There’s a lot of hype surrounding the Green Bay Packers heading into this season. Tony Romo has already proclaimed them as “the team to beat” in the league this year. And now, former Packers wideout and NFL Network analyst James Jones has taken it one step further by saying no team actually will beat the Packers — in the regular season at least.
Jones has boldly predicted that the Packers will run the table and finish the year with a perfect 16-0 record:
Could the