A win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night at Lambeau Field might not be required for the Green Bay Packers to eventually make the postseason in the NFC, but an upset of the defending Super Bowl champions would provide a fourth win in five games, a second consecutive upset over a current playoff team and drastically increase the team’s chances of qualifying for the postseason come the end of the regular season.
According to New York Times playoff predictor, the Packers’ odds of making the playoffs sit at 55 percent entering Sunday night. Other results in the early and late afternoon time slots in Week 13 will affect the percentage by a few points here or there, but the big one is obviously “Sunday Night Football.” Per NYT, the Packers’ odds would shoot up to 72 or 73 percent if they beat the Chiefs to finish Sunday’s games.
A win would improve the Packers to 6-6 after 12 games and set up Matt LaFleur’s team incredibly well over the friendly five-game finish to the regular season.
Packers final 5 games
Week 14: at New York Giants
Week 15: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 16: at Carolina Panthers
Week 17: at Minnesota Vikings
Week 18: vs. Chicago Bears
The two teams the Packers are chasing in the NFC wildcard race are the Seahawks, who lost on Thursday night and are now 6-6, and the Vikings, who are also 6-6 and on a bye.
Again, an upset on Sunday night isn’t necessarily required for a playoff push. The Packers can lose, fall to 5-7 and still have five winnable games and a legitimate chance to get to 10-7 or 9-8. But the math and projection changes drastically if the Chiefs go down at Lambeau Field. While the NFL is a week to week league and matchups can change in an instant, the Packers — especially with a win over the Chiefs in Week 13 — would likely be favored in each of the final five games.
A big chance awaits the Packers. Can LaFleur’s team knock off one of the top seeds in the playoff race for a second straight week and establish themselves as a team to be feared down the stretch?
