Is The Pack Really Back?

Seifert is ESPN's writer for the NFC North & thus would presumably be biased in favor of the winner of its championship with two games left:

The Packers have won eight of nine games since starting 2-3, and their newfound expertise in winning "ugly" has girded them for the type of competition they'll face in the NFC playoffs.

At the moment, the Packers are the conference's third seed. When you look at the Atlanta Falcons (No. 1) and the San Francisco 49ers (No. 2), do you see a team fundamentally better than the Packers? I don't, and some of the Packers' most important figures are coming around to the same conclusion.

"Not to diminish anything," McCarthy said, "but we are just getting started. We feel that way as a football team. Not trying to be arrogant, [but] we feel that a lot better football is in front of us. It was an extremely important game for everybody involved today, but we fully expected to come in here and win this thing."

McCarthy's strong talk was reminiscent of his message during the Packers' run to Super Bowl XLV two years ago. The Packers' confidence was illustrated Sunday in the decision to hold out defensive back Charles Woodson because, Woodson said, "we felt like they could come down here and get a 'W' whether I played or not."

The Packers have some issues to work through, including the continued struggles of place-kicker Mason Crosby, who missed from 42 and 43 yards Sunday. McCarthy's own hubris helped the Bears keep Sunday's game close; afterward McCarthy admitted that his ill-fated decision to approve a trick play on a fourth-quarter punt return was "clearly not the highlight of my coaching career."

Check current playoff seedings and figure scenarios through the end of the season. Playoff Machine But as we've discussed multiple times this season, the Packers have morphed into a team that grinds out imperfectly played games. An interloper might have watched Sunday's affair and concluded the Packers aren't championship material because they couldn't put away a depleted opponent. Those of us who have watched the Packers all season know they have demonstrated their skill in manufacturing victories.

I know Green Bay plays the Vikings next week & I believe the Titans later, or perhaps it's vice versa. The Vikes are starting to pick up momentum and who knows how Adrian Peterson is going to perform on his way to attempting to beat Eric Dickerson's NFL rushing record?

I just don't want to see another pitiful loss to the Giants as happened last year and several years before that in the playoffs.