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The Green Bay Packers remain atop the NFC North after four weeks, thanks to a head-to-head win over the Chicago Bears in week one. At 3-1, Green Bay sits in a tie with a number of teams in the conference all sitting a half-game behind the 3-0 San Francisco 49ers, who were idle in week four.
But despite six teams holding that record across the NFC, ESPN’s Football Power Index ranks the Packers as one of the stronger of those teams at present. To illustrate that, the massive sports media network released a list of the most likely matchups in Super Bowl LIV this February, and the Packers appear on two of the ten possibilities.
This list basically assumes that two AFC teams are the only real contenders to win that conference’s title. The New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs seem in line to win that half of the league, as they make up all of the AFC representatives in this list, with each team showing up against five different potential NFC opponents.
The Packers come in at ninth and tenth on the list, facing New England in the ninth-most likely game and the Chiefs in game number ten. Both games are given about a four percent chance of happening based on the teams’ current numbers and FPI situations, suggesting that the Packers overall have something like a ten percent chance of making it to Super Bowl LIV.
Either game would be a great quarterback matchup. The old geezer storylines would abound in an Aaron Rodgers vs. Tom Brady contest, while a Rodgers-Patrick Mahomes duel would be a dream matchup for State Farm — and for fans of throws coming from absurd arm angles. In addition, a Packers-Chiefs game would be the third game between the teams in the 2019 season, as they met in the teams’ preseason finale and will play at Arrowhead Stadium in week eight.
As a bonus piece of intrigue, either of these two matchups would be rematches of past Super Bowls. The Packers defeated the Patriots 35-21 in Super Bowl XXXI, thirty years after beating the Chiefs 35-10 in Super Bowl I.