in last year. At this point last season, they were 3-6 but managed to win six of their final eight games.
That late-season push included a wild-card win over Dallas before they were eliminated with a 24-21 loss to San Francisco in the divisional playoffs. That stretch made Green Bay believe this year’s team could reach the Super Bowl for the first time since their 2010 championship season.
To achieve that goal, the Packers know they need to improve their performance in the second half of the season.
“One of the things we’re going to talk about as a staff is just some of the things we did the back half of the (2023) season to allow us to develop and continue to get better,” said coach Matt LaFleur on Monday.
“A lot of it just started with our approach to practice, how much competition we had in practice. I thought it made practices have more energy, and I thought it reflected in our play, quite frankly.”
The Packers are currently third in the NFC North behind the Lions (7-1) and Vikings (6-2). Green Bay will face Detroit on Dec. 5 and Minnesota on Dec. 29.
The Packers are 0-2 in divisional games, with five turnovers and three takeaways in their 31-29 loss to Minnesota and their defeat to Detroit on Sunday. In their other seven games, they have totaled 16 takeaways and just eight giveaways.
“Those are two games that we did not play our best at all,” quarterback Jordan Love said after the loss to the Lions. “So too many mistakes and, like I said, just didn’t play our best in these games.
We need to be able to go out there and execute at a high level and play our best ball. So, it’s definitely very disappointing, but (those are) two teams that we’ll see again this season.”
