Consistency is something difficult to achieve as a young team, but the Green Bay Packers need to find some to have an opportunity to make the playoffs.

Week 15 couldn't have gone much worse for the Packers, and now it’s an extreme situation. Beyond the loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they watched several NFC wild card contenders win.

The Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears lost too, but the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, and New Orleans Saints all won, dropping the Packers playoff chances to 23% according to the New York Times playoff simulation tool.

The second place of the NFC East, be it the Dallas Cowboys or the Philadelphia Eagles, has secured a playoff spot. So there are two open wildcard spots left in the NFC.

At this moment, the Vikings and the Rams are the likeliest contenders to make it, followed by the Seahawks and Saints. The Packers come after them, and before the Falcons and Bears. We're not considering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because they lead the NFC South.

Path to the playoffs

Even though the Packers playoff chances have imploded from 75% to 23% over the last two weeks after losses to the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there is still a clear path to the postseason. However, there is no margin for error left.

If the Packers win out, beating the Carolina Panthers, Minnesota Vikings, and Chicago Bears over the next three weeks, they have a 94% chance of making the playoffs.

But one loss and everything is probably over. The chances go down to 10% with a loss to the Vikings, 22% to the Bears, or 31% to the Panthers – considering a 2-1 scenario to finish out the season.

Any 1-2 scenario puts the Packers with less than 1% chance of getting to the playoffs.

If the Packers beat the Panthers on Sunday, their chances improve to 30%. It's not a big difference from what it's now because they are expected to win — and they do it in most simulations anyway.

The most important game left is against the Vikings in week 17. The swing is 44 percentage points. A Packers win puts them with a 47% chance, while a loss lets them at 3%. This happens for two main reasons: first, the Vikings are a direct contender for a wild card spot. And second, it's a big game in terms of tie-breakers.

The Bears game is also important for tie-breakers purposes as a divisional game, with a 37%-7% swing.

The season has gone south for the Packers over the last two weeks. There is still time to correct it, but Green Bay lost the rights to have ups and downs.

For the young players, it would be extremely important to have a playoff experience. But to do so, they need to overcome three de facto playoff games.

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