The Green Bay Packers Are Back In The Playoff Hunt After Stunning The Dallas Cowboys

Can one win save a season?

Can one victory rescue a team that was on life-support?

The Green Bay Packers believe it can.

The Packers snapped a five-game losing streak Sunday by rallying from a 14-point, fourth quarter deficit and defeating visiting Dallas, 31-28, in overtime.

Instead of sitting 3-7 and staring at the franchise’s first six-game losing streak in 34 years, the Packers improved to 4-6. And while that’s twice as many losses as any season during Matt LaFleur’s four years as Green Bay’s coach, it sure beats the alternative.

“We’re just resilient,” Green Bay running back Aaron Jones said. “You’ve got a bunch of guys who are not going to lay down, you’re going to keep fighting until it hits zero, zero, zero on that clock. I’m just proud of these guys for not giving up. But I knew that all along, that they wouldn’t. So, I’ll go to war with ‘em any day.”

In the watered-down NFC, the Packers undoubtedly remain in the playoff hunt.

The top seven teams reach the postseason, and Green Bay is currently tied with Atlanta and Arizona for ninth place in the conference.

Minnesota (8-1) has a five-game lead over the Packers in the loss column and would have to collapse to lose the NFC North title. Philadelphia (8-0) might be the NFL’s best team, while fellow NFC East teams like the New York Giants (7-2) and Dallas (6-3) are well positioned for playoff berths, as well.

The division winners from the NFC South and West will also earn trips to the postseason. Currently, Tampa Bay (5-5) and Seattle (6-4) lead those underwhelming divisions.

San Francisco (5-4) currently holds the seventh and final playoff spot, meaning the Packers are just 1 ½ games out of the postseason race with nearly half of a season left.

“You hope it propels you and gives you some confidence, because I do think it’s tough anytime you go through a stretch like that,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of ending a month-long losing streak. “It’s hard to shut out the negativity.

“I’m being honest when I say this, I don’t read anything, but I just know the world we live in and for these guys, it’s just, it’s tough. There’s a lot of negativity out there and you just can’t let that filter in and affect what you believe, and that’s something that we talk about all the time. You have to believe in yourself, you have to believe in the guys next to you.”

The Packers have reason to believe thanks to a few positive developments Sunday. They included:

1. Christian Watson

After a brutal rookie season, Watson gave Green Bay’s vertical game an enormous lift by catching three touchdown passes. Watson became just the fourth rookie wideout in team history to catch three touchdowns in a game and the first since James Lofton in 1978.

The 6-foot-4, 208-pound Watson ran a blazing 4.32-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in February. He also posted a terrific score of 38 on the 50-question Wonderlic test.

Watson had terrific numbers in the vertical jump (38-1/2”), the broad jump (11-4) and has big hands (10 1/8”). But Watson couldn’t stay on the field and struggled with drops throughout his first season, and entered Sunday’s game with 10 catches and no touchdowns.

Now, the Packers might just have a legitimate threat in the passing game.

“I think that we have a lot of weapons within our offense and defenses are going to have to start covering all of it, whether it’s the run game or the pass game,” Watson said. “We have guys that are able to make plays and we have a legendary one at quarterback who can make something out nothing. So, I think it just shows what we’re capable of and we’ve just got to continue building on it.”

2. Commitment to run

Green Bay ran the ball 39 of 59 plays Sunday — a whopping 66.1% of the time.

It wasn’t a surprise that the Packers finished with 207 yards and averaged 5.3 yards per carry. They’ve run the ball with great effectiveness all year.

The real surprise is they stayed committed to the run after abandoning it far too often in 2022.

“I think we can run the football pretty well and you got to in the winter time,” Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “With the question marks in protection at times and the health of our receivers, I feel like this is definitely a formula that can work for us. We still have to throw it downfield, but until people are going to give us a heavy dose of one high, we’re going to have to run the football and then use the play action to take some shots down the field.”

3. Leaky defense shines

The Packers’ defense melted down in the second half of losses to the New York Giants, New York Jets and Washington during their losing streak. Against Dallas, the defense came up big late.

The Cowboys had the ball four times in the fourth quarter and overtime with a chance to ice the game. They punted twice, turned it over on downs once and ran out of time at the end of regulation.

Dallas ran 23 plays for 87 yards (3.8) on its final four drives and didn’t score.

“The mood is really good,” said Green Bay safety Rudy Ford, who had two interceptions. “It feels great to get a win, trying to end the losing streak. Everybody is just continuing to work and take everything one game at a time.”

Green Bay’s final seven foes currently have a combined record of 38-26 (.594). The Packers still face four division leaders (Tennessee, at Philadelphia, at Miami, Minnesota) and meet three sub-.500 teams (at Chicago, Los Angeles Rams, Detroit).

Playoffstatus.com gives Green Bay just a 9% chance to make the postseason. So, the odds are obviously long.

But the Packers are cautiously optimistic Sunday’s win over Dallas can propel them in the right direction these final two months.

“The vibe in the locker room, I think it’s always been positive, it’s always been strong,” wideout Allen Lazard said. “And today, it just grew even more. We knew that we have been disappointing ourselves, the organization, the fans and everything, and today, I think we were able to just be able to get over that hump and figure out the win.”