Winning against Playoff caliber teams, it’s something the Packers have been struggling with all season.
Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings dropped the Packers to 11-5 on the season.
Not only that, but 4 of the Packers losses have come against division rivals.
The lone non-divisional loss came in the season opener against the Eagles.
Those team the Packers have lost to have a combined record of 41-7.
That is a whole lot of wins and not a lot of losses.
But that does bring up the question, do the Packers have what it takes to win against Playoff caliber teams?
The short answer
The short answer is yes.
The Packers have all the talent to beat a Playoff caliber team, when it come to the playoffs.
Yes, they haven’t showed it at all against the top three teams in the NFC.
On the other hand though they’ve kept those games close.
Of the 5 games they’ve lost, 4 of them have been single digit losses.
The only game the Packers lost by double digits was against Detroit when the Packers lost 24-14.
Furthermore, the Packers have shown dominance against possible playoff contenders like the LA Rams.
So the Packers have shown that they can hang with the “big boys”.
The problem
In the 5 losses the Packers have against the Lions, Vikings and Eagles, one thing stands out about the Packers performance.
Slow starts and points left on the board.
The Packers have struggled to start strong and get off to fast starts and usually when that happens the Packers lose.
If it’s not that, its points being left on the board.
Point that at the end of the game matter.
Excluding the home loss to the Lions, the Packers seemingly heat up in the second half of those games making the games close.
Those slow starts also seem to affect the defense, as they are on the field more, while the offense tries to find any momentum.
Conclusion
The Packers have shown they have the ability to beat Playoff caliber teams.
The proof might not be in their record losing 5 times to the top 3 teams in the NFC.
But that is the regular season and the playoffs is a whole different season.
For the Packers, they have a few weeks to figure out how to win against teams like the Lions, Eagles and Vikings.
How do they do that?
Keep doing what they’ve been doing to win games.
Run the ball and get off to a fast start, give the defense momentum and the rest is history.
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Hau Khuong has been a Packers fan since 1996. He currently works as a video editor in Green Bay and writes for PackersTalk.com and you can follow him on twitter at @HauKhuongSports.
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