For the second season in a row and the third time with quarterback Aaron Rodgers at the helm, the Green Bay Packers will be the NFC’s No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
The Packers’ win Sunday night over the Minnesota Vikings, coupled with the Arizona Cardinals’ defeat of the Dallas Cowboys earlier in the day, wrapped up the top seed for Green Bay.
Along with ensuring the NFC will have to go through Lambeau Field, the Packers locked up the only first-round bye in the conference as this is the second NFL season under the new 14-team format.
The Packers' win also clinched a wild-card berth for the surging Philadelphia Eagles. Philly is in by virtue of their Sunday win over the Washington Football Team and the Vikings' loss. Minnesota is now eliminated from postseason contention.
The Eagles improved to 9-7 with their fifth win in a row just a season after a disastrous 4-11-1 showing. Philadelphia’s playoff berth also puts multiple NFC East teams in the postseason for the first time since 2018, when -- like this season -- the Eagles grabbed a wild-card spot after the Cowboys won the division.
Green Bay (13-3), the NFC North winner, has now won five straight with its regular-season finale at Detroit the last obstacle before it embarks on another playoff run after back-to-back trips to the NFC Championship Game.
This marks the fourth time since 1970 that the Packers have earned the top seed in their conference, per NFL Research, but the only time they advanced to the Super Bowl as the No. 1 seed was in 1996 when they won Super Bowl XXXI.
Head coach Matt LaFleur, Rodgers and Co. clearly have designs on changing that.
It continues a remarkable run for LaFleur to start his head-coaching career as he’s now piloted the Pack to division crowns in each of his three seasons at the helm. Prior to LaFleur being hired ahead of the 2019 campaign, the Packers had missed the postseason in back-to-back campaigns.
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