No, the world will not come to an end for the loser of tonight's Packers vs. Cowboys game in Dallas tonight. Nor will the season end for the loser of tonight's classic battle. But having cleared that up, tonight's game is huge to the winner.
With four games left to play, the winner will have a 1-game lead on paper, but in reality, it becomes a two game lead. The team that wins tonight, gets a get out jail free card. Let's say the Packers win tonight. They now can lose one game, assuming the Cowboys would stay perfect and still secure home field advantage based on their head to head battle.
Certainly securing home field doesn't end the season for the other team. But it is huge. The Cowboys don't want to head to Green Bay for an NFC Championship game in January, anymore than the Packers want to return to Dallas and try to beat the Cowboys on their home field.
The Packers' players have been downplaying this matchup all week to the media, not wanting to give anybody any reason to dig a little deeper on them come game time. But don't let that kid you, the Packers know their life gets a whole lot easier if walk out of Texas Stadium with a win tonight.