The final week of the 2023 NFL regular season is here, and it’s do-or-die for many teams that are trying to punch their ticket to the dance. One team looking to return to the postseason after missing out last year is the Green Bay Packers.
Jordan Love’s first season as the full-time starter has featured plenty of highs and lows. Green Bay started the year 2-5, but won four out of its next five games to get back to .500. The Packers then split the next four games, leaving them at 8-8 entering the final week of the season.
The Packers currently hold the final wild-card spot in the NFC, but their work is not done just yet. On Sunday afternoon, Green Bay has to defeat the rival Chicago Bears to guarantee its spot in the playoffs, but that isn’t the only way the Packers can make the postseason. Let’s take a look at some clinching scenarios:
Packers playoff clinching scenarios
- Win vs. Bears
- Tie at Bears AND Seahawks loss or tie AND Saints loss or tie
- Tie at Bears AND Seahawks loss AND Buccaneers loss
- Tie at Bears AND Seahawks tie AND Buccaneers loss
- Vikings loss or tie AND Seahawks loss AND Buccaneers loss
- Vikings loss or tie AND Seahawks loss AND Saints loss
The easiest way for the Packers to make the playoffs is just by taking care of business against Chicago. The Packers have won nine straight games against the Bears, one shy of matching the longest win streak by either team in the history of the rivalry.
If the Packers lose to the Bears, all is not lost — but it makes their situation much more difficult. Ignoring unlikely “ties,” Green Bay would need the Vikings to lose to the Detroit Lions, the Seahawks to lose to the Arizona Cardinals and either the Buccaneers to lose to the Carolina Panthers, or Saints to lose to the Atlanta Falcons.
If the Packers make the playoffs, they would be the youngest playoff team since the NFL expanded to a 16-game schedule in 1978. They have the most receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns recorded by first and second-year players in NFL history.
