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NFL midseason contenders and pretenders among teams with best records

By Leigh Oleszczak

Green Bay Packers, Davante Adams (Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports)
Green Bay Packers, Davante Adams (Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports) /
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Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals (Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic via USA TODAY NETWORK) /

Green Bay Packers (5-2) – NFL Contenders

After falling just short of the Super Bowl a season ago, the Green Bay Packers didn’t get a ton of respect coming into the season. Many continued to think the Vikings were the team to beat in the NFC North and Aaron Rodgers was somehow forgotten about when it came to discussing the best teams in the league.

Apparently all the Packers had to do to light a fire under Aaron Rodgers and get him back to MVP form was to draft his successor in the first round. Rodgers has been on fire through the first eight weeks of the season and even though he had a rough outing against Tampa Bay, he’s been on point in every other start.

Rodgers is the reason why the Packers are a contender. As long as he’s the quarterback of this team and playing at a high level, Green Bay will be right in the thick of things. The Packers made it to the NFC Championship Game last season despite their run defense struggling. Considering the defense allowed Dalvin Cook to find the end zone four times this past week and Green Bay still nearly won, it says a lot about how good Rodgers is and that he’s never out of it.

Arizona Cardinals (5-2) – NFL Pretenders

The Arizona Cardinals were a team that many expected to improve this season, but in the difficult NFC West, it didn’t seem like they’d be able to keep up with their divisional counterparts. Instead, the Cardinals sit with a 5-2 record and are just a game behind the NFC West-leading Seahawks.

Even though Arizona beat Seattle two weeks ago, they’re still pretenders when it comes to contending for a Super Bowl. For one, their schedule these next three weeks is brutal, as they’ll face Miami, Buffalo, and Seattle in that stretch.

Secondly, it’s going to be difficult for the Cardinals to win this division over Seattle and that makes it harder to get to the Super Bowl right there, as it means they’ll have to win three straight road games in the playoffs.

If they are able to win the toughest division in football, that obviously changes things, but this team is still rebuilding despite their 5-2 record and Kyler Murray hasn’t had that big spotlight game in the NFL yet. When it comes down to it, can he win a game for the Cardinals under the brightest of lights?

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