Green Bay Packers' Playoff Chances Already Ended Last Week

Last Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings came into Lambeau Field and beat the host Green Bay Packers 38-26. In the process, they made a statement: “We are the better team.”

Packers fans made a statement, too, booing their former signal caller when he took the field and, for a while at least, when he touched the ball. Apparently, he was wrong to exclaim that “real Packers fans would understand” his joining the Vikings.

Or maybe the stadium was filled with others who, like me, are not "real fans" in The Traitor’s eyes because our world does not center around him like his does.

I have lived and died every fall Sunday with the Green Bay Packers for over three decades, which is precisely why his actions are unforgiveable—I was a fan of this team before he came along, and I remain a fan after he has left.

(Okay, one more time: you are either a Packers fan or a Traitor fan. You can still like him and be a real fan. You can even think it is okay for him to play in Minnesota—unlike his world, in mine there is room for someone who disagrees with me. But if you rooted for him to win on Sunday, I hope there is no room on our bandwagon if Rodgers is ever surrounded with enough talent to put up the titles commiserate with his performance.)

The Traitor’s reaction once the game was in hand—as though he had won a playoff game— also made a statement: This game was personal for him. In my mind, this confirmed that his choice to go to Minnesota, the only team he admitted he even considered, was motivated by revenge as much as a chance to win a title.

Then again, for all intents and purposes, the victory did secure the division for the Vikings. The Chicago Bears, with two games left against the Vikings and two-and-a-half games back, still could certainly catch Minnesota.

But the Packers were considered the Vikings' chief contender coming into the season because of the talent at so many positions. Green Bay has one of the top four units in the receiving corps and defensive secondary as well as a quarterback in the top quarter of the league, similar to the Bears.

The Packers also have owned the division, winning it for seven of 14 seasons before their injury-plagued 6-10 2008 campaign. Even that year, only Green Bay won the head-to-heads with every other team in the division, getting two of its six wins over division rivals that finished with a winning record.

Now Green Bay’s chance at an NFC North title is a pipe dream only the most ridiculous optimist could foresee. The Packers are as far back as the Bears and cannot win any tiebreak unless there is a three-way tie.

Moreover, Green Bay still has the toughest part of the schedule coming after Thanksgiving: vs. Baltimore, at Chicago, at Pittsburgh, vs. Seattle, and at Arizona. There are likely three more losses in there, plus a tough game on Nov. 15 against the Cowboys.

In other words, even before today's loss, a 9-7 finish was in the cards.

Even if the Packers somehow shore up their offensive line and manage to go 10-6, it is unlikely the Vikings will win just three more games, and even more unlikely the Bears also end at 10-6 by both winning against Minnesota and losing the game at home against the Packers, forcing a three-way tie.

The Falcons and Saints are virtually locks to make the playoffs, and three teams in the NFC East (Philadelphia, New York, and Dallas) will be fighting for two spots. Thus, the second-place team in the North will see its season end Jan. 3.

In other words, I will still have to hear all the Rodgers-bashers say he has still not led us to the playoffs, totally ignoring that wins and losses are not all on the quarterback.

It’s the same argument I always hated for everyone who made Joe Montana the undisputed greatest quarterback of all-time, even though I think it’s very disputable.

Thank you, Ted Thompson, for failing to put this team in a position to win and adding fuel to this controversy that you could have avoided in the first place. If we don't win half of our remaining games, I will go from calling for your job to calling for a mob.