With Sunday’s 31-24 loss at Carolina, the Green Bay Packers season was hanging by a thread. That thread broke on Monday night when the Atlanta Falcons knocked off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-21 to officially eliminate the Packers from playoff consideration.
The Packers were eliminated with two games left on their schedule, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
The Packers will now close out the season with a home game against the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday night, following by a road game at Detroit against the Lions the following week.
Minnesota has already wrapped up the NFC North division but the Vikings still have things to play for, like home field throughout the playoffs, or at the very least a home playoff game. The Packers could have a chance to play spoiler against the Lions, who at this time, are still in playoff contention.
So the Packers are now playing for pride, but there’s no guarantee they’ll have quarterback Aaron Rodgers at the controls. Mike McCarthy was non-committal on Monday when asked if Rodgers would play the rest of the way if the Packers were eliminated from playoff consideration.
It’s also possible the Packers could be without their top receiver. Davante Adams is in the teams concussion protocol after being knocked out of the Carolina game with a illegal helmet-to-helmet hit from Carolina’s Thomas Davis. Davis was suspended two games for that hit on Monday.
