The Green Bay Packers dropped to 4-8 with a 40-33 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 27, but Matt LaFleur’s team has since rattled off four-straight wins and is now 8-8 and in a position where a win over the Detroit Lions in the regular season finale will clinch a playoff berth.
A victory on Sunday night will make the Packers just the second team in NFL history to overcome a 4-8 start and make the playoffs.
Who deserves the most credit for the turnaround?
Packers president Mark Murphy handed out some in his monthly Q&A at the team’s official site.
“I think much of the credit must go to Matt LaFleur and his coaching staff. He stayed positive and continued to look for ways to improve the team. Significantly, he never lost the players’ confidence. He showed great leadership, as have Brian Gutekunst and Russ Ball. The leadership provided by our players, especially by Aaron Rodgers, has been crucial as well.”
Murphy believes the one-score loss to the Eagles was a turning point of sorts.
“Although we lost to the Eagles, I think going toe to toe with the best team in the league at the time gave us confidence,” Murphy said.
The rise of a few unexpected playmakers, the collapse of the Washington Commanders and a defense suddenly piling up the takeaways also helped.
“The emergence of Christian Watson and Keisean Nixon has been key as well,” Murphy said. “We also had a number of other games go our way over the past month that were very helpful, including the Browns beating the Commanders last week. Finally, our defense has played much better recently, with 12 turnovers in the last four games (the same number that we had in our first 12 games).”
Murphy said he is expecting an “electric” atmosphere at Lambeau Field for Sunday night’s showdown with the Lions.
“Although we’ve come a long way since we were 4-8…we’re not done yet,” Murphy wrote. “We have a great challenge ahead of us with the Lions game tomorrow.”
The Packers and Lions kick off from Lambeau Field at 7:20 p.m. CT. Green Bay can avenge a Week 9 loss to Detroit at Ford Field and clinch the No. 7 seed in the NFC with a victory over the Lions, who have won seven of the last nine games after a 1-6 start.
