Recent history favors 8 win playoffs teams

Not that it means anything, by 8-8 or worse teams have been surprisingly successful in the playoffs in the last 10 years. One would think that they would be one and done, but this hasn't been the case at all.

2004
The 8-8 Rams beat the 9-7 Seahawks in the wildcard round but went on to lose to the Falcons in the divisional round
The 8-8 Vikings beat the 10-6 Packers in the wild card round(What an embarrassing loss, this ranks up there with the most embarrassing defeats I've seen in Packers history) but went on to lose to the Eagles in the divisional round

2006
The 8-8 Giants lost to the 10-6 Eagles in the wildcard round

2008
The 8-8 Chargers beat the 12-4 Colts in the wildcard round but went on to lose to the Steelers in the divisional round

2010
The 7-9 Seahawks beat the 11-5 Saints in the wildcard round but went on to lose to the Bears in the divisional round

2011
The 8-8 Broncos beat the 12-4 Steelers in the wildcard round, but went on to lose to the Patriots in the divisional round

I just find it interesting that these teams are a combined 5-1 in the wildcard round when most had them pegged for being one and dones.

While the 49ers match up well against the Packers, maybe they'll come in overconfident over their past few victories and that we are only an 8 win team. Home field is huge, and while this game could go either way I'm going to try to remain optimistic. Go Pack Go!

 

Rodgers loves playing as an underdog. So do I!

Also, how many years has it been since two top seeds made it to the Super Bowl? Or even one for that matter? Patriots?

I'll take being the underdog, even if in this case we are the higher seed.

Edit: Also- Marshawn Lynch 2010= Eddie Lacy 2014?

 

The last #1 seed to play in the Super Bowl were the 2011 Patriots, losing to the Giants.

The last time both #1 seeds made it to the Super Bowl was in 2009, when the Saints defeated the Colts.

 

It's the old "any given Sunday..." cliche. I think the closest parallel to this week's Packers playoff is the Seattle-New Orleans game 3 years ago. That's the only one of the cases cited where the 8 win (in that case 7) team played on its home field and was up against as impressive an opponent as the Pack will be this weekend. The Saints were then reigning Super Bowl champs.

 

Just my opinion, but to categorize this Packers team as an 8-8 team is ludicrous at best -- even though that's the reality when you look solely at the standings. I'm not big on coulda, woulda, shoulda .... but ... I think that even our visiting 9'er fans would have a hard time justifying a stance that were it not for Aaron Rodgers being out for the extended period of time that he was, the Pack are an 11 or 12 win team.

What started out as the 2nd toughest schedule in the NFL (based on 2012) quickly manifested itself to be a pretty easy schedule. Rodgers went down at 5-2 (one loss to the 9'ers was indeed an indisputable loss, the loss to Cincy was a collapse that still chews at my a-- ) and then the nightmare set in.

Still, the defense looked a whole better than they really are in the first 7 largely because Rodgers' offense keeps them on the sideline where they can't do much damage (injuries notwithstanding) . No disrespect directed at #10 ... I think even Flynn would admit that Rodgers is a vastly superior QB1.

While I can't speculate where they'd have been without AR's injury, I'm pretty confident in saying that it wouldn't be anywhere NEAR 8-7-1.

Ok, so, I am not about to predict a Packer victory on Sunday. I'm also not about to predict a 9'er win. There are just too many variables at play here. We know what our defense is ... but ... we don't know for certain what Capers may have in mind for Sunday. In light of the fact that the 9'ers have won the last 3 pretty convincingly ... he'll have to pull a rabbit out of his a$$ ... but still ... in reality this Packers team is NOT an 8-7-1 team with Rodgers calling signals, right?

 

The playoffs are effectively a new season so everybody's 0-0.