The playoff-bound Green Bay Packers can find themselves in one of three different seeding slots for the 2019 postseason depending on the results of next week’s games after winning tonight’s showdown with the Minnesota Vikings.
Here’s how those scenarios could play out, with all possible roads for the Packers to get there:
No. 1 seed: Home field advantage for the entire NFC playoffs
The Packers have to send a major Christmas gift to the Arizona Cardinals (similar to 2003). Arizona helped Green Bay out immensely by defeating the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
That keeps the door open for the Packers to get home field – perhaps necessary for the Packers to have a realistic hope of making Super Bowl LIV.
But two things must happen:
– The Packers beating Detroit on Sunday, Dec. 29 (9 a.m. on WTMJ and worldwide on desktop and laptop)
– The Seahawks beating San Francisco on Sunday, Dec. 29.
If those things occur, the Packers will leapfrog both the Seahawks and 49ers (who would finish at 12-4) and would own the tiebreaker on the New Orleans Saints at 13-3, and thereby taking the No. 1 seed.
No. 2 seed: A first round bye and home field advantage for the NFC Divisional Playoff
The most simple pathway: Win.
Beat Detroit. Do that, and the worst that can happen is the No. 2 seed – meaning San Francisco beats Seattle.
There is another way to get that No. 2 seed:
– The Packers lose to Detroit
– The Saints lose to Carolina on Sunday, Dec. 29
No. 3 seed: Home field advantage against the No. 6 seed in the NFC Wild Card game, followed by a matchup at the NFC No. 2 seed in the divisional playoffs if they win
This would happen if:
– The Packers lose to Detroit
– The Saints beat Carolina