All offseason, coach Mike McCarthy has been preaching about getting the 2015 Green Bay Packers off to a fast start. The idea being, that will allow the Packers to secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
We joke that McCarthy’s teams start 1-2 every year. That’s not actually the case, but the Packers have started 1-2 four times in the McCarthy era, including each of the last three seasons.
Here are the Packers’ records through three games, followed by their final record since McCarthy became coach.
2006: 1-2 (8-8)
2007: 3-0 (13-3)
2008: 2-1 (6-10)
2009: 2-1 (11-5)
2010: 2-1 (10-6)
2011: 3-0 (15-1)
2012: 1-2 (11-5)
2013: 1-2 (8-7-1)
2014: 1-2 (12-4)
After winning their first two games, the Packers now have a pretty good shot at moving to 3-0. The Kansas City Chiefs won’t be a pushover by any means and we could see the Packers suffering an emotional letdown after the big win over Seattle.
However, Green Bay is currently as much as 7.5-point favorites. The Packers should win. They should move to 3-0, which has happened only one other time under McCarthy.
That was the near-perfect 15-1 2011 season.
Interestingly, the Packers’ lone loss that season was to the Chiefs. Much more interestingly, despite the fast start and best record in the league, the Packers lost their first playoff game — a divisional-round clunker to the Giants.
So what does a fast start mean?
It doesn’t mean anything if you aren’t playing your best ball at playoff time.
What it does mean is that you’re probably not going to Seattle for the NFC Championship game.
And even with a loss in week 3, the Packers are still in good position for home-field advantage. The supposed second-best team in the NFC is 0-2. The supposed third-best team — Dallas — will be without their starting quarterback for six weeks and their star wideout for a similar amount of time.
Who else do the Packers have to worry about?
Atlanta?
That’s funny.