The Jets were 1-0 when the Pack played them.
The Bears were 2-1 the 1st time The Pack played them.

Does that count as beating teams with a winning record?

The Vikings and The Dolphins were 2-2 when The Packers played them.

"The team that takes the field in December usually does not resemble the team that took the field in September."

A team can ONLY play the teams on their schedule.

The Packers are contenders until they are eliminated from the playoff race.

Originally Posted by: buckeyepackfan 

Every year we see the true contenders start to appear in the second half of the season. Say what you like but teams that have played very well in the 1st half don't always fair well and then other teams that start to find the Mo Jo and the "it" factor that do.

The games get bigger and bigger now. Putting together wins and starting to jell as a team and gain that confidence and swagger is HUGE.
There is an additional component to the second half of a season and that is PRESSURE. These division races will start to become clearer and like I said the games become bigger. Who can handle it? Who thrives on it?

Way to often I've seen teams buckle when it gets to be nut cuttin' time and other teams start stomping on opponents necks that didn't show that earlier in the year. So for me it's too early to start labeling anybody pretenders or contenders quite yet.

Originally Posted by: warhawk 

I think we are closer on this than it sounds, if there was a venn diagram to illustrate this we would be in the middle section. This is splitting hairs, but my point is that 3 games of losing to a quality opponent isn't significant enough to rule a team out. It certainly indicates that they can't beat a quality opponent, but all it actually proves is that they didn't. There is no solace to be taken here, but if two quality teams play each other, at least one has to lose. You could replace "quality teams" with "CONTENDERS". Let's say there are three remaining quality teams to be played this year (Eagles, Patriots, and Lions) - how many wins out of this total of six games do the Packers need to be rated a contender?

In the end it's too subjective to come to a clear conclusion, but it does make fore good fan discussion.

Originally Posted by: olds70supreme 

Someone please explain a friggin' Venn diagram in my ignorance.

Originally Posted by: dfosterf 

I'm of the type that needs visual aids, so this is the best I can do.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

I'm just not seeing contender from the Packers. The next game they have to beat a real contender is the Patriots. if they can win that game, then we can consider them tilted towards contenders instead of pretenders.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool