Week 16 Thoughts - One at a time

It’s been a month since we’ve checked in here, and a lot has changed in the NFL in that time.

The Packers have rallied in the NFC North, then fallen apart, and other would-be contenders have gone through a similar process. The Chiefs and Ravens, for instance, both looked like they were starting to get things together — until they weren’t. The Ravens aren’t formally out of it yet, but the Chiefs’ disaster is, well, especially disastrous, since it’s going to linger into next year.

But much like the last time I wrote anything on Patreon, the focus of the league remains the same. We should still be devoting most of our focus to 10 to 12 teams, a group which should contain the five or six teams that are really capable of winning the whole thing.

Are the Packers in that group? I’d say technically, probably, most likely no, but I’m also generally unsure about the NFC playoff field. Are any of these teams actually good? A few of them, probably. Are they unbeatable juggernauts that would give the Packers a swirly then stuff them in a locker? I don’t think so.

And I guess that’s where I’ve come down on the Packers after the Micah Parsons injury. They’re a much worse team than they were a week ago, especially if any of their other inopportune bumps and bruises linger into this week or beyond. But I don’t think there’s any team in the NFC the Packers can’t beat.

The magnitude of Parsons’ injury is probably overshadowing individual games too much. On a season-long timeline (or what remains of the season), Parsons’ being hurt is a serious blow to the Packers’ chances. How could it not be? The whole reason you add a player like Parsons is because of that very transformative effect, the one that, when removed, has the exact opposite effect.

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