Packers Earn Playoff Bye Week Needed to Rest Injured Stars

From an outsider's perspective, the allure of the 2014 Green Bay Packers faded quickly. Kicking off the season in Seattle against the latest Super Bowl Champions, the Packers lost 36-16.

Losing by 20 points isn't exactly the way you'd like to start a year. More surprises came up early in 2014, too. The second game of the year was a home match against the New York Jets, who had narrowly escaped a loss to the Oakland Raiders at home the week before. In a tightly contested battle which came down to late in the game, the squad beat the team which would eventually finish last in the AFC East by single digits, a 31-24 effort.

In what may have been the largest shock of the season, Green Bay visited the Detroit Lions on the road and scored their fewest points of the year: Seven. A 19-7 final, with a 1-2 record, which could have easily been 0-3, sent fans into chaos.

If we made a dollar every time someone called for defensive coordinator Dom Capers' head in the first month-and-a-half of the season, we wouldn't have to work.

Immediately after stumbling out of the gate, the Packers rattled off nine wins in their next 10 games, losing only to the New Orleans Saints in the Mercedes-Benz Super Dome in a prime-time match. The stadium has been noted for years as one of the toughest fields to win on as a visitor, and making the game a night event played right into what the city loves.

Going into the last week of the regular season, Green Bay was 11-4, good enough to have clinched a playoff berth, but their seeding was very much still in the air. With help, they could have been the top seed in the NFC. If they won their final game, they would have at least been second, and if they lost their match, they would have been the sixth and final seed in the playoffs.

Their final opponent? None other than the Detroit Lions, who capped off their terrible three-week start at the jump of 2014.

Matt Ludtke/Associated Press

Avenging their two-score loss, the Packers, on the back of an injured Aaron Rodgers, won by double digits in a 30-20 game.

Earning the bye week before their first playoff match, Green Bay is in dire need of the rest. Rodgers has now had issues with his calf in back-to-back weeks. Despite returning to the Detroit game after missing significant time to locker-room testing, his revival featured a clear, visible limp.

Getting the potential MVP of the NFL at the most important position in the sport to 100 percent before the series of sledgehammers that the playoffs are begin should be the top priority of everyone in the organization. With more than a dozen days to do so, it's clear why Rodgers returned to take the NFC North title: The recovery time they earned was so important.

Mike Roemer/Associated Press

Not only is Rodgers a key contributor fighting through injury, but Davon House, a nickel boundary cornerback, was inactive due to a shoulder injury, which still might not healed by the time the Packers suit up for January football.

At times during the season, especially during the Atlanta Falcons matchup on Monday Night Football, House looked like the best cornerback on the squad, over the more veteran Tramon Williams and the recently re-signed Sam Shields.

If you're looking at two players to whom the week off means the most, it's hard to argue Rodgers and House aren't the answers to the question.

Not only does the rest give benefits to individuals, but Mike McCarthy-led teams seem to have an interesting trend post-bye weeks. Coming off a bye, McCarthy's squads have a 9-2 record in his career.

That mark is even more impressive when giving context to those two losses. One came in 2008 against the Tennessee Titans in overtime, who eventually finished the regular season at 13-3, making them the top seed in the NFL. The other loss occurred in 2011, a playoff loss to the New York Giants, who finished the postseason hoisting the Lombardi Trophy after a Super Bowl victory against the New England Patriots.

So while some, like Monday Morning Quarterback's Greg A. Bedard, are calling for a one-and-done shot from McCarthy's team, the evidence is against a post-bye loss for the Packers.

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Two teams who earned a week off are ripe for a one-and-done postseason, writes @GregABedard: http://t.co/7uhdShqVeR pic.twitter.com/5fQPsY9RmI

— The MMQB (@theMMQB) December 29, 2014"

Whoever faces the team in the Divisional Round, be it the Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers or Dallas Cowboys, will need to bring their A-game to steal a winter win in Lambeau Field.