Three games remain in the 2020 regular season, and the Green Bay Packers are in control of their own destiny to have the playoffs pass through Lambeau Field for the first time since the 2011 season.

It’s been even longer than that since the Packers hosted an NFC Championship game; it’s never happened in the Aaron Rodgers era. It was, of course, Brett Favre’s last game in green and gold that was the most recent Lambeau Field championship game, the January 2008 contest in the frigid night air against the New York Giants that ended in heartbreak.

It’s rather hard to believe that as many times as the Packers have made it to the NFC Championship in the Rodgers era, they’ve never once hosted it. And it’s a cruel twist of fate that, when this could finally be the year, fans won’t even be able to be in attendance to see it.

But that’s what the Packers are fighting for over these final three weeks of the regular season. It’s going to be an all-out sprint to the finish. The Packers are fortunate to have the tiebreaker against their closest competition, the New Orleans Saints, and the Saints have a much more difficult remaining schedule. But should things end in a three-way tie with the Saints and either the Rams or the Seahawks, it could start to get dicey with the tiebreakers.

The Packers could drop a game and still win the one seed, but they’d need some help in getting there, so the simplest thing to do is just win out and let everyone else fight over the scraps.

That the Packers find themselves in this position with three weeks to go is remarkable, and honestly not something I would have predicted coming into this year. I saw the Packers winning the north with 11 wins and ending up with the third seed, and certainly not being in the driver’s seat for first in the NFC.

At this point, the NFC is a mess. The Packers look like the conference’s best team almost by default. Certainly no one else is playing nearly as good of offense as the Packers are. 

The Saints are still likely to be without Drew Brees for at least another week, and even when he’s back in the lineup, he’s not the Brees of old, and has never been a threat to win a game in cold weather conditions away from the comfort of the Superdome.

The Seahawks have one of the worst defenses in the history of the league. You think the Packers’ defense is frustrating? The Seahawks’ defense makes the Packers’ 2011 unit look like the ‘85 Bears. It was all well and good when Russell Wilson was playing MVP caliber ball, but now he’s… not.

The Buccaneers have been extremely inconsistent on offense, largely due to Bruce Arians trying to fit the 43-year-old square peg that is Tom Brady into the round hole that is the offense he’s installed in Tampa. 

The Rams are seemingly a different team every week. While they could be a matchup nightmare for the Packers, they’re also just as capable of coming out and laying an egg.

This is the best opportunity the Packers have had to make it back to a Super Bowl since they built up a lead against Seattle in the 2014 NFC Championship. Time is running out in the Aaron Rodgers championship window, and the Packers must take advantage of what lies in front of them this year.

Special teams continues to be disastrous

I really, truly do not understand how seemingly every year the Packers’ special teams unit has a legitimate argument for being one of the league’s worst.

Let’s not mince words here. Barring Mason Crosby, who is an absolute godsend, the entire unit has been terrible.

J.K. Scott has been a flop this year. What happened to the massive leg he showcased at Alabama and at times during his rookie year? It seems he’s now good for at least one shank per game, and he could be kicking his way off the team. I’m not going to give him too much grief for his horrendous tackling displays, because that shouldn’t have to be something he concerns himself with, but watching Crosby save a touchdown this week was a pretty stark contrast to watching Scott get juked into the netherworld twice this year.

The coverage teams are awful. It’s getting to the point where if Crosby can’t kick it out of the back of the endzone due to the wind conditions or whatever, I’d almost rather see them squib it every single time. Maybe Scott needs to punt it out of bounds every time to prevent opposing returners from having a shot. 

Whatever the coaches are telling the players on kick coverage clearly isn’t working; they’re giving up big returns left and right that are just gut punches for a defense that’s already having plenty of struggles of its own without having to worry about defending a short field. 

I’ve seen speculation that the amount of roster churn the Packers do at the bottom of the roster can have a negative effect on special teams, but every team deals with a lot of inconsistency at the bottom of the roster. 

Is it a failure of coaching yet again? Is it players just not doing their jobs? I have no clue, but whatever the unit is currently putting out on the field cannot continue to happen. A single special teams play can create a huge game changing moment in January football.

