The Green Bay Packers' Biggest Obstacles for Deep Playoff Run

The 10-3 Green Bay Packers are in an excellent position to gain at least a bye for the opening week of the NFL playoffs, which is Wild Card Weekend.

The Packers are currently the No. 2 seed in the NFL and have three more games in the 2014 regular season to at least keep that seeding or possibly advance to the No. 1 seed.

The Packers have three very winnable games left on their schedule, which I wrote about recently.

The 11-3 Arizona Cardinals currently have the No. 1 seed in the NFC, but they may have lost quarterback Drew Stanton to a knee injury in Thursday night's 12-6 win over the St. Louis Rams.

Stanton was playing in place of Carson Palmer, who earlier this season was lost for the year with a knee injury. It looks like the Cardinals may have to play the last two games of the season with Ryan Lindley as their quarterback.

Lindley would not be in an enviable position, as the Cardinals have to face the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks next week at home and then finish the season on the road against the San Francisco 49ers.

That is why the Packers need to take care of their own business down the stretch to make sure that they have at least a bye and possibly home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs.

But even with that, the Packers need to have a deep run in the playoffs, which hasn't happened since the 2010 postseason when the Pack won Super Bowl XLV.

I'm going to list some of the obstacles that may hinder that deep playoff run.

Injuries to Key Players

Mike Roemer/Associated Press

So far in 2014, the Packers have been pretty fortunate with the injury situation. Yes, the Packers have lost a couple of key players to injured reserve this year, like nose tackle B.J. Raji and offensive lineman Don Barclay.

Both of those injuries happened during training camp this past summer, which gave the team some time to consider some alternatives.

But the injury situation is nothing like last season.

In 2013, the Packers saw 15 of their players end up on injured reserve. That included key players like offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga, tight end Jermichael Finley and cornerback Casey Hayward.

There were also players who didn't end up on injured reserve but still missed a number of games over the course of the season.

The Packers' best player on the team, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, missed seven games due to a fractured clavicle. Also, the best player on defense, linebacker Clay Matthews, missed five games due to a broken thumb.

In addition, wide receiver Randall Cobb missed 10 games due to a broken leg.

In the NFC Wild Card Game against the 49ers at Lambeau Field, the Packers played without a number of key players defensively, including Matthews and Hayward. Plus, early in the game both cornerback Sam Shields and linebacker Mike Neal were forced out due to knee injuries.

Currently, the Packers have some players performing while having some injury issues. That's been the case with left guard Josh Sitton (toe) and right guard T.J. Lang (ankle). Even with their injury woes, both Sitton and Lang have played very well.

Running back Eddie Lacy injured his hip during the game against the Falcons on Monday night, and it's not known for sure whether he will be available for this Sunday's game against the Bills, according to a report by Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Bottom line, the Packers need to be at full strength in the postseason, which will better enhance their chances of getting back to the Super Bowl.

Not Getting the Home-Field Advantage

Jeffrey Phelps/Associated Press

If the Packers win their three remaining games on the 2014 schedule, then there is an excellent chance that they will be the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs—certainly no worse than the No. 2 seed.

Either way, the Packers would have a bye on the opening weekend of the playoffs and would get to host at least one game at Lambeau Field. That would be two games at home if the Packers can secure the No. 1 seed.

That is important this year, because they are playing exceptional at home this season. Green Bay is 7-0 at Lambeau Field so far in 2014 and have outscored its opponents by a 288-143 margin. That adds up to 41 points a game for the Pack and 20 points a game for the opposition.

That's a whopping three-touchdown advantage so far this season.

Yes, I know the Packers have not been unbeatable at Lambeau Field recently in the playoffs. In fact, the Packers have lost three out of the last four postseason games at the Frozen Tundra.

I'll go one better. Since the first time the Packers ever lost a postseason home game in the 2002 playoffs to the Falcons, Green Bay is just 3-5 at Lambeau. Up until that loss to the Dirty Birds and Michael Vick, the Packers were a perfect 13-0 at home.

Head coach Mike McCarthy is 6-5 in the postseason overall but is just 2-3 at Lambeau Field.

But this season has a different feel to it. The new and improved Lambeau is louder for one thing, since the south end of the stadium was enhanced and closed in.

This season has a 1996 feel to it. The Packers were 8-0 that year at home and outscored their opponents by a 252-101 margin.

Then in the postseason, when the Packers had home-field advantage in the NFC, the Packers beat the 49ers and Panthers by a 65-27 margin to advance to Super Bowl XXXI, which they ended up winning.

