Packers, Aaron Rodgers Need Help To Reach Playoffs After Loss To Vikings, Despite Easy Schedule

The Green Bay Packers probably saw their playoff chances disappear on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 12. The team was defeated by the Minnesota Vikings 24-17 on the road, dropping to 4-6-1 in the regular season.

Green Bay trails the Chicago Bears by 3.5 games in the NFC North. They are 1.5 games behind the Washington Redskins for the NFC’s No.6 seed and the conference’s final postseason berth.

“We are where we're at right now record-wise,” Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers said after Sunday’s loss, via ESPN. “We're going to need some help from some teams and then we've got to take care of our own business, you know? We're going to have to find a way to win a game on the road. We're 0-6 on the road. So we just got to go back home, get some rest, beat Arizona ... and then come back and beat Atlanta ... then go to Chicago, a place we've won a number of times, beat them ... go to New York around Christmas, beat them ...and then come home against Detroit, beat them. Get a little help.”

The best Green Bay can finish is 9-6-1, which isn’t impossible with such an easy schedule over the final five weeks. The Packers’ road game against the Bears is their only remaining contest with a team that has a winning record. Green Bay will also face the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets and Detroit Lions to finish out the season.

The Packers have suffered key losses to teams that are also competing for a wild-card spot. The Vikings are the NFC’s No.5 seed, and they own the tiebreaker over Green Bay. The No.6 seed Redskins defeated the Packers earlier this season. The No.7 seed Seattle Seahawks defeated Green Bay last week.

The Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles are also ahead of Green Bay in the standings. No NFL team made the playoffs last year with worse than a 9-7 record. The 2014 Panthers were the last team to reach the playoffs with fewer than nine wins.