Packers Clinch NFC North: Latest Comments and Reaction

With their Week 17 win over the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers earned the NFC North title and clinched a playoff berth for the eighth straight season Sunday.

The team's Twitter account celebrated the moment:

It's a remarkable turnaround considering the team was barely treading water after a 42-24 loss to the Washington Redskins in Week 11.

It was their fifth loss in six games and dropped them to 4-6 on the season.

During that stretch, head coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers were reported to be at odds, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

But Rodgers shot those rumors down quickly, per Michael Cohen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (h/t USA Today): "Don't waste your time reading crap like that."

On top of that, he stated the Packers could still "run the table" after the Week 11 loss, per ESPN.com's Rob Demovsky.

Regardless of the rumors and his job status seemingly being in jeopardy, McCarthy remained calm, pointing out how well the team has performed under him over the past decade.

"I'm not into shock and awe or torch the landscape. I'm a builder. I'm a developer. You build a culture, you invest in the culture," he said, per Demovsky. "We look to adjust and tweak on a daily basis. … We have not played well enough. We're dialed into how it happened and why it happened."

"Let's state the facts: I'm a highly successful NFL coach," McCarthy added, per Demovsky. "With that, I've never looked at the ride to this point as smooth."

But the Packers rattled off six straight wins to end the year, which included a 38-10 beatdown of the NFC West champion Seattle Seahawks in which the defense came up big:

It was a surprising change of pace for a defense that ranked 23rd in the league heading into the Week 17 showdown with the Lions, per Pro-Football-Reference.com.

While the Packers streaked, the Lions sputtered, losing two straight games in Weeks 15 and 16, which allowed Green Bay to get back into the playoff hunt.

The Packers have mostly relied on Rodgers, who earned a spot in his sixth Pro Bowl while throwing for 4,428 yards and 40 touchdowns with just seven interceptions. He has 18 touchdowns and zero interceptions in his last seven games.

Meanwhile, a subpar rushing game that was led by Eddie Lacy and James Starks, both of whom are injured, hasn't provided much of an alternative. But the Packers have found a way to piece together a run game between converted receiver Ty Montgomery, fullback Aaron Ripkowski and Seahawks castoff Christine Michael.

Green Bay will enter the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the NFC, which means it will host the New York Giants in the Wild Card Round on Sunday.