I see similar advantages at home for the Packers this postseason.

Issues with the Defense

Tom Lynn/Associated Press

For the Packers to make a deep postseason run in the playoffs this year, the defense has to play solidly—both against the run and the pass.

And it can not allow big plays to happen.

The high-powered offense of the Packers will do its job, based on what it has done so far this season. The Packers are ranked sixth in total offense in the NFL and first in total points.

Now the defense has to do its job. There are pluses and minuses to look at with the defense run by Dom Capers.

First, the good news. The Packers are fifth in the league in interceptions. They have also recovered eight fumbles.

The Packers are also 17th in the NFL in points per game, as they have given up 23.4 per contest. That's not great, but it's not bad when one looks at where the team is in other areas statistically.

The Packers are currently ranked 26th in total defense. Green Bay is ranked 20th in passing defense and 25th in run defense.

The run defense of the Packers has improved quite a bit since Clay Matthews moved inside to play linebacker in certain down-and-distance situations. The Packers have allowed only 90.2 yards per game via the rush since Matthews made the move inside in Week 10 versus the Bears.

The pass defense was also playing pretty well, at least until they faced Matt Ryan and Julio Jones this past Monday night. Ryan threw for 375 yards and four touchdowns, while Jones caught 11 passes for a whopping 259 yards and a touchdown.

The Packers have to do what they were doing earlier in the season. That is keeping down the passer rating of the opposing quarterback, in addition to stopping the run, which they have done well recently.

The Packers were ranked near the top of the league in holding down the passer rating of opposing quarterbacks not too long ago but now have the ninth-lowest ranking.

Capers and his staff have to clean things up for the defense overall if the team expects to hoist another Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Special Teams Have to Be Consistently Good

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When the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI and Super Bowl XLV, the special-teams play was very solid if not exceptional.

In 1996, the performance of return specialist Desmond Howard was truly fantastic. In the NFC Divisional Playoff Game against the 49ers, Howard returned one punt 71 yards for a touchdown and another punt 46 yards to set up another score.

In Super Bowl XXXI against the Patriots, Howard had 244 total return yards in the game, including a 99-yard touchdown on a kickoff that was the turning point of the game. For his efforts, Howard was named MVP of the game.

During that postseason, the kicking game was very solid for the Packers, as were the coverage units.

The same held true in the 2010 postseason. In the 2010 NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field, the Packers held Devin Hester of the Bears to a 5.3-yard average on three punt returns and one kickoff return of 24 yards.

Once again, the kicking game was very good overall for the Packers. While the return units were not eye-opening, the coverage units were also good, except for the 101-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Eric Weems of the Falcons in a divisional playoff game.

As the 2014 season winds down for the Packers, the performance of the special teams units has been up and down recently.

Things like blocked punts, blocked kicks, mishandled snaps and poor coverage on kickoffs and punts have been occurring.

There have been some good things, too. Micah Hyde had a 75-yard punt return for a touchdown against the Eagles. But in that same game, the Packers allowed an extra point to get blocked, had another extra-point attempt fail due to a mishandled snap and allowed a blocked punt.

A week later against the Vikings, the coverage unit on kickoffs was not very good. This past game against the Falcons, an extra point was blocked again.

The Packers need to get more consistent with their play involving all of the special teams units. That is especially true in the postseason, where a mistake can lead to defeat.

Just ask the 1996 Patriots.

Not Playing Like They Did in the Regular Season at Home

Tom Lynn/Associated Press

As I mentioned in a previous slide, the Packers have played with a swagger at home this season. They have outscored their opponents by a 288-143 margin, and they have gone 7-0 so far this year at Lambeau Field.

This is very important, as the Packers have a real chance to play all of their playoff games at home this postseason before Super Bowl XLIX.

Of the seven games played at home this year, four were blowouts. The Packers beat the Vikings by 32 points, the Panthers by 21 points, the Bears by 41 points and the Eagles by 33 points.

In the other three victories over the Jets, Patriots and Falcons, the average point differential was six points.

The Packers need to play with the bravado they showed in the regular season at home in the postseason.

They need to invoke the invincible aura that Lambeau Field used to have, before the Packers posted their first home postseason loss to the Falcons in the 2002 playoffs.

Green Bay has played that way so far in 2014. It has one more game at Lambeau against the Lions on Week 17.

The Lions know all about not winning in Wisconsin, as they haven't been able to win there since the 1991 season.

Bottom line, the Packers need to channel the way they have played so far in the 2014 regular season at home in the postseason.

In other words, play with an attitude—an unbeatable attitude.