12. Green Bay Packers
It’s been a brutal couple of weeks for the Green Bay Packers, as the Pack are now all of a sudden 9-5-1 on the season after a horrific overtime loss to the Chicago Bears. The Packers saw Micah Parsons tear his ACL in Week 15, and Jordan Love left the game in Week 16 with a concussion.
The Packers now do not control their own destiny for the NFC North title, but this seemed to be their best chance at winning the division in quite some time. After winning four games in a row, the Packers have dropped their last two games and will have remaining games against the Baltimore Ravens and Minnesota Vikings, so those games should be winnable.
Overall, Green Bay is still stuck in that ‘good’ tier, and they really don’t come off like a Super Bowl contender this year. The injuries are beginning to pile up, and it’s just an overall lack of execution with this team on top of the injuries.
Green Bay is in a bit of a freefall in our updated NFL power rankings and will have to win out and get some help to win the NFC North this year.
11. San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco plays on Monday Night Football
The San Francisco 49ers surely did not think they were going to go up against Philip Rivers in Week 16, but here we are. The Indianapolis Colts signed Rivers a couple of weeks ago, and the veteran QB will be making his first home start of the season.
I see a scenario where the Niners lose this game, as they have struggled to get to the QB all year and just do not have a good pass rush at all. Rivers may have a ton of time to throw, as the Colts’ offensive line is great.
And with the 49ers, this is kind of their ‘thing’ this year, as they don’t have a sensational roster by any means, but instead, we’ve seen a top-tier coaching job by Kyle Shanahan, and he should very much be in the mix for the Coach of the Year award.
This is another ‘good’ team. San Fran is far from great and is going to need this coming offseason to load up this roster with the necessary talent to get back to the top of the NFC. If nothing else, the Niners should make the playoffs and actually still have a path to the no. 1 seed.
They won’t make a deep playoff run but are a well-run operation overall.