The Green Bay Packers enter the bye at 8-2 but still have work to claim a top-two seed in the NFC. Win-loss predictions for their remaining 2019 schedule.
If the 2019 NFL season ended after 10 weeks, the Green Bay Packers would get a first-round bye out of the NFC. Aaron Rodgers and the Pack have started the season 8-2 under new head coach Matt LaFleur and, though they’ve had their slip-ups throughout 10 games, they’ve looked impressive overall and downright dominant at other times.
The Packers enter their bye week in an obviously great position for their playoff hopes. Not only are they the current No. 2 seed in the conference but four of their remaining six games come against teams with sub-.500 records. Moreover, their first game after the bye puts them up against the top seed in the NFC right now, the San Francisco 49ers.
So will the Packers take advantage of that and enter the NFL Playoffs as the top seed? Or will they continue to falter on occasion down the home stretch? Let’s predict all six of the Green Bay Packers’ remaining games to see where they end up.
Week 12 at 49ers
In a matchup worthy of primetime, kudos to the NFL for flexing this Week 12 matchup to Sunday Night Football. Whenever the top two seeds in the conference are set to face off, you want to get as many eyes on that type of matchup as possible. And that’s what we’re getting with the Packers visiting the 49ers.
There are couple of things working in Green Bay’s favor as they eye the trip to San Francisco. For one, the Niners are quite banged up right now with Ahkello Witherspoon and Richard Sherman nursing injuries on defense and George Kittle, Emmanuel Sanders and Matt Breida ailing for the offense.
Having said that, this matchup could be problematic for the Packers. Though the likes of Bryan Bulaga and David Bakhtiari should be able to largely keep a fierce pass-rush in check, the 49ers defense still has proven they can slow a high-octane offense down. Thus, Rodgers, Aaron Jones and the Packers attack could stumble.
More importantly, though, the Packers have continued to struggle against the run throughout this season, allowing 126.9 yards per game on the ground. Riding Breida, Tevin Coleman and Raheem Mostert is the bread and butter of the 49ers in Kyle Shanahan’s offense and, even with an extra week to prepare, I don’t see Green Bay being able to come up with enough stops in the running game.
Predicted Outcome: Loss