In my story today about the Packers' playoff scenarios, I was incorrect when I said two losses by the Philadelphia Eagles would help the Packers.

I incorrectly applied the tiebreakers.

In actuality, it doesn't matter what the Eagles do. The worst the Eagles can finish in the NFC is 9-3. If the Packers finish 1-1, they will be 8-4. (That loss to Tampa Bay really hurts the Packers in this regard.)

So there only four possible ways for the Packers to make the playoffs:
[ul]1) Packers win their final two games;

OR

1) Packers go 1-1 and the Dallas Cowboys lose once;

OR

1) Packers go 1-1 and the New York Giants lose once.

OR

1) Packers go 0-2 and the Cowboys or Giants go 0-2.[/ul]

Here's why.

If the Eagles go 0-2, that will leave the Eagles, Packers and Giants tied at 10-6. In that scenario, the tiebreakers are applied like this (and this was confirmed with a league spokesman):

[ul]1) Eagles win division tiebreaker over the Giants since the Eagles swept the Giants;
2) Then you compare Eagles to the Packers. Eagles qualify for playoffs as fifth seed based on conference record (9-3 to 8-4);
3) That leaves the Packers and Giants. Giants qualify for playoffs as sixth seed based on record against common opponents (Green Bay has three losses; Giants one). Packers are eliminated.[/ul]

If the Eagles go 1-1 with a win on Sunday over the Denver Broncos and a loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles and Cowboys are 11-5, and Packers and Giants are 10-6. In that scenario:

1) Cowboys win NFC East because of sweep of Eagles;
2) Eagles qualify as the fifth seed at 11-5;
3) That leaves Packers and Giants tied at 10-6. Just like in the above scenario, Giants qualify for the playoffs as the sixth seed because of a better record against common opponents. Packers are eliminated.

I said last night on Twitter that Packers fans should root for Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings in both of their final two games.

I wasn't kidding.

If the Vikings beat the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the Arizona Cardinals have no chance at getting a first-round bye, meaning they would likely have nothing to play for against the Packers in the season finale. That would make getting the two wins required for the playoffs easier for the Packers.

And a win by the Vikings over the Giants in the final game of the season delivers a playoff berth to the Packers provided they beat the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

This talk of 'the Tamp game really hurts us' really annoys me. Didn't the TWO losses to the Vikings hurt us MORE? If we had split the contests we'd in a lot better shape even with losing the Tampa game.

It would give us another conference win as well as overall win while taking one of each away from the Vikings which without checking, puts us at the same 10 - 4 record and still in contention for the division and a home game, not to mention a possible one week bye.

"Zero2Cool" wrote:

yeah...but that loss to Tampa was incredibly ridiculous whereas the losses to the Vikqueens were not completely unprecedented.

"TwinkieGorilla" wrote:

The Tampa game helped more than it hurt, in my opinion. The team right now is playing at a much higher level than they did prior to that loss.

I'm just hoping for another shot at the viQueens--I think the outcome would be different third time around.

"macbob" wrote: