Packers can show championship mettle even against an inferior opponent

It may not seem like it, but beating the Jaguars (and beating them decisively) matters as the temptation to look ahead to games against NFC contenders looms.

They’d done it. The Green Bay Packers figured it out. After consecutive wins over the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs, Jordan Love and the Brat Pack found their rhythm as a team capable of beating any opponent despite early-season struggles. They won the two games they could afford to lose, so long as they could win out against a soft schedule. Playoffs were all but assured.

Then Tommy DeVito happened. Kenny Clark called out that 24-22 loss against the New York Giants as a learning moment, an opportunity for the 2024 team to remind itself never to feel complacency stick its meaty hooks into the team because of a couple of quality wins.

Beating the Houston Texans felt like that type of light bulb win, not because the Packers played as well as they had to beat the Lions or Chiefs, but because the Texans came in as the more ballyhooed team, with the quarterback the mainstream media told us was better than Jordan Love, and even before the game started, the yapping began.

Stefon Diggs does not like Jaire Alexander and the feeling appears to be mutual. Keisean Nixon wasn’t even around for the Vikings rivalry that prompted it, but he’s never been one to back down from barking. All game, the Packers defensive backs yapped, letting the Texans hear it after every incompletion, every tackle, deflection, and sack.

Jeff Hafley authored a masterpiece, a one-off gameplan (at least to this point) that featured some of the most dynamic and creative simulated pressure looks we’ve seen from the Packers this season, deploying them more often than at any team under Hafley to date.

It felt like a playoff game.

A week from now, Green Bay will be preparing for a stretch of three games with the Lions, Bears and 49ers with a bye week sandwiched in between. It’s when the heart of their NFC schedule kicks off in earnest. There are still two games left with the Lions and Bears, another contest with the Vikings, plus primetime games against NFC playoff hopeful teams like the Saints and Seahawks.

Oh, but before all that, they’ll take on the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Sunday with Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma on the call. Whatever, but after that, the fun truly starts.