Are the playoffs still a possibility for the Packers?

By GERY WOELFEL

By all accounts, the Green Bay Packers are a bad team right now.

One only has to look at their 2-5 record to support that statement.

But if there’s a silver lining to the Packers’ disappointing start to this season, it’s this: There are a host of “bad’’ teams besides them.

If you peruse the NFL standings, you’ll discover there are two teams with fewer wins than the Packers – Carolina and Arizona each with one – and there are two other teams – Chicago and New England – who have the same number of wins as Green Bay.

Scan the standings further and you’ll notice there are a lot – repeat, a lot – of teams have just one more victory than the Packers. In fact, there are nine teams that have just one more win than the Packers.

Those teams are Tampa Bay, Houston, the Los Angles Chargers, the Los Angeles Rams, Washington, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Tennessee and Denver.

Do the math and there are a whopping 15 teams – or virtually half the league – which are in the same dark space as the Packers.

And we haven’t even reached the midway point of the 17-game season. The Packers still have 10 regular-season games remaining.

Combining those 10 remaining games with so many other teams being in the same boat as the the Packers, is it absurd to think the Packers could still sneak into the playoffs and secure the last wild-card spot?

Heading into Sunday’s game against the Rams, the Packers are just two .games behind New Orleans and Minnesota for the seventh-best record – and last wild-card.

Minnesota could be in serious trouble as their standout quarterback Kirk Cousins is likely out for the season after tearing his Achilles last Sunday against the Packers. As for New Orleans, it has lost two of its last three games and four of its last six.

It goes without saying the Packers face a daunting challenge to make the playoffs, but are their insurmountable?

We’ll find out much more about hed coach Matt LaFleur’s team today when the Packers host the Rams at Lambeau Field. A win keeps the Packers in the playoff mix. A loss? Well, Packer Nation then can start in earnest working on its mock draft.

Prediction: Packers 27, Rams 20.