Everyone needs to calm down a bit about this Green Bay Packers team. Yes they’re 1-5 in the best division in football. Yes they’re winless against teams with a better record. Yes, they have a road playoff game coming up against one of those teams they’ve previously lost to. However, there’s some important context that always goes missing.

This is the second youngest team to ever make the NFL playoffs. They are second only to… last year’s Packers. This team has also been pretty beat up, they’ll be missing Jaire Alexander for the remainder of the season, and while that’s quite a blow for the defense, I don’t think fans need to start gunning for Jeff Hafley’s job security at this time. This is a Packers team that still has time to figure out what it needs to do in order to compete. There are at least three or four teams in the NFC that look more poised for a deep playoff run than the Packers do, and they’re going to see one this Sunday in Philadelphia.

Looking Ahead

Do I think this Packers team can walk into Philadelphia and win on Sunday? I really do. However, it’s not the end of the world if the season ends in Philadelphia, so let’s run through that scenario. This team has slowly figured out what needs to happen on the defensive side of the ball without Jaire Alexander. They’ll go into next season with a good idea of what needs to happen in the draft and/or free agency in order to live without him, because we all know there’s a good chance he will be elsewhere next year.

Xavier McKinney is still only 26 years old he’s looked like one of the most electric defensive backs in the league this year. Edgerrin Cooper has looked like a complete steal in round two of the 2024 draft. This defensive core looks close to being championship caliber, and year two of Hafley’s system will likely only show improvement.

The Packers have made anything work on offense as long as Josh Jacobs can stay healthy and get his share of touches. Of course, dropped passes have been plaguing the Packers like almost no other team in the league, but their ability to spread the ball around will still always be one of the most important aspects of the offense.

Acquiring a top of the line wide receiver through free agency or the draft and letting the rest of the depth chart sort itself out would undoubtedly put this offense amongst the top in the league. That may of course be a pipe dream, but there’s always the hope that Dontayvion Wicks or Jayden Reed can have a similar career trajectory as Davante Adams. Regardless, if the Packers current pass catchers can dial back the drops a little bit nothing is stopping it from being one of the league’s best with the current talent that it has.

Playoffs?

Now, that hypothetical scenario where we look to what can get this team over the hump only needs to come into play once the season ends for the Packers, and I’d say there’s a decent chance that doesn’t happen this weekend. Philadelphia is a formidable opponent, but Green Bay certainly has the ability to put together a run, and if they do, they’ll have a chance to redeem themselves against a Detroit team that beat them twice, and we know how hard it can be to beat the same team three times in one season.

We saw Jordan Love have the best performance of his young career in the wildcard round against an NFC East team that they were not supposed to beat last year, sound familiar? You never know what can spark a team to go on a run, and the way I see it, there could still be four Packers games left this season.

All this is to say; don’t give up on this team. There’s been a lot of fans giving up hope for one reason or another, but this is the reality: the Packers are an 11 win team, and they’re going to be in a playoff game this Sunday. Don’t let perceived shortcomings get in the way of those facts.

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Zack is a college student and cheesehead from California. When he’s not in class or writing, you can find him talking about the Packers on Twitter at @Zack_Upchurch.

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