After four weeks, the Green Bay Packers sit at 2-2 in the NFC, along with four other teams – the Washington Commanders, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams. Of those teams, the Packers have scored the most points, but given up the second most points (behind Washington). So, what are the Packers’ playoff chances? If the playoffs were to start today, the Pack would be packing to go home, with the Falcons being the only 2-2 team to sneak in.
BetWisconsin.com – your source for Wisconsin sports betting – decided to see what 2-2 starts mean historically in the NFL. Utilizing ChampsorChumps.us, we researched how teams ended up the rest of the NFL season after starting their season with an 2-2 record since 2012. There have been 110 teams that have started 2-2 in the last 10 years.
Performance of NFL Teams Starting 2-2
Check out BetWisconsin.com also for the Packers’ Super Bowl odds.
Focusing on Rest of Packers Season
Being 2-2 after four is far from bad news in the NFL. Over the last 10 years, 110 teams have started off all square and 40% of them went on to make it to the playoffs. Nearly 75 percent of those teams won in the wild card round, and 44% of those winners went on to win the following week in the Divisional Round. After that, as you would expect, it gets tougher. Only three out of the 14 Divisional Round winners went on to win the Conference Championship, but two of those three did win the Super Bowl.
So, if you have a futures bet on the Packers, they still have a chance to win the Super Bowl, although it’s a little less than one out of 50. Depending on who your sportsbook of choice is, you’re now likely to get +5000 or more on Green Bay to go all the way.
At FanDuel Sportsbook Wisconsin, for instance, the Packers are +5500 to win it all. But they are the second pick – behind Detroit (-195) – to win the NFC North at +350. But as a Lions fan said to me recently, “65 years of futility does not have them over-confident.”
This season, the Packers have been slight underdogs in all four games and have covered in three – although they still lost by 1 to the Falcons, who were -3. Obviously, the odds might change depending on injuries and how a team is playing, but going forward Green Bay is only favored by 1 at the Las Vegas Raiders, by 2½ at home against the Rams, by 3½ at home for Tampa Bay, by 1 at Carolina, and by 2 at home against the Bears in the season finale. They’re still underdogs at the Giants in Week 14, but that’s likely to change after Monday night’s blow-out to Seattle.
If Green Bay can win the five games in which they’re favored, beat either the Giants or Broncos and split with the Vikings, that will get them to nine wins, which could be enough. One upset win at the Steelers, or home against the Chargers or Chiefs, should clinch another game in January.
One other reason for optimism: Since 2000, the Packers have started the season 2-2 seven times. They made the playoffs five of those years and made it to the Conference Championship in 2014. The reason for pessimism is that many of the former reasons for optimism are no longer with the team.
