Green Bay Packers To Win Super Bowl LI - Bet On It!

The Green Bay Packers are Super Bowl contenders in 2016 for good reason. We rundown the Packer’s chances and predict where they’ll finish for the upcoming campaign.

The Green Bay Packers are coming off a season to forget — five-time Pro-Bowl quarterback Aaron Rodgers will admit as much.

A lot of the Packers’ struggles in 2015 were due in big part to injuries — the biggest coming when No. 1 receiver Jordy Nelson suffered a season-ending knee injury during a Week 2 exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Even Rodgers battled to stay healthy in a season that saw the former Super Bowl champion’s stats significantly down from previous years.

“I was down in my passing rating, I was down in my completion rating, I was down in my redzone stats,” Rodgers told Peter King of MMQB recently. “There were external factors that contributed to that — the loss of guy who had 98 catches and 1,500 yards the year before — and there were some injuries. But I can’t control those things.”

The addition of Nelson back into the fold means Randall Cobb can slide back into the No. 2 receiver role — a position he was much more comfortable in prior to Nelson’s injury.

The Packers, despite the injuries, still finished second in the NFC North before eventually being ousted by the Arizona Cardinals in the divisional playoffs.

So here we are, a new season and a Packers team ready for a fresh start.

Green Bay enters the 2016-17 campaign as early-season favorites to win the Super Bowl. Bovada has the Packers at +850 to win the championship, with just the New England Patriots having a better shot at +600. The Packers are also +450 favorites to come out as NFC Champions.

If the Packers stand any chance of winning the NFC, they’ll need a strong running game to take a lot of the pressure off of Rodgers. 

That’s where a trimmed-down Eddie Lacy comes into the equation. Many NFL gurus had high hopes for the 26-year-old running back, who had two tremendous 1,000-plus rushing seasons in 2013 and 2104. However, Lacy put up beyond disappointing numbers in 2015, carrying the ball just 187 times and racking up a measly 758 yards rushing in the process.

This is the same guy that two years ago averaged 7.85 yards per carry. Last year? Well, it was down significantly at just over 5.0 yards per carry with just three touchdowns.

“I just had a bad year,” Lacy told reporters during Packers training camp. “I don’t know anyone who’s played a long time and never had a bad year. I just gotta bounce back.”

The Packers will have a favorable matchup to open the NFL season as they travel to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars on Sept. 11. It’s the first time the two teams will meet in the regular season since 2012, when the Packers escaped with a 24-15 win.

Green Bay is a -210 favorite to win its season opener over Jacksonville, according to Bet365 odds makers. The next two games for the Packers — Week 2 against the Minnesota Vikings and Week 3 against the Detroit Lions — will be crucial as Green Bay could potentially be a 3-0 team heading into its bye in Week 4.

There are a handful of games on this season’s schedule that will be true tests for the Packers, including Oct. 16 against the Dallas Cowboys and Dec. 11 against the Seattle Seahawks. But we expect, barring any major injuries, Green Bay to win the NFC and go on to win the Super Bowl in emphatic style.

Have a look at who the Packers play next, scan their entire schedule, find out the best betting lines for every Green Bay game and heed some tips on how to make more money from your Packers bets.

 

Regular-season projection: Green Bay (12-4)

 

Favorites to win Super Bowl LI

New England Patriots: +600

Green Bay Packers: +850

Seattle Seahawks: +1000

Pittsburgh Steelers: +1000

Carolina Panthers: +1200

Arizona Cardinals: +1200

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Comments (5)

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gr7070's picture

August 08, 2016 at 11:36 pm

This team definitely has the potential to be great. And i like a ton of our draft choices, more than most years, including even the last choice.

Having said that i have a good deal of concern for the coming season. They had a ton of things go bad last year that have to go right this year. Usually that doesn't bode well for a sports team. It's highly unlikely to turn the vast majority of those negatives into positives.

The #1 WR tore his ACL and is one more year above 30. He could be amazing again; he might not be.

The #2 WR was not very good.

The #3 WR was historically bad - one of the worst 500 (? or so, i forget the actual ranking) WRs of the last 15 years.

The #1 TE was ordinary or worse and the #2 TE is a FA signee who was the worst rated in the NFL and just had (minor?) surgery.

The best QB in the NFL played like an average QB, at best.

