A week ago, Packers fans were still looking at this team with a fair amount of skepticism. A win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had helped, but confidence in the direction of the franchise was still stuck around 25 percent, and most fans expected Green Bay to finish under .500 in the division.
Then came Sunday.
Green Bay’s 31-7 blowout of the Chicago Bears changed the mood fast. The Packers are now 3-2, sitting squarely in the NFC playoff race, and fan expectations have moved with them. With Green Bay currently holding the #5 seed in the far-too-early NFC playoff picture, optimism has jumped sharply among the fan base.
Sportsbooks still aren’t all the way in. FanDuel has the Packers at +156 to make the postseason, which works out to less than a 50/50 shot. But Packers fans are clearly more bullish than the betting market right now.
In a survey of readers at Acme Packing Company, two-thirds said they believe the Packers will be playing meaningful football past Week 18.
There is still a split, though. Some fans believe Green Bay will get into the playoffs while remaining unconvinced about the team’s overall direction. The confidence index now sits at 59 percent, a huge leap from last week’s 24 percent, but still below the level of playoff belief.
That gap raises an interesting question: if you think the Packers are headed to the postseason, why not feel better about where the team is going? Is this just a matter of standards?
Do you need a top seed and real Super Bowl-level upside to call it the right direction? Or is something else keeping you from fully buying in?
In Other News...
Packers Passing Game Suddenly Has One Big Cowboys Question
Dallas will have to wait a little longer before its cornerback situation becomes clear for Sundays matchup with Green Bay, with Joey Porter Jr. carrying a questionable tag because of an ankle injury. Porter was limited in practice on Wednesday and Friday, though he was a full participant on Thursday, leaving the Cowboys to navigate one more layer of uncertainty in a game where every matchup in the secondary matters.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones tried to calm the noise around Porters availability, saying the defender is committed to playing and that contract talks are not part of the equation. For a Packers passing game that has been under the microscope, the bigger question now is whether Green Bay ends up seeing Porter on the field at all, or facing a Cowboys defense that has to adjust on the fly. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Bye Week Ends With A Division Test Fans Can't Ignore
Detroits early-season surge has kept the NFC North race squarely in focus, and the next stretch is where the picture starts to sharpen for Green Bay. After a productive showing against Arizona pushed the Lions to 3-2, the bye week gives Dan Campbells team a brief reset before the schedule tightens again and the division matchups start to carry more weight.
For the Packers, the timing of that reset matters almost as much as the result in Week 5. Green Bay knows the Lions are coming back into the spotlight soon, and the coming slate includes more than one test that could reshape the division standings. The matchup at Lambeau later this month already looks like one of those games fans will circle, especially with another possible boost waiting in the wings for Green Bay. [Read more 🡒]
Lukas Van Ness Just Reopened A Packers Pass Rush Debate
Lukas Van Ness gave the Packers plenty to feel good about early, flashing the kind of edge presence Green Bay has been chasing opposite Micah Parsons. He had 2.5 sacks in his first two games, and the start looked like the kind of burst that could settle a long-running question about how the pass rush would hold up around Parsons.
The last three games have brought a different conversation. Van Ness has still been around the quarterback and generating pressures, but the sack production has cooled enough to reopen the debate about whether Green Bay has a dependable second threat on the edge, or whether it needs to keep looking for one. How he finishes the final weeks could go a long way toward shaping what the Packers think they have in him going into the offseason. [Read more 🡒]