Green Bay Packers
CHICAGO, IL (WSAU) — First-half leads of 7-0 and 10-7 by the Chicago Bears did little to rattle the Green Bay Packers as they scored a 35-16 win and secured the #1 seed in the NFC playoffs and two key benefits that come with it- the lone first-round bye in the Conference Playoff tournament and potential home-field advantage for the Conference Championship game.
Aaron Rodgers threw three first-half touchdowns and four for the game including a six-yard strike to Davante Adams to close out the scoring. Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Robert Tonyan also caught scores.
Aaron Jones led the rushing attack with 42 yards and one score on 11 carries. Jamaal Williams added 26 rushing yards.
Green Bay’s defense did force two turnovers in the game, one fumble and an interception.
The win moves the Packers to 13-3 on the season. Their lone losses came to Tampa Bay, Minnesota, and Indianapolis. They will now host the lowest remaining seed from the three Wild Card weekend winners in the NFC Divisional round either Saturday or Sunday, January 15th or 16th. Should they win, the NFC Championship Game would then be in Green Bay on January 23rd.
Super Bowl LV is February 6th in Tampa, Florida.
The change to the playoff format for this season also comes with a financial benefit for the players. Each player on the Packers’ active roster will receive a first-round playoff share even though they won’t be playing next Saturday or Sunday. Under the six-team format, the two teams that earned byes did not receive a check for the first round, only those that played in the Wild Card games did.
Playoff game salaries are set and paid out by the league and increase with each round, so each player is paid the same amount regardless of their usual salary. A player’s contract with his team only covers regular-season games.
Sunday’s results also nearly solidified Green Bay’s 2021 regular-season schedule which will include eight games against opponents from the NFC West (SF, ARI, SEA, and LAR) and AFC North (PIT, BAL, CLE, and CIN.)
Green Bay will also be slated to play the NFC East champion (WFT, NYG, or DAL) and the NFC South champion (New Orleans).
The usual double-round robin between Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit will fill out the remaining six games. It also remains possible that the schedule could include a 5th game against an AFC opponent as the league considers an expansion of the season to 17 games. If that is cleared, it would be against one of the other three division winners from the East, South, or West (Buffalo, Tennessee, or Kansas City, respectively.)
The NFL schedule is typically released in the week leading up to the first-year player draft, which this year will be held from April 29th through May 1st in Cleveland.
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