GREEN BAY – The Packers are in the playoffs, so what remains to be determined in the regular season is which NFC Wild Card seed Green Bay will get.
The Packers (11-4) could end up with any of the three – the No. 5, 6 or 7. Currently they're sitting in the No. 6 spot, but with a win this week at Minnesota, they'd have a chance to move up to the No. 5 when the regular season wraps up.
Conversely, a loss to the Vikings would eliminate the Packers' chances of getting the No. 5 spot, and it could put them in danger of falling to the No. 7.
So with that in mind, aside from the NFC North showdown at U.S. Bank Stadium between Green Bay and Minnesota, there are other games to keep an eye on in Week 17.
One is the Sunday night matchup pitting Atlanta (8-7) at Washington (10-5). The Commanders are right on the Packers' heels in the wild-card chase, and they would be in position to jump in front of Green Bay should the Packers lose to the Vikings because Washington has the tiebreaker on Green Bay (better conference record).
So in the interest of getting the Packers the best possible playoff seed, root for the Falcons to beat the Commanders. Anyone who has a strong preference for Tampa Bay (8-7) to win the NFC South instead of Atlanta would want to cheer the other way, but who wins that division will not affect what seed the Packers earn.
The other game to monitor is on Monday night, Detroit (13-2) at San Francisco (6-9), and this is where the Packers' potential path to the No. 5 seed gets tricky.
Green Bay can earn the No. 5 spot by beating the Vikings and Bears in the final two weeks, coupled with the Lions beating the Vikings in Week 18. That would create a tie between the Packers and Vikings in overall record, head-to-head and division record, so the tiebreaker would go to record against common opponents. Green Bay would own that by virtue of its win this season over the L.A. Rams, a team to whom Minnesota lost.
But this week if the Packers beat the Vikings, and the Lions beat the 49ers, Detroit would clinch the NFC's No. 1 seed and first-round bye and won't have anything to play for in the regular-season finale, when the Packers would need them to beat the Vikings.
Whether or not Lions coach Dan Campbell would rest any players in that scenario remains to be seen, but in order for Detroit to be fully motivated to beat Minnesota in Week 18, cheer for the 49ers to knock off the Lions so the top seed remains in play.
Also to be determined in the NFC is the winner of the NFC West, a race between the L.A. Rams (9-6) and Seattle (8-7). Whoever is crowned division champion won't have any bearing on the Packers' seed, but anyone with a strong preference on having either the Rams or Seahawks in the NFC playoff field will want to root accordingly as Seattle is at Chicago (4-11) on Thursday night, and Arizona (7-8) is at Los Angeles on Saturday night.