The formerly very good RB was not good, and it's assumed losing 15 pounds will solve everything???

The O line played reasonably well and was reasonably healthy, and the QB and RB were still not good. Neither was the entire O.

The D line was not very good despite a very good DE. And we're relying on at least one rookie to play quite well.

The inside LBs were bad and the best athlete is no longer an ILB. The starters are likely an ordinary at best 2nd year guy and an albeit promising rookie.

The OLBs have many live bodies and could be quite good.

The secondary could be great, but lost their best CB according to the best advanced metrics websites available.

We're relying on a promising 2nd year who was rated poorly by those same sites. Another promising 2nd year player. And a 3rd maybe promising, but largely unknown UDFA.
That's a ton of giant question marks that have to go right.

Our safeties should be great.

As with our CBs the entire team has a ton of things that have to go right to be a very good team. As I said normally that's too many unknowns too expect to go right.

Someone, using facts and logic, talk me into believing the positive hype.

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Bearmeat's picture

August 09, 2016 at 10:58 am

Simple:

Jordy was great and is in great shape. PLENTY of WRs who never were as good as Jordy have had statistically average seasons for them at 30+ coming off an ACL. Jordy will be fine. He might not have 100/12/1500 again, but he'll be better than 80/10/1200. And that's enough.

Cobb is best in the slot. He was forced to play outside WAY WAY too much last year. He's also best (like anyone else) when he's not double teamed every dang play. Is he overpaid for a slot WR? Yeah. But who cares. GB has the cap room.

Adams will be better. Remember how bad Jones' 2008 season was after a promising rookie year. Adams will never be Jordy, but he'll be a solid #2 outside WR I'd bet for several years. For a 2nd round pick, that's not bad.

Between Monty, Abby, and Janis, IMO someone will step up to be #4/5 just fine thank you very much. Anyone who says differently is a hater.

I'm not worried about TE. Assuming the WRs play well, any help Cook/Rodgers give is a bonus.

Lacy didn't suddenly forget how to run. His physique looks better than he has since his rookie year. I (reasonably) expect a 1000/10 with 30 plus catches from him.

Yeah, the OL is a little long in the tooth. They won't all be back after this year, but they're not THAT old. And this was arguably a top 3 unit in 2013 and 2014. With added good depth from Spriggs/Taylor/Tretter. This is going to be a VERY good year for the OL.

Actually, the offense in general. I'm expecting a 500 plus point season.

Defensively, the secondary will be a top 5 unit. I'm REALLY excited about the young bucks at CB. All three of them. Shields is very good. Both safeties are very good and HHCD could become excellent with a 3rd year jump.

OLB - I'm encouraged by the pass rush options. I think pass rush will be better than last year with Clay back outside and Jones in a better position for him. Fackrell and McCray are promising depth pieces, and who knows if Perry can put it together for a full season. Probably not, but hey... there's quality depth there so if he doesn't... eh.

ILB - This is a spot of concern. They're hoping Ryan makes a jump and Martinez is good from the word go. If both those things don't happen, we'll be soft in the middle of the field. Perhaps Burnett at MLB in dime is a possibility.

DT - Another spot of concern. Pennel, Ringo, Lowry. Someone from one of those spots needs to step up.

NT - I'm not as worried here. Raji was ok to good (but certainly not great) his final 4 years in GB. Clark will IMO be at Raji level soon. The early returns are promising. And Guion is a very good rotational piece.

There you have it. That is the reasonable (perhaps slightly optimistic) response to your decidedly pessimistic post above.

The Green Bay Packers are a Super Bowl Favorite. And they should be. That doesn't mean they'll win it. But it does mean they'll be there right at the end and who knows what happens in the playoffs.

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dobber's picture

August 09, 2016 at 12:24 pm

"The O line played reasonably well and was reasonably healthy, "

Were we watching the same Packers OL last season?

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al bundy's picture

August 18, 2016 at 12:34 pm

Hey they may not make the playoffs. A lot is riding on passing game and running game coming back and some outside linebackers being good.
The Bears, and Vikes got better, Lions go figure.
Jax, our first game got real better. Lets talk playoffs before superbowl.

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Ryan Spiwak's picture

August 24, 2016 at 12:07 pm

I put 100 on the Packers +800 in Vegas a few months ago, maybe I should've waited lol

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