The Green Bay Packers’ 34-26 loss in Denver on Sunday was devastating for reasons other than the result in the standings. The biggest story of the game, more so than even the outcome, is the ACL injury to star edge rusher Micah Parsons, ending his season and dimming Green Bay’s once glowing Super Bowl hopes. The good news: receiver Christian Watson, who also left the game hurt, did not sustain as serious an injury as feared. The team actually believes there is a chance he could play Saturday against the Bears.
Bigger picture, there is some more good news for fans of the Green and the Gold. Despite the Packers’ Week 15 defeat alongside a Bears win over Cleveland, they remain the favorites to claim the NFC North crown per ESPN projections following Sunday’s action.
Packers still control their own destiny in wake of painful loss
9-4-1 on the season, Green Bay sits right behind the 10-4 Bears heading into their division clash five days from now – a matchup that will go a long way toward deciding the division. Lose and the Packers will have to hope for a miracle. Win and they retain the upper hand with two weeks to go. They still control their own destiny.
Somewhat surprisingly, ESPN gives them a healthy 53% shot to win the NFC North even after the events of Week 15. Chicago owns a 40% share, while the Lions are on life support at 7%. To what degree those percentages account for injuries would help in parsing through the numbers, but, for all appearances, the Packers remain in good shape.
Despite their injuries, and despite how good Chicago has looked lately, they are 1.5-point road favorites for Saturday. That’s down from Green Bay -3 at open. ESPN’s FPI projections have the Packers as 58.4% favorites to win. Combining implied moneyline probabilities (at DraftKings) gives them a 53.4% chance.
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