5 Reasons The Green Bay Packers Will Win The NFC North — And Maybe More

The website betmgm.com picks the Minnesota Vikings to win the NFC North at +160, slightly ahead of the Green Bay Packers (+175). Green Bay has just the eighth-best odds to win the NFC (+1600) and 14th-best to win the Super Bowl (+3500).

Things aren’t much different at Fanduel.com, where the Vikings (+165) are even bigger favorites to win the division over Green Bay (+190). The Packers are again given the eighth-best odds to win the conference (+1400) and 14^th-best to win the Super Bowl (+3100).

It seems like the folks in the desert have forgotten Green Bay won its division and reached the NFC Championship just seven months ago. Or they simply thought the 2019 Packers played above their heads on their way to a 13-3 regular season and a 14-4 overall mark.

Regardless, here are five reasons the 2020 Packers can — and will — win the NFC North and make a deep playoff run again this season.

1. Run to daylight

Few teams in the NFL can match Green Bay’s trio of running backs.

Aaron Jones tied for the NFL lead in rushing touchdowns (16) and total touchdowns (19) last season. Jones is coming off his first 1,000-yard rushing season, has a career average of 5.0 yards per carry and was second on the team in receptions (49) last year.

Jamaal Williams is the only player in franchise history to register 400-plus rushing yards and 200-plus receiving yards in each of his first three NFL seasons.

And rookie A.J. Dillon is a 6-foot-1, 247-pound beast who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.53 seconds.

The Packers ran the ball just 41.8% of the time last year. When you take quarterback runs and make them passes — something they were designed to be — the number of run plays dips to 36.6%.

Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur would love his team to run the ball 50.0% of the time. If the Packers can come close to that number, their stable of backs could give them an edge most weeks.

“We always want it to be a balance,” Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said. “We always want a marry between the run game and the play pass and the play actions. That’s always what our philosophy is going to be.”

2. Three of a kind?

The Packers return one of the NFL’s better outside linebacking duos in Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith. One of the stars of training camp, though, has been second-year outside linebacker Rashan Gary.

If Gary can make a substantial leap, Green Bay’s trio of outside linebackers would rival any in football.

Za’Darius Smith finished sixth in the league with 13.5 sacks last year, led the NFL with 93 pressures and tied for the league lead with 37 quarterback hits.

Preston Smith finished eighth in the NFL with 12.0 sacks and had four games with at least 1.5 sacks. And Gary — a first round pick in 2019 — appears poised for a breakout season.

“Everything I did in the offseason coming up in to this point is about being the best me, coming back and being an impact player,” Gary said. “You know that’s what I want to be and that’s what I will be. So that’s just been my whole mindset and I’m just down and grinding.”

3. Angry Aaron

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has said and done all the right things since Green Bay selected Jordan Love as its quarterback of the future in April. Not only did the Packers use a first-round draft pick on Love, they traded up to get him.

Rodgers, 36, remains among the top-10 quarterbacks in the league and has said he’d like to play into his 40s. But teams don’t let first round draft picks — especially quarterbacks — sit on the bench for long, meaning Love will likely take over by 2022.

That means Rodgers is auditioning for future employers while still trying to help Green Bay win games now. Rodgers has been extremely sharp all summer and could be ready for a big year.

“I like how he’s playing right now,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of Rodgers. “He is very decisive, and he is letting it rip and he’s throwing extremely accurate. He’s paying with a lot of confidence.”

4. Continuity

In 2011, the NFL owners imposed a work stoppage on the players that lasted from March 12 until July 25. The player lockout took away the entire offseason.

In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic did the same thing this year. Sure, teams had Zoom meetings, but they didn’t return to the field until this month.

Back in 2011, Green Bay returned almost every key cog from its 2010 Super Bowl championship team. When other teams didn’t have an offseason to gain ground on the Packers, Green Bay took full advantage and produced a 15-1 regular season.

The truncated offseason of 2020 could yield similar results.

Green Bay returns 21 of 25 starters, which should give it a jumpstart when the year begins.

5. The division remains mediocre

Many argue the Packers had a rough offseason, losing right tackle Bryan Bulaga and inside linebacker Blake Martinez in free agency, then using early draft picks on players who might not help in 2020.

Time will tell there. The good news for Green Bay is the rest of the division doesn’t appear to have made up much ground.

Minnesota traded away Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs, and lost five key defensive players in free agency, including standout defensive end Everson Griffen.

Chicago signed quarterback Nick Foles to compete with Mitchell Trubisky. If Foles wins the job, he could be a slight upgrade, but the Bears’ offense ranked just 29^th overall a year ago.

Detroit was active in free agency highlighted by the addition of linebacker Jamie Collins and offensive tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai. Still, Detroit was just 3-12-1 a year ago and hasn’t won the division since 1993.

The Packers, meanwhile, have won the NFC North six of the past nine years. And the bet here is they’ll do it again.

“You’ve got to go earn everything that you get,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “We know it’s going to be a tough, competitive season.

“There’s definitely going to be some motivation for some teams that we’re playing, within our division, to really come after us. I think our guys have embraced that and are just going to take it one day at a time.”