Green Bay Packers Playoff Scenarios: First 2022 Opponent Will Be Rams, 49ers, Cardinals Or Eagles

After finishing with the NFL’s best regular-season record, the Green Bay Packers have a bye on Wild-Card Weekend. The results of the first-round games will determine the Packers’ first opponent of the 2022 playoffs.

Green Bay enters the wild-card round facing scenarios that include four possible opponents in the divisional round. It’ll be either the No. 4 seed Los Angeles Rams, No. 5 seed Arizona Cardinals, No. 6 seed San Francisco 49ers or No. 7 seed Philadelphia Eagles that visit Lambeau Field for a second-round matchup.

The No. 2 seed Tampa Bay Buccaneers and No. 3 seed Dallas Cowboys will play in the first round but cannot visit Green Bay until a possible NFC Championship Game matchup. The Packers will play the lowest-seed NFC team that is still alive after the wild-card games.

That means the Eagles are guaranteed to play Green Bay in the second round if they upset the Buccaneers on Wild-Card Weekend. It’s an unlikely scenario, considering the defending champs are favored by more than a touchdown over Philadelphia.

The 49ers will play the Packers in the second round if San Francisco upsets Dallas and Tampa Bay beats Philadelphia. San Francisco is the smallest underdog in the first round, getting only a field goal in its trip to AT&T Stadium.

The Packers beat the 49ers on the road 30-28 in Week 4. San Francisco beat Green Bay soundly in the 2020 NFC Championship Game.

If both the Eagles and 49ers lose, the winner of Monday night’s game between the Cardinals and Rams clinches a playoff matchup with the Packers. Green Bay defeated both Arizona and Los Angeles in the regular season.

A shorthanded Packers team won in Arizona in Week 8 when Davante Adams was out with COVID-19. Green Bay defeated L.A. at Lambeau Field 36-28 in Week 12 in a game that was more one-sided than the final score indicates.

With Aaron Rodgers expected to win his second straight MVP award, the Packers clinched home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs in Week 17. Green Bay enters the playoffs as the Super Bowl favorites.

The Packers have lost in the NFC Championship Game in consecutive seasons.