NFC North projections: Where the Green Bay Packers finish
The Green Bay Packers are slight betting favorites to repeat as NFC North champions, but should they be?
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Could the 2020 season be the last in a Green Bay Packers uniform for quarterback and first-ballot Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers? The Packers had a glaring hole at wide receiver to help Rodgers yet they traded up a few spots in the first round of this year's draft not to take a wideout in what was considered a stellar and deep class overall at the position but instead select quarterback Jordan Love out of Utah State at No. 26. Rodgers admitted that pick bothered him at first.
That deal almost surely started the clock on Rodgers' career with the team – just like the clock started on Brett Favre's career when Green Bay took Rodgers at No. 24 overall in the 2006 draft. Although, it's more likely he's a goner after the 2021 season for salary-cap reasons unless a team wanted to trade for him next winter.
Rodgers put up good numbers overall last year in completing 62 percent of his passes for 4,002 yards with 26 touchdowns and just four picks, but he had a few games where he really struggled. Rodgers' career passer rating of 102.4 is the best in NFL history but it was 95.4 in 2019, his worst since 2015.
It's been a rough few months for Rodgers overall as he recently saw his very public relationship with former professional driver Danica Patrick end.
While Rodgers has one of the NFL's best receivers in Davante Adams, there is very little behind him and GM Brian Gutekunst strangely didn't take a single wideout in the draft. The team did sign Devin Funchess, but he had only one good season in his five NFL years and was limited to one game in 2019 with the Colts due to injury. Then Funchess decided to opt out of the 2020 campaign. Let the Antonio Brown rumors to Green Bay commence.
Green Bay Packers SportsLine Projection Model Forecast/William Hill Odds
While Green Bay did tie for the NFC lead with 13 wins last regular season, claimed the North Division title and reached the conference championship game, the Packers might have been more lucky than good. They were an almost impossible 8-1 in one-score games, and history has proven that's not sustainable. Green Bay's point differential of plus-63 was only ninth in the NFL and fifth in the NFC. That point differential essentially implies a 9.7-6.3 record.
The SportsLine Projection Model clearly doesn't like the Packers as much as the William Hill oddsmakers do. The model gives both Minnesota (48.7 percent) and Chicago (21.2 percent) a better chance of winning the NFC North.
Despite having a first-place slate in 2020, the Packers have the easiest strength of schedule in the division with their opponents combining for a .504 winning percentage last year. Of course, the other three teams in the North are penalized for facing Green Bay twice.
NFL Pick: Packers finish 9-7 and second in the NFC North.
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