The start of the 2019 NFL season is right around the corner. With the draft now in the rearview mirror, there's only a couple of months until training camps begin to open.

Analysts are beginning to take more serious stabs at prognosticating the 2019 campaign now that rosters are more or less set, and ESPN recently made predictions for all 32 teams.

The Green Bay Packers had a very disappointing year last season, and ESPN's model expects them to bounce back a bit, if not quite as much as Packers fans would be hoping for. Their model projects the Packers for:

  • Wins: 8.6
  • Playoffs: 46 percent
  • Division: 27 percent
  • Super Bowl: 3 percent

8.6 wins might not look great, but a 46 percent chance at the playoffs isn't much to complain about. Still though, there's reason to believe the Packers' upside is greater than their computer is giving them credit for.

With Mike McCarthy now no longer the coach, it's quite possible the team catches a second win and gets a new burst of energy from new coach Matt LaFleur.

Aaron Rodgers hasn't quite looked like himself the past couple of years, and if he returns to form then no one will want to play this team. The Packers also made bold moves to upgrade their defense, signing starters like Za'Darius Smith and Adrian Amos in free agency and using each of their two first round picks on defensive players.

The Packers underachieved last season, there's no doubt about that. But they have a lot more talent, on both sides of the ball, than people are apparently giving them credit for.

If LaFleur truly is the whizkid he's been hailed as, a three percent chance at a Super Bowl win might be being a bit conservative.