The Green Bay Packers easily beat their divisional rival the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football by a score of 41-25.
Aaron Rodgers and the Packers cruise against the Bears 41-25:
21/29 Comp/Att
211 Yards
4 TD pic.twitter.com/fkVZgAC3HK— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) November 30, 2020
With the victory, the Packers move to 8-3 on the season and strengthen their hold on 1st place in the NFC North.
Their closest competitors for the division title, Minnesota and Chicago, are 3 games behind at 5-6.
Lagging further behind are the Detroit Lines at 4-7.
Packers Remaining Schedule
With 5 games left, the Packers play the following teams:
- Philadelphia (3-6-1)
- Detroit (4-7)
The Packers defeated the Lions in Week 2 by a score of 42-21. - Carolina (4-8)
- Tennessee (8-3)
- Chicago (5-6)
The Packers beat the Bears yesterday.
Realistically, the Packers could win the last 5 games of the season and end up at 13-3.
But Tennessee is a tough team so that could be a potential loss putting them at 12-4.
Either way, the Packers will win the AFC North division and automatically qualify for the playoffs.
The next question is where they will be within the top 3 teams in the NFC and whether that could net them a bye or home field advantage.
NFC Playoff Picture as of November 30, 2020
Here are the divisional leaders.
1. New Orleans Saints
At 9-2, it appears the Saints will win the NFC South.
They lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by 2 games.
And they won both head-to-head games with the Bucs this season.
The rest of their schedule is relatively easy with one exception.
They have Atlanta, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Minnesota, and Carolina.
Realistically, they can go 4-1 or at worst 3-2 putting them in the 13-3 or 12-4 range.
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks are 7-3 and have a Monday Night Football game against the Eagles tonight.
Beyond tonight, they play both New York teams, Washington Football Team, Los Angeles Rams, and San Francisco.
They currently have the Rams right behind them at 7-4 and the Cardinals at 6-5.
The Seahawks lost their first meeting with the Rams by a score of 23-16 in Week 10.
All this means that the Seahawks are not a sure bet to win the NFC West at this point.
4. An NFC East Team
By virtue of the playoff structure, the winner of the NFC East division will be seeded fourth.
As all of them are below .500 at this point, any one of them could win it.
So one way or another, there will be a division winner between the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys, and Washington.
The wildcard spots could be filled by the Rams (or Seahawks), Buccaneers, and Cardinals.
Only the top seed in the conference gets a first round bye so though the Packers appear to be a lock for the playoffs, it is yet to be determined if they will be the first, second, or third seed.
If this format sounds unfamiliar, it is because it is brand new for 2020.
Two notes:
— This likely makes regular season games more important for all, with top teams fighting for the one by per conference.
— Had this been adopted in 1990, just 1.6% of teams would have had a losing record. A bunch more 10-win teams would’ve gotten in. https://t.co/mspFzj7zXL— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 31, 2020
The Green Bay Packers have a lot more football yet to play to determine where they sit in the playoff rankings.
They have the luxury of a healthy lead over their divisional rivals and full control of their playoff destiny.
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