The Green Bay Packers just finished their second straight 13-3 season. To me, this year’s 13-3 seems a lot better than last year’s 13-3. The Packer improved on both sides of the ball. Only the special teams were average or below, but that has been the case for the last 15 years or more. So before I look ahead I want to take a quick look back.
Prior to the season almost everybody in the media was predicting the Packers to take a step back. Last year was a fluke they said, too many close wins over bad teams and two blowout losses in the regular season and another in the NFC Championship game. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was pissed off over the Packers taking Jordan Love and wants out. It was a mess. At least to outside world. The Packers were not among the favorites to win the Super Bowl so you could have gotten pretty good odds on a bet on them. If you are still interested here is a list of casinos where you can bet on the Packers and play other games as well.
The Packers quickly jumped out to a 4-0 start to the season. Wins at Minnesota and New Orleans were very impressive. Of course the Vikings turned out to be a bad team and the other two teams they beat, the Lions and Falcons were horrible. None-the-less, nobody expected the Packers to get blown like they did in week five in Tampa Bay. The Packers jumped out to a 10-0 lead in that game and then got steamrolled the rest of the way in a 38-10 loss. The Packers will most likely have a chance to avenge that loss a week from Sunday.
The Packers followed that up a win at Houston that wasn’t really close but wasn’t pretty, either. Then the Vikings came to Lambeau and spanked the Packers. It was an embarrassing day for the Packers’ run defense and raised serious red flags about the defense’s ability to play at a championship level. Things began to change the next week at San Francisco. The 49ers were devastated by injuries and COVID and the Packers feasted on them in a 34-17 victory.
From that point on the Packers starting really playing well, spurred by a defense that got better each and every week. While the Jaguars gave the Packers all they could handle, the Packers showed in that game they can pull out a win when maybe they aren’t playing their best and the other team is. A great late drive gave the Packers the lead and then the defense made a game winning stand to hold off the pesky Jags.
A tough loss at Indianapolis followed, but the Packers rattled off six straight wins down the stretch, clinching the NFC North division December 13th. It wasn’t exactly a murderous row of opponents, but the Packers did beat the Tennessee Titans with Derrick Henry and closed out the season beating the playoff bound Chicago Bears in Chicago to clinch the number one seed. This is a team that is getting better at just the right time.
It’s hard to believe the Packers put together two seasons like this when they looked so bad in 2018. The hiring of Matt LaFleur looks like a stroke of genius right now. We’ll see if he can guide his team to a championship now. More on that later.