The Green Bay Packers might be the best third-place team in NFL history.
The Packers can’t win the division despite an 11-4 record, because the Detroit Lions or Minnesota Vikings are each 13-2 and one of them has to win (or they tie) when they meet in Week 18. But the Packers are on the short list of teams that can win a Super Bowl.
Green Bay didn’t have a tough challenge on Monday night against a depleted New Orleans Saints team, but they did what elite teams do and thoroughly dominated a bad team. The Packers scored touchdowns on each of their first three drives and it was practically over after that. A Saints team that had Spencer Rattler, Kendre Miller and Foster Moreau as their top playmakers wasn’t coming back from a 21-0 hole. Green Bay throttled down in the second half and cruised to a 34-0 win.
The Packers’ shutout was the first in the NFL this season. The Saints came in having been shut out just once in their previous 369 games, according to ESPN.
The Packers have been good all season. They haven’t lost to a team all season with worse than a 12-3 record. They’ve just been overshadowed in their own division. But with QB Jordan Love looking as healthy and sharp as he has all season, and Josh Jacobs on a tear scoring touchdowns, the Packers aren’t a team anyone will want to face, even if they’re a No. 6 seed in the NFC.
Saints are no match for Packers
It’s sad watching the Saints late this season. Against Green Bay they were without Derek Carr, Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed and Taysom Hill on offense. It’s hard to compete while missing that many key players on one side of the ball.
On Monday night, the Saints looked like a team that was not enjoying the Lambeau Field cold, knew it couldn’t compete and just wanted to get things over as soon as possible.
There were some clock management issues at the end of the first half. The Saints were slow to call a timeout with less than a minute left, then lost 24 seconds when they didn’t realize the clock was running after a fumble out of bounds. That’s on interim coach Darren Rizzi. Then Spencer Rattler took a 14-yard sack when he held the ball too long, which cost New Orleans a chance to at least get a field goal.
Not that the mishandling of timeouts mattered much. The Packers were up 21-0 with more than six minutes left in the second quarter. There’s no mercy rule in football, but the only thing keeping the Saints from getting beat by 50 was that Packers coach Matt LaFleur had no reason to rub it in.
Packers are peaking late
The Packers’ offense has been adjusting as the season has gone on. They seem to have finally settled on their identity.
Love has been good but he hasn’t been a high-volume passer lately. The Packers are funneling a lot through Jacobs, who scored again Monday. He has a touchdown in six straight games. Love is perfectly capable when the Packers need to lean on him, especially now that he looks completely over some early-season injuries. He was 12 of 18 for 127 yards in the first half on Monday night.
Green Bay is mostly tuning up for the playoffs, since the only real intrigue left for the Packers is what wild-card seed they end up with. It’s helping, because as each week passes the Packers look more and more like a serious threat in the NFC.
The Packers weren’t really tested on Monday. The Saints are nowhere near a playoff-level team. But Green Bay has been showing the past few weeks that it’s capable of beating anyone in the NFL.
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