Historical Perspective on Packers’ 2-2 Start and Series With Colts
After beating the New Orleans Saints last week, the Green Bay Packers enter week five of the NFL season 2-2. Historically speaking, this can be seen as both good and bad news for the Packers. Of the 201 NFL teams that have started 2-2 since 1990, 71 of them have gone on to make the playoffs. According to the math, then, the chances of the Packers making the post season this year are about 35 percent.
Luckily, making the playoffs is not as simple as that – NFL football is certainly not akin to the lottery. Take that along with the fact that the loss against the Seattle Seahawks was a referee robbery and the Packers 2-2 record does not look nearly as bad. As NFL.com writer Gregg Rosenthal correctly pointed out – “not all 2-2 teams are created equal.” As such, despite deserving to be 3-1 right now, the Packers’ 2-2 record is a reality and makes their week five contest against the 1-2 Indianapolis Colts a must win.
Sunday will mark only the fifth meeting between the Packers and Colts since 1992. In those four games, the home team has emerged victorious in each encounter. Looking back even further shows that the Packers have struggled in Indianapolis – they have not won on the road against the Colts since the team moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis.
That said, because of the limited exposure between the two teams, this statistic is only so telling. The last time the Packers played the Colts, Peyton Manning was the quarterback and the Colts were a perennial powerhouse. The current Colts are coming off one of the worst records in the NFL last season and have an inexperienced quarterback in rookie Andrew Luck.
Sunday should also make for an interesting story regarding Saturday. Jeff Saturday will return to his former home on Sunday, bringing back memories of his time with Peyton Manning. He has remarked that he expects his return to Indiana to be “awkward.”
Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers have faced the Colts once – they destroyed them 34 -14 at Lambeau Field in 2008. Let’s hope they can go to Indiana and end the Packers winless streak there.
