Packers - Giants Playoff Chances

Cafe Society
1

Well, I’ve crunched the numbers, and it’s pretty gruesome (if you are a Packers fan).

Here is the scenario:

According to the NFL website, neither the Packers nor the Giants control their destiny. If both teams win, then the tie will end up being determined by “Strength of Victory.” All prior tie-breakers are either inapplicable (head-to-head) or tied (conference record, for example).

As it stands, the Packers are well behind the Giants in Strength of Victory. This is what happens when you beat up on the Lions of the world, while your rivals are beating teams like Philly and Dallas.

I looked at the upcoming schedule. IF the Packers and the Giants both win, for the Packers to get the nod on Strength of Victory, *every team they beat this year must win this weekend * (excepting only the Bears, who play the Packers), AND every team the Giants beat must lose, excepting only either Philly or Atlanta (which play each other). In that case, the teams the Packers beat would have 53 wins, while the teams the Giants beat would have 52 wins.

A tie in this stat forces contemplation of the Strength of Schedule stat, in which the Packers are less deficient. In this case, after eliminating all prior and upcoming games where the outcome of the game had/has no effect upon the statistic, the Packers would have a three-victory lead if the perfect storm of victories and losses occurred.

Now, mind you, for all this to happen, some very unlikely results have to occur:

Detroit has to beat Dallas. In Dallas. Yeah, right. (but VERY helpful to the Pack, because of Green Bay’s two wins against Detroit)
Arizona has to beat San Diego. In San Diego. Even less likely.

Amazingly, once we get past these games, the others are more easily conceived.

Still, if I am the Packers, I am NOT holding my breath.
Side Note: The league is REALLY taking a gamble putting the Chicago - Green Bay game on Sunday night this week as the flex game. Most likely, it will be totally meaningless. While there is no other game that is available which will be guaranteed of having value, there are several others more likely to be still of importance (Miami v. Indy would have been a great, inside, matchup!).

2

Even if every star fell into place and Green Bay managed to land a Wild Card spot, they would still get killed in the first round.

3

I’m sick of seeing Indy.

At least Packers/Bears has some history behind it and, face it, if the guy retires it could be the last opportunity to watch an entire crew of game announcers suck the zits off of Brett Farve’s ass for an entire game. It’ll be like the last episode of the X-Files, where you’re watching just to see the poor thing put out of its misery.

“You know Al, I was talking to Brett Farve the other day… He’s just a great guy. I met Him when He was returning from Africa where He just spent the past week giving blood transfusions to hepatitis victims, right before His audience with the Pope regarding Christian Reunification. Anyway, when I met Him at the airport while He was on His way to give advice on the New Orleans reconstruction, I asked Him about what it was like to play with the Green Bay Packers with their wonderful fan support, and, before the President called and interrupted to ask Brett’s advice on how to handle the Democratic Congress, here’s what He said: …”

Hell, I’m dreaming. The guy is coming back next year, he’s got Dan Marino to embarrass.

4

Oh, goodness, I hope he doesn’t, or if he does, he does it for another team. He hasn’t been the same for the last few years, and frankly, once Holmgren left, no one was able to sit on him and make him actually WAIT for receivers to be open to pass the ball. Too many interceptions to be a really good quarterback.

Packers v. Bears is going to be a blowout anyway, so I don’t suppose it matters much. But, of course, having said that, watch Favre engineer a patented, come-from-behind win to clinch a spot… :stuck_out_tongue:

5

… By throwing a pass that would have any other quarterback benched for panicking… :rolleyes: :wink:

6

C’mon, you know that Brett’s going to argue that he “lead the team to playoff contention on the last day of the season when there was no hope for a spot at the beginning of the year”… and that some people will buy it.

But he will come back, definitely with a team where he can start. He doesn’t care for wins so much as he does TD passes (7), passing yards (4,416), and attempts (176). That way, if he gets the numbers in parenthesis, he’s #1 all-time in all four categories.

Barring a complete collapse, he’ll get all of them except for the passing yards record next season.

7

Either that or he’ll take his team down to the 4 yard line, then try to thread the needle with a decision that would embarrass Ryan Leaf, get picked in the end zone and probably get housed.

8

If the Packers make the playoffs they will quite possibly be the worst playoff team in history.

And I’m a Packer fan.

9

I’d agree, except the Bears have nothing to play for. I don’t expect a big effort from them. The Packers, on the other hand, might be playing for a playoff spot, and if they are, they might hold the advantage by motivation alone.

10

Watching the Packers play the Vikings last week was just… well… painful.
Two absolutely horrible teams duking it out. All the Vikings could muster was 3 first downs and an interception for a touchdown. And the Packers who had the ball the whole game scored on 3 of 5 field goal attempts to win the game.
The only thing these teams can say for themselves is “At least we’re not the Lions”.
I guess that makes the Bears king of the losers. They’ve got the nice record and all but none of these NFC North teams is a serious contender.

11

Seeing as the Giants didn’t manage to run one play in Saints territory last week, they really shouldn’t worry about the playoffs. What chance do they have?

12

Ha! The Packers are depending on a Vikings win to get in.

Let me repeat that - the Vikings have to win. Won’t happen.

I’m a longtime Vikings fan, and I love my team, but lordy, we’re awful. Sorry Pack, you won’t be going this year.

13

Who says the game has no meaning for the Bears? Its the Packers, for gods sake. And I will be in Wisconsin that day. I want wailing and gnashing of teeth!

14

I’m with Gangster Octopus on this. I’m a lifelong Packers fan and would love to see the Pack turn it around and be a playoff caliber team again.

But, holy crap…to even be discussing the possibility of the Packers in the playoffs this year is a sad, sad reflection on the NFC.