For a Week 10 game, huge implications riding on result

Mike Spofford

GREEN BAY It would be difficult to find a mid-November game that means more than this one for the Packers.

It's the rematch of the Week 1 loss to Minnesota. It's Green Bay's chance to climb out of the cellar in the ultra-competitive NFC North. It's the opportunity to send a message the Packers plan to be in this division race for the long haul.

All-Pro safetyXavier McKinneyadmitted he started thinking about the magnitude of Sunday's noon showdown at Lambeau Field not long after leaving Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts with the Packers at 6-3, but still the only team in the NFC North with three losses.

"With where we're at right now, being last in the division, losing to them the first time, understanding how competitive this division is and how good the teams are, I think this is a must-win for us," McKinney said.

"Obviously we got more games after this, we know that. But this is a must-win for us. Gotta win."

It's crucial for the Vikings, too, who have changed quarterbacks with a trading-deadline move for Kirk Cousins in an effort to field a functional offense as a complement to the league's top defense.

At 6-2, Minnesota is fighting to prevent its 6-0 start from going up in smoke.

"We need this win, they need this win," nickelJavon Bullardsaid. "They lost what? Two straight? So they're going to come in here hungry and (shoot) we owe them boys one. We let them slip away that first game. So this the one we gotta get our get back."

The implications are massive for the Packers. Here's how it breaks down.

With a win:Green Bay would improve to 7-3 while dropping the Vikings to 6-3 and jumping in front of them in the standings. The first-place Bears are at 7-2 and on their bye week while the Lions would exit Week 10 either tied for first with Chicago at 7-2, or dropping to 6-3, depending on their result against the Patriots in Munich.

No matter what happens overseas, the Packers would be no worse than one loss out of first place with games still remaining against the Bears and Lions. An NFC North crown would remain very much within reach.

With a loss:The Packers would drop to 6-4, two losses behind the NFC North leaders, with a 1-3 division mark and a sweep at the hands of the Vikings. Ugh. Barring a seven-game winning streak to close out the regular season, capturing the division title would become immensely difficult.

A wild-card berth would still be very much in play, of course. But division crowns earn home playoff games, and it would be more promising to continue fighting with division rivals for that than with NFC West foes just to hang in the playoff chase.

The circumstances are admittedly abnormal. Since the advent of divisional play in the NFL, no division has ever seen all its teams at least three games above .500 in Week 10. In fact, only one other time has a division had all its teams at least three games above .500 at any point in a season (2014 AFC North, Week 13).

"It's a good division, man," McKinney said. "It's one of the best ones that I've seen. It's the best one I've played in. You have a good record, and we're at the bottom. But that just tells you what type of division this is."

It's a division the Packers haven't won since 2021, and they'd like to change that.

They're confident they can, especially after a big road win last week, the team's most impressive performance to date this season. But any serious designs on taking this division must start with a win on Sunday.

"Why not us? I think we've showcased what we can do," Bullard said. "Keep showing the world that the Packers ain't goin' nowhere.

"And I think I gotta stop saying I think I know we got the players in here to do so, and I know we have the coaching staff to do so, and as long we keep trusting and believing in each other, sky's the limit."