Green Bay’s 24-12 victory over the Los Angeles Rams Monday night at Lambeau Field kept the Packers’ playoff hopes alive.
Sitting at 6-8, in 10th place in the NFC, with three games remaining, Aaron Rodgers believes the Pack can run the table and potentially reach the postseason.
“I do. Now we’ve got to play three better football teams, but I do (believe), definitely,” he said via the official transcript.
The Packers are coming off back-to-back wins over the Bears and Rams, teams the Packers were expected to beat. But the competition ramps up with a Christmas Day game against the Miami Dolphins before division rivals Minnesota and Detroit visit Lambeau to close the campaign.
Rodgers noted that the vibe around the Packers, who have found more consistent offense with their young receiver corps in recent weeks, has improved.
“I think it’s just, you win a game, vibes are pretty good and we’ve just been practicing a little bit better, the energy’s been a little bit better,” he said. “It’s hard to put your finger on it. We’ve played a couple teams we should have beat. That being said, it’s still tough to win in the league, and I said it earlier, I think we can beat anybody. We can also lose to anybody. When you win a couple in a row, it starts to give you some confidence now we’re playing against some better football teams down the stretch that we can go to Miami and win.”
Monday night, Green Bay found a balanced offense, rushing for 138 yards behind Aaron Jones, 90 yards, and AJ Dillon, 36 yards, 2 TDs, and Rodgers completing 73.3 percent of his passes for 229 yards and a score. The defense played better, forcing an interception and sacking Baker Mayfield five times.
The formula is simple for Green Bay at this point: Win out and hope a few other results go their way.
“We’ve got two (wins) in the bag,” Rodgers said. “I don’t know, look, before the Bears week and we knew we had a bye afterwards and those of us who sometimes peek ahead knew that we had to win five and then have a lot of things go our way. So, we’ve won two, and just about everything we’ve needed to happen has gone our way — just about. So things are looking up.”
With the competition ratcheting up, the Packers must keep the streak alive against a Dolphins team on a three-game skid in desperate need of a victory. Win in Miami on Christmas, and the potential playoff talk in Green Bay can truly begin.