Shhhh…  Don’t tell anyone.  The Packers are still in the running for the wildcard spot for the 2006 playoffs.  Impossible as it sounds, a team with a losing record (6-8, or .429 winning percentage for you pocket-protector types), with two weeks left in the season, still has a shot to make it to the big dance.

But they’re gonna need a lot of help.

There are 7 other teams besides the Packers who still have a shot at making the postseason.  Here is my completely unofficial breakdown of what needs to happen in order for Favre to take the field in the first week of January:

Green Bay Packers:  They need to win out.   That means a win at home against the Vikings, and a win of the road against the Bears.  Let’s send Bear’s coach Lovey Smith some GB voodoo to get him to rest his starters.  Oh, and one more thing:  they have to beat the Bears by more than 6 points.

Philadelphia Eagles:  For calculation’s sake we’re going to assume the Eagles are going to fill the first wildcard playoff spot.  They already have 8 wins and own the tiebreakers against the Packers.  Pretty safe bet there.

Atlanta Falcons:  They need to lose their remaining two games to Carolina and Philly.  With a rift developing between their running back Michael Vick and coach Mora, who’s to say this couldn’t happen?

Minnesota Vikings:  If the Packers beat the Vikings this Thursday, we own the tiebreakers against them.

San Francisco 49ers:  We already own the tiebreakers against San Fran, so they can do whatever they’d like, win or lose.

Carolina Panthers:  The Packers need the Panthers to beat Atlanta but lose to New Orleans, giving them a 7-9 record.

St. Louis Rams: We need them to lose one of their remaining two games (Washington or Minnesota).

New York Giants:  This is the sticky one.  Let’s assume they lose to the Saints but beat the Redskins (the most likely outcome of their remaining games), giving them an 8-8 record, same as the Packers (fingers crossed).  Then we get down to tiebreakers.  We never played them head-to-head, so the next tie-breaker is record within the NFC.  We’d both be 7-5 within the conference.  The next tiebreaker would be record against common opponents.  We’d tie there, too, with a single win and three losses against common opponents Philadelphia, Seattle and Chicago.  The next tiebreaker is strength of victory (the rules don’t state this but I have to assume it’s strength of victory of common opponents); the Giants beat the Eagles by 6 in week 3.  That means the Packers would need to beat the Bears by a touchdown or more in week 17 to own that tiebreaker, and get themselves a folding nametag at the playoff table.  If they win but only by six, then the next tiebreaker is strength of schedule, and I’m afraid that anyone playing outside the NFC North is going to have a stronger schedule than the Packers.

AKA The UFOSo that’s it.  If we can roll 7’s four straight times while almost everyone else rolls snake-eyes, we’re in.

Simple.

So when you get your tickets to see the Chicago/Green Bay game down in the UFO, and the inevitable Green Bay mellon-crushing happens, you might cheer yourself up post-game by picking up some tickets to a concert in Chicago.

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