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The Green Bay Packers sit in the top spot in the NFC with a 5-1-1 record, but the margins are extremely thin right now. For example, had they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, that one extra loss would have dropped the Packers all the way down to the sixth seed in the NFC. One single game, right now, is the difference between having a bye week in the wildcard round and hosting playoff games at home or having to play the wildcard round on the road.
So what do analysts believe about the Packers in their heart of hearts? Let’s dive into this week’s edition of our power rankings roundup.
USA Today: #2 (Last week: #4)
“Christian Watson returned, with significant effect, Sunday night, and fellow WR Jayden Reed shouldn’t be too far behind for an offense seemingly loaded with 1A weapons − even if a No. 1 receiver has yet to emerge. An already accelerating team could be poised to hit another gear.”
It really is going to be fun when the whole receiver room is healthy for the first time. Good luck predicting which pass-catcher is going to be fed the ball, though. Entirely too many fantasy football players hit me up last week about Matthew Golden, who wound up having four yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Matt LaFleur does not care about your fantasy football team.
CBS Sports: #3 (LW: #3)
FOX Sports: #3 (LW: #4)
NFL.com: #4 (LW: #5)
Bleacher Report: #4 (LW: #4)
Pro Football Talk: #4 (LW: #4)
Yahoo Sports: #6 (LW: #6)
The Athletic: #6 (LW: #7)
The Ringer: #6 (LW: #6)
ESPN: #7 (LW: #8)
Sports Illustrated: #9 (LW: #9)
“The Packers are getting healthy at the right time, and with no real defensive tackle presence on the trade market, it would seem its cornerback or nothing for Green Bay. Still, I wouldn’t waste a Super Bowl opportunity that feels more real than at any other point in the Jordan Love era.”
We’ll see what the Packers do at cornerback. The team is already going to have to find a way to get $48 million cornerback Nate Hobbs on the field after he was benched for Carrington Valentine last week. I wouldn’t hold my breath on the team making a trade.
SI’s power rankings are probably the most unique week-to-week. They were the only publication that ranked the Seattle Seahawks (#3) and Denver Broncos (#4) ahead of the Packers in any of these 11 power rankings.
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The Packers moved up one spot for FOX Sports, NFL.com, The Athletic and ESPN, and two spots for USA Today. Outside of that, the team has mostly been unchanged in power rankings.
Most analysts seem to...
