Green Bay Packers: Game-by-Game Likelihood the Pack Goes 16-0

With a win over the New York Giants in Week 13, the Green Bay Packers remain undefeated with a 12-0 record and a relatively easy schedule ahead of them.

Though we've already seen the New England Patriots achieve a perfect 16-0 regular-season record in 2007, ending the year undefeated is not an easy task, even for the most talented teams.

The Packers have four games left on their schedule. In the following slides, I will examine the likelihood that the team can win out in each and head into the postseason without a loss.

Week 14: vs. Oakland Raiders

Believe it or not, the Oakland Raiders might just be the team with the best shot to defeat the Green Bay Packers in their remaining four games.

Of course, all of this depends on if the team that lost to the Miami Dolphins in Week 13 is the team that shows up next Sunday or if it's the one we've seen earlier this season. Injuries have been the biggest problem for Oakland, and they are the single-biggest reason for their 34-14 drubbing at the hands of the Dolphins.

Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer was without wide receivers Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore; backup Chaz Schilens also left the game with a foot injury. Running back Darren McFadden has been sidelined several weeks with an injury of his own, and while he may not be healthy enough to take on the Packers in Week 14, his loss won't be so significant if the wide receivers return.

A healthy Raiders team is just the kind of unpredictable opponent that can catch the Packers off-guard. However, if they continue to stumble as they did in Week 13 when their offense held the ball for just 20 minutes, they won't have a chance.

But if the Raiders are healthy and playing as well as they are capable of, then they have a 50 percent chance of beating Green Bay. If Ford and Moore are still sidelined, the Raiders' chances drop to 30 percent.

Week 15: at Kansas City Chiefs

Whether it's Tyler Palko or Kyle Orton under center for the Kansas City Chiefs, the team will simply not be able to put up enough offense to even begin to threaten a defeat of the Green Bay Packers in Week 15.

Through their last five games, the Chiefs have scored a total of just 35 points. They've lost four of those five contests as well, and would have lost their most recent game if they didn't get the benefit of facing a Chicago Bears squad that was suffering from injuries to both starting quarterback Jay Cutler and running back Matt Forte.

Kansas City has the league's 21st-ranked defense, while the Packers' top-ranked offense has managed to best some of the NFL's best defensive squads.

While no win is truly easy, it's hard to imagine a scenario in which the Chiefs come out on top over the league's best team. They have a five percent chance of besting the Packers in Week 15.

Week 16: vs. Chicago Bears

Just a few short weeks ago, it seemed like the second meeting of the year between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers could result in a Packers loss.

So much has changed for the Bears that it's hard to imagine a way for the team to pull out a Week 16 win over the potentially still-undefeated Packers. Only if injured Bears Jay Cutler and Matt Forte were healthy and fully active for the game would Chicago have a chance at winning.

But with Caleb Hanie under center and the majority of the running duties falling to Marion Barber, it would take the Bears' best defensive performance in recent memory to stop the Packers' league-leading offense.

Just one or two ill-timed injuries can reshape a team's fortunes in a few short minutes. Such is the case with the Bears, who went from playoff contender and threat to the Packers' undefeated season to one of the league's most troubled teams in the course of two weeks.

Should Chicago's offensive starters not return in time for this contest, then the team has just a 20 percent chance of being the first team to defeat the Packers this year.

Week 17: vs. Detroit Lions

If the Green Bay Packers are 15-0 by the time they meet the Detroit Lions for the second time this year, then clearly it's just the Lions standing between the team and a perfect regular-season record.

There are two reasons why the Packers could fall to the Lions in Week 17:

First, should the team have made it to 15-0, they've likely clinched both a first-round bye in the playoffs and the NFC North title.

They could choose to rest their starters and not risk injury while they attempt to win their second Super Bowl championship in as many years. With their starters on the bench while the Lions' first-team plays a full four quarters, the Packers are sure to fall.

Second, the Lions are still in playoff contention, and considering how tight the NFC Wild Card race has become, Detroit may be fighting for a playoff spot up to and including Week 17.

If that's the case, then they'll be heading into Green Bay with guns blazing, looking for that one last win that would secure them a postseason berth. At that point, Green Bay will have nothing to lose but their potentially perfect record, making this meeting between the two teams less difficult for a Lions team that still may have a lot to play for.

Even if the Lions' myriad problems caught up with them enough to leave them out of the postseason by the time Week 17 rolls around, pride is simply at stake. The Lions have been quite the strong team this season and have had their best year in a long time.

Capping off the season with a win over Green Bay, no matter what the postseason picture looks like, would do a lot for the team's momentum heading into 2012.

Should Green Bay be 15-0 in Week 17, I give the Lions a 65 percent chance of pulling out the victory; not great odds to be sure, but it's about as good as it gets against a team that's proved itself so dominant time and time again in 2011.