Packers Playoff Possibilities

The Packers are currently the #5 seed in the NFC behind New Orleans (#1 seed: 13-2), Minnesota (#2 seed: 11-3), Philadelphia (#3 seed: 11-4) and Arizona (#4 seed: 10-5).

The Packers have a the tiebreaker advantage over the Dallas Cowboys (currently #6 seed: 10-5) based on their head-to-head victory.

If everything stays the same after Week 17 of the NFL season, the Packers (#5 seed) would play back-to-back weeks at the Arizona Cardinals (#4 seed).

But, there are some remote possibilities heading into Week 17 of the NFL season. One thing we definitely know for sure... the Packers CAN NOT play New Orleans, Philadelphia or Dallas.

• Scenario #1 -- Philadelphia plays Dallas next week for the NFC East division title. If they win, the Eagles would be the #2 or #3 seed and the Cowboys would be #6 (the previously mentioned Packers tiebreaker assures them the #5 seed in this scenario). If the Eagles lose, they are a wild card, and two wild cards can't play each other in the first round.

• Scenario #2 -- The Packers are most likely to play the Arizona Cardinals. If the Packers beat the Cardinals on Sunday, the Cardinals will remain the #4 seed and the Packers would remain the #5 seed, hence the back-to-back rematch. If the Cardinals beat the Packers and the Cowboys beat the Eagles, the Packers would fall to the #6 seed and the Cardinals would move up to the #3 seed, hence the back-to-back rematch.

• Scenario #3 -- The Packers could also play the Vikings, but it's a very, very remote possibility. Three things need to happen (or technically, four things need to happen). 1) The Vikings need to lose twice, which would drop them to the #4 seed. 2) The Cardinals need to beat the Packers which would drop Green Bay to the #6 seed and move Arizona up to the #3 seed, but... 3) The Eagles would need to beat the Cowboys, moving the Eagles into the #2 seed and the Cowboys into the #6 seed. The Eagles (12-4) would be the #2 seed because they would have the second best record in the NFC at 12-4. The Vikings (11-5) would drop to the #4 seed because they would lose a tiebreaker with Arizona (11-5) based on the Cardinals' head-to-head victory. The Packers (10-6) would be tied with the Cowboys (10-6), but hold the aforementioned tiebreaker. Since the #5 seed plays the #4 seed, the Packers would play the Vikings in Minnesota.

The Cardinals could also jump to the #2 seed in the NFC with a total collapse by all the teams in front of them, but it WILL NOT affect the teams Green Bay has a chance to play. Simply put, the Packers will be playing either the Cardinals or the Vikings in the first round of the NFC playoffs.