The 10-4 Green Bay Packers are home this week to wrap up a four-game prime-time stretch versus the 5-9 New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football. With only three games left in the regular season, the Packers benefit from hosting two out of three at Lambeau Field. Here are six things to keep in mind going into the Monday night showdown. 

1. Parading into the Backfield 

Green Bay’s pass rush heated up at Lumen Field, registering seven sacks against Seattle on Sunday Night Football. J.J. Enagbare, a fifth-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, led the charge with two sacks on his own while Edgerrin Cooper, Brenton Cox, Rashan Gary, Karl Brooks, and Devonte Wyatt all joined the fun with one each. 

It’s a welcomed sight from a pass rush that’s struggled to generate pressure against opposing quarterbacks for much of the season. With Preston Smith being traded to Pittsburgh before the deadline, Green Bay needed to see increased production out of its young players. Gary leads the team with 6.5 sacks (he’s registered four in the last five games), followed by Enagbare now with 4.5. Former first-round pick Lukas Van Ness has three sacks this season along with Cox who has only been active for five games this year, which makes his numbers all the more impressive. 

The Packers have 40 sacks on the year which is good for seventh in the league. On the flip side, Saints quarterbacks have been sacked 28 times. With Derek Carr dealing with a left hand injury, his status is up in the air for Monday night. If he can’t go, Spencer Rattler will get the start in his place. Rattler has been sacked a whopping 14 times, half of the Saints’ total, in only four games, though Washington failed to register a sack against him last week. Pro Football Focus considers Saints center Erik McCoy the best in the NFL with an elite grade of 93.4, but the rest of the line has its struggles, primarily at both tackle spots. The Packers should be able to build off the pass rush momentum they established last week again on Monday night under the lights. 

2. Ten out of Ten

Jordan Love continued his streak of mistake-free football on Sunday night, extending to four games without an interception. This is also the fourth straight game the Packers have scored 30-plus points. 

For Love, it was the second time this season he’s posted a passer rating above 120.0, this time earning a 123.8 against the Seahawks. Unsurprisingly, five of his six best passer ratings of the season have come in the last five weeks, with the lone outlier the Cardinals victory in mid-October. He’s posted a passer rating above 107.0 in each of his last five games and has only taken four sacks in that span. Coming out of the bye, Love has thrown eight touchdowns with only one pick. 

While the Saints defense has 13 interceptions on the year, they’ve only snagged one turnover in the last four weeks. With an offense at full strength that could be adding tight end Luke Musgrave sooner rather than later, this should be another strong performance from Love and company in prime-time. 

3. Coop There it Is

The rookie inside linebacker won his second NFC Defensive Player of the Week award this week for his performance against Seattle, and it was well-deserved. In his return to game action, Cooper registered five tackles with two for a loss, two passes defensed, a sack, and an interception. As things stand currently, Quay Walker is being considered week-to-week with an ankle injury. That means Green Bay will need Cooper to continue his dominant play in the middle of the defense. 

In 11 games for the Packers, Cooper is fourth on the team in passes defensed with four, and fourth on the team in sacks with 3.5. He’s also fourth, go figure, in quarterback hits with six, and is tied for second on the team with seven tackles for loss. 

It’s early, but it certainly seems the Packers found their star middle linebacker in the second-round pick. Cooper ranks eighth out of 83 qualifying inside linebackers per PFF metrics with a grade of 77.0. He boasts an elite 89.8 pass rush grade and a stout coverage grade of 76.9. He’s Green Bay’s second-highest graded defender on the team behind only Xavier McKinney. It’s time for Cooper to become an every-down player on defense. 

4. The Kamara the Merrier

Saints running back Alvin Kamara suffered a groin injury on Sunday against the Commanders, and it sounds like the injury is more significant than the team originally thought. He’s yet to practice this week and seems doubtful for Monday Night Football. His loss would be a significant blow for a Saints offense that’s been decimated by injuries this season. Receivers Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, and Bub Means are already on injured reserve, though Olave has been designated to return. In fact, Kamara is New Orleans’ top receiver this year with 543 receiving yards. No other player has surpassed 400, a mark Olave set in his eight games before going on IR. 

Kamara was the lead back in New Orleans by a wide margin. He posted 950 rushing yards and averaged 4.2 yards per attempt with six rushing scores. Tight end Taysom Hill was second on the team with 278 rushing yards and six scores, but he’s also out for the season with an injury. That leaves only Kendre Miller (130 yards) and familiar face Jamaal Williams (129 yards) as options in the run game going into Monday night. Both backs have one touchdown this season and neither has over 35 rushing attempts on the year. 

Another recognizable name, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, is in line as the Saints’ top receiver going into Monday night if Olave can’t go, and he’s also on the injury report with a chest injury. It’s a banged up offense that won’t be even remotely close to full strength in prime-time. There’s a reason the Packers are almost two-touchdown favorites heading into the matchup. 

5. Put a Bow on It

As was mentioned previously, this is Green Bay’s final prime-time game of the regular season, and the fourth in a four-game prime-time gauntlet. The last prime-time game the Packers played before this stretch was all the way back in Week 1 on Friday night versus the Eagles in Brazil. 

This is the first and only Monday night contest for the Packers, all the way in Week 16. Per the dope sheet, this is the 32nd straight season (1993-2024) that the Packers will play on Monday Night Football. It’s the longest streak in the entire history of Monday Night Football. 

This is also the latest Monday Night Football game ever played at Lambeau Field. Per the dope sheet, this is just the fourth Monday Night Football game ever in the month of December at home for the Packers. For what it’s worth, Green Bay won the other three. 

In Green Bay’s four other prime-time games this season, the Packers put up an average of 30 points per game and averaged 367.3 total yards of offense. The defense also had seven takeaways in that stretch. 

6. Lock It Up

The Packers can officially clinch a playoff spot this week, and the path to getting into the postseason is simple. Win on Monday night. That’s it. Green Bay enters Week 16 in a win-and-in scenario. 

Green Bay can technically clinch a playoff spot even before taking the field on Monday, but that would require a couple of different outcomes. First, the 7-7 Falcons would need to lose or tie. Then, either the 8-6 Seahawks or the 8-6 Rams would need to lose or tie. But the Seahawks do host the Vikings on Sunday, so the Packers may be okay controlling their own destiny and rooting for Seattle to upset their division rival. 

Looking around the rest of the NFC, the Lions travel to Chicago to take on the Bears, and the Eagles travel to the Commanders. Depending how comfortable you are with Green Bay’s chances of winning out and keeping in front of Washington in the playoff seeding, you can either root for the Commanders to take down the Eagles, or root for the Eagles to keep stacking victories in the hopes that they steal the No. 1 seed from Detroit. That would also require the Bears to, you know, win on Sunday, which is asking a lot.