Wisconsin Beer of the Week

I’ve got a bunch of “old standbys” when it comes to Wisconsin craft beers. These are the kinds of beers that aren’t particularly unique or hard to find, but they are always satisfying, and they’re great to keep in the fridge because I know they’re going to be crowd pleasers.

Examples include Spotted Cow and Moon Man from New Glarus, HHG and Mudpuppy Porter from Central Waters, and my favorite of all my “old standbys,” Lakefront Brewery’s Eastside Dark.

I was really craving a dark lager over the weekend, and lo and behold, I still had a bottle of Eastside Dark in my beer fridge. And as always, it really hit the spot.

I love the Lakefront Brewery experience. While there are better breweries in Milwaukee, Lakefront still produces excellent beer (never anything less than solid) and they have one of the best in-person brewery experiences you’ll find in the state. During “normal,” non-COVID times, one of my favorite Milwaukee nights out is a Lakefront fish fry, cheese curds and brewery tour on a Friday night. 

Eastside Dark pairs perfectly with the fish fry, in my opinion. It’s smooth, malty and easy to drink. This Munich-style dark lager comes in at a very moderate 5.8 percent ABV and has a very complex roasty, malted finish. It’s also a great looking beer, a shimmering dark brown that lets just a bit of light through to let you know that yes, it is, in fact, a lager. 

As I mentioned, I frequently have a six pack of these lying around my house, and after drinking the last one in my fridge on Saturday I promptly went out and purchased more the next day. In addition to being a great beer to drink for any occasion, it also makes for an excellent base for creating roast beef or venison. When I make a roast in the crockpot, I’ll pour in an Eastside Dark or two to give it that extra depth of flavor. 

Eastside Dark is one of Lakefront’s staples, so you should be able to find it at most any liquor store in the state.

The North belongs to Green Bay

In winning the NFC North, the Packers continue a run of divisional dominance that is only exceeded by the New England Patriots since the 2002 realignment.

The Packers have now won the NFC North 11 of a possible 19 times in that span, behind only New England’s 16. The Bears and Vikings combine for the other 8 divisional titles, and the Lions… well.... The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have still won this division more recently than they have.

If the Packers beat the Bears in week 17, they’ll have won 11 of 12 divisional games under Matt LaFleur.

It’s an absurd run of dominance over both a long and short period of time. 

Bears, Lions and Vikings fans are going to be real pissed when Jordan Love turns out to be a third consecutive Hall of Fame quarterback and extends the Packers’ merciless rule of the North to nearly 50 years.

Around the NFC North

Once again it’s time for us to take a look around the NFC North.

The CHICAGO BEARS finally ended their six-game skid, pummelling the hapless Houston Texans into the turf. The hope here is that the Bears win just enough over the last several weeks of the season that they miss the playoffs but still decide to hold on to Pace and Nagy for another season, though that might be a bit too much to hope for at this point. I do have to chuckle, though, about seeing articles discussing the Bears potentially being a rebuilding team in 2021, and even trading Khalil Mack for draft picks. So much for that “franchise-altering” trade that would “swing the balance of power” in the NFC North toward Chicago!

The DETROIT LIONS came to play against the Packers and put together a pretty decent offensive day, but it just wasn’t enough in the end. Now there are two questions for the rest of the season: what is Matthew Stafford’s injury status, and does it even matter? The Lions are a lame duck franchise at the moment, with a new coach and GM coming next year. There have been a number of rumblings about Stafford possibly being trade bait in the offseason. Stafford’s status for this weekend is in jeopardy, and if he’s going to miss multiple games, do the Lions just shut him down to preserve his trade value and see what they have on their roster? Hard to say. 

The MINNESOTA VIKINGS did the Packers a solid by taking an L in Tampa, allowing Green Bay to clinch the division with three weeks left to go in the regular season. The Vikings now have absolutely no margin for error--they basically will need to win all three games left on their schedule and get some help if they’re to get into the playoffs, barring a collapse from the Arizona Cardinals. Until the Vikings improve their offensive line and secondary, you can expect this to be a team that continues to come up short in the regular season. Better luck next year...

Another five years of Giannis!

Just a couple weeks ago in this column I bemoaned how the national talking heads and columnists all seemed to be cheering for--not just predicting--Giannis to leave Milwaukee and go to a big market team.

Now, for anyone who has actually been paying attention to the things Giannis has said and done during his time in Milwaukee over the last six or seven years, him staying right here in “boring” old Milwaukee was far from out of the question, and was, in fact, the likeliest end result. 

But the hype machine ot out of control, and Milwaukee once again found itself bracing for yet another basketball star to move on too early, with shades of Kareem Abdul-Jabar or Ray Allen.

The fact that Giannis chose to sign the supermax contract and tie himself to Milwaukee for an extra five years is massive for small market NBA teams everywhere, which constantly find it a struggle to compete with the bigger markets that draw NBA superstars.

More than that, and I’m not exaggerating at all here, this may be the biggest thing to happen to Milwaukee in my lifetime.

Had the Democratic National Convention been able to go as planned in Milwaukee this summer, that would certainly have been the biggest event Milwaukee had seen in the last several decades, an opportunity to put itself on display nationally and showcase itself as a city full of potential and enthusiasm. 

The loss of the DNC was a major blow to this city and its businesses. Giannis choosing to stay, though, is massive.

It’s a huge support for the still-young Deer District downtown, which will now continue to be packed on Bucks game days (when it’s able to be once again) and continue to see successful tenants coming in to the area. It’s a chance for Milwaukee to become a high-profile destination for free agents who know Giannis is here for the long haul. It’s a huge marketing opportunity for a city that desperately needs positive young faces and role models. 

Even if you’re not a basketball or Bucks fan, you can hopefully appreciate how big this is for Milwaukee and Wisconsin as a whole.

Aaron Rodgers watch

A rough outing by Patrick Mahomes has Aaron Rodgers now the odds-on favorite to win the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award. 

Rodgers continues to have one of the finest seasons of his career, adding three more passing TDs and a running TD to his resume for the year. Rodgers already has 39 passing touchdowns with still three games to play, meaning there’s a legitimate chance he hits 50 on the season. 

Rodgers is also closing in on his own all-time single-season record for passer rating, set during the 2011 season. The record stands at 122.5, and Rodgers currently sits at 119.7. Had the Tampa game not happened, Rodgers would probably be sitting over the mark already. He will need to continue to play extremely efficient ball over the final three weeks to bring his total up over the mark to beat, but it’s certainly possible. He’s already eviscerated the Bears once, and the Titans have been easy to pass on all year long. This weekend’s game against the Panthers could end up being the toughest matchup he has left if the Bears don’t show more than what they did in the first go around.

Other milestones and accomplishments coming up:

• Rodgers needs one touchdown pass to reach 40 in a single season for the third time, which would be the most in NFL history.

• Rodgers needs 315 passing yards to reach 4,000 in a single season for the ninth time in his career.

• Rodgers is currently on pace to smash his all-time best for completion percentage in a single season. He sits at 69.6, with his previous best being 68.3 in 2011.

• Rodgers has had passer ratings of over 100 12 of 13 games this season, and over 110 in 10 of 13. 

So, uh, yeah… he’s pretty good.

Week 15 quick forecast

The Panthers have had a rough go of it this season. It’s their first season under a new coach and quarterback, and their all-star running back Christian McCaffrey has missed most of the season with various injuries, right after signing a mega-deal entering the regular season.

McCaffrey will once again be out this weekend, which makes matters a bit easier on the Packers’ defense.

Still, it would be a mistake to take this Panthers team lightly. They’ve fought hard and have been in almost every game they’ve played this year right up to the end, even against some tough competition. Matt Rhule is off to a promising start with his first gig in the league. Despite the talent deficit between these two teams, you can expect the Panthers to play hard for a full 60 minutes of football. This may be a last-place NFC South team, but it’s not at all a team that’s given up.

I’d expect some early struggles for the Packers before they inevitably break away, as the talent gap is too large for Carolina to overcome for a full 60 minutes. I’ll go Packers 31, Panthers 17.