The Green Bay Packers’ season ended in just about the most painful way possible with their fourth quarter collapse in the NFC Championship Game against the Seattle Seahawks. But things could have a much happier ending this year, according to the odds at least.
This week’s NFL Futures have Green Bay at +600 to win the Super Bowl, in a three-way tie with Seattle and Indianapolis. This is becoming an annual ritual at this juncture: the Packers find themselves favored alongside the Seahawks in the NFC. This is the matchup most will be anticipating once again come January.
Some might say this is complacency on the Packers’ part to simply stand pat in the offseason. But of course, there’s every possibility the Packers will still improve from last year, especially if second-year players Davante Adams and Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix continue to develop.
It’s also worth noting that while the Packers didn’t exactly get noticeably better with a splashy signing or trade, many of the so-called contenders didn’t either. Some even got decidedly worse during the offseason.
The defending champion Patriots lost their best defensive player (Darrelle Revis) and could be without their best offensive player (Tom Brady) for a third of the season. The Broncos’ offensive line tasked to protect the deteriorating Peyton Manning looks very shaky.
The Eagles overhauled nearly their entire roster and who knows how that will eventually play out. The Lions’ great strength – their defensive line – lost Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley. The 49ers… well, you may have heard about their issues.
On the other hand, the Seahawks added Jimmy Graham to complement their already dominant defense and the Colts signed Frank Gore and Andre Johnson as weapons for Andrew Luck. No doubt, those moves were big factors why those two are the early favorites along with the Packers.
But question marks surround both those moves health-wise, with Graham constantly banged up, and Gore and Johnson both on the wrong side of 30. Meanwhile, the Packers have one of the youngest rosters and arguably the best quarterback in the league ready to make another championship run at Super Bowl 50.