The Packers want to change history against the best teams in the NFL

MINNEAPOLIS — The Green Bay Packers are running out of chances to beat one of the NFC’s top teams, and their next chance could be their last if things don’t change.

The loss against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at US Bank Stadium – as close as it may have been, after a furious comeback in the fourth quarter it was 27:25 before the home team needed the last two minutes and 18 seconds without the Packers got the ball back – left the Packers winless in five tries against the NFC’s upper echelon.

Two games against the Vikings (14-2), two losses. Two games against the Detroit Lions (13-2), two losses. One game against the Philadelphia Eagles (13-3), one loss. The Packers are 11-0 against the rest of their roster and only next weekend’s regular season finale against the Chicago Bears (4-12) remains before the playoffs.

“We have to take it upon ourselves to change that narrative,” Packers safety Xavier McKinney said after Sunday’s loss. “We can’t just sit up here and talk about it. As if we had already been through this feeling. Either we change it or we don’t change it. If we don’t do it, it won’t be good for us.”

As a wild-card playoff team, the Packers could potentially avoid one of the top teams if they secure the No. 6 seed. That would likely mean a playoff berth with either the NFC West or NFC South winner.

Should they fall to the seventh and final seed, the Packers would face the second-seeded Eagles. Either the Vikings or Lions will receive the top seed, while the other will receive the top wild card spot.

“I think we absolutely believe we can win one of these games,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “The bottom line is we have to do it. And we have to earn the right to play against these guys again. And it won’t be easy. It’s going to be a hard road. But I think it is.” A challenge that we are happy to accept.”

To get to the Super Bowl, they’ll need to win more than one of them, but at this point, one would be a good start.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re not going to say, ‘Oh, we’re not a great team because we didn’t play well,'” said Packers running back Josh Jacobs, who lost a fumble early in Sunday’s game. “We’ll just get into it and figure it out.”

Sunday’s game followed a familiar script. A slow start put the Packers in a 20-3 hole. It was a similar story in the Week 4 loss at Lambeau Field to the Vikings, who led the game 28-0 but then eked out a 31-29 win.

Or the Week 9 loss to the Lions, who went 24-3 en route to a 24-14 victory. Or the Week 14 loss to the Lions, who went 17-7 en route to a 34-31 victory.

Still, after another loss to one of the top teams in the conference, there was no sense of being so close yet so far. This led quarterback Jordan Love to give this assessment of the difference between his team and the others: “Ah, not much. Not much.”

Love wasn’t sharp early on. He started with 10-for-19 passes for 64 yards over 2½ quarters before finishing with 19-for-30 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown.

“We know it wasn’t good enough in a lot of areas tonight,” Love said. “You know, we had a very slow start. Obviously not getting any points didn’t hurt us, it helped us. But yeah, I mean, obviously we know what kind of team we are, and there’s just a lot of that stuff to clean up.

The loss dropped the Packers to 1-4 in NFC North games. If they beat the Bears in the Finals, they would be the first team since the AFL/NFL merger in 1970 to win 12 games and have a losing record in division play.

If they lose to the Bears, they will have the worst divisional record of any team since the merger with 11 wins, according to ESPN Research.

It’s possible the Packers open the playoffs at the Rams (10-6), who may be the best team the Packers have beaten this year. However, the Rams were beset with injuries at this point.

“I don’t think that’s true,” Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon said, disputing the claim that they didn’t beat good teams. “The Rams will be in the playoffs, we beat them. We lost to Philly by what, three points? We lost to Minnesota by two. We lost to Detroit by three. We just have to finish. It’s not about who we are.” We can’t and can’t beat. If we figure out how to finish, we’ll win games.

“It’s now time for the playoffs. It’s win or go home. Either we figure out how to complete the game or we go back to the manger. We have to find out.”