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The Green Bay Packers haven’t played a game as important as Sunday night’s showdown in San Francisco since the 2016 NFC Championship Game in Atlanta.
A significant injury to Aaron Rodgers in 2017 and a tumultuous final season under coach Mike McCarthy in 2018 led to back-to-back years without the postseason. In fact, the team’s playoff hopes were crumbling at this point both years: The Packers were 5-5 entering Week 12 in 2017 and 4-5-1 in 2018.
Sunday night’s primetime battle between the 8-2 Packers and 9-1 49ers will determine the No. 1 seed in the NFC after 12 weeks.
“It’s a big one, we obviously know that. It’s going to be a real big deal this week,” receiver Davante Adams said Wednesday. “It’s a huge game, it’s a decider in the NFC. It’s going to take a lot, the whole team.”
The game will be just the sixth between two teams with two or fewer losses at this point in the season since 2007. The last two winners went on to win the Super Bowl (Broncos in 2015, Seahawks in 2013).
“We’re all aware of where we’re at in the seeding going into Week 12 and what’s in front of us and the opportunities,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “There’s still a lot of football to be played and a lot can happen. You’re in denial if you don’t think about the implications of a ‘dub’ or an ‘L’ this week and how that affects stuff down the line. The way we look at it, we’re going to have to win there one time. It’d be nice to get it done this week.”
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The Packers can either win in San Francisco on Sunday night or force themselves to do it at some point during the postseason.
According to the New York Times playoff predictor, the Packers have a 95 percent chance of making the playoffs and a 53 percent chance of securing a first-round bye. With a win over the 49ers, they’d improve their percentages to 99 percent making the playoffs, 72 percent getting a bye and almost 70 percent finishing 12-4 or better.
A loss to the 49ers would drop the Packers to 8-3 and make a first-round bye much more unlikely for Matt LaFleur’s team.
The stakes are high. And the majority of the players who were with Rodgers during that NFC title game loss in Atlanta are no longer in Green Bay. This is a new team, with a new challenge and a new opportunity.
A trip to the Super Bowl isn’t on the line on Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium, but the winner will emerge as the favorite to pave the path to Miami in the NFC playoffs.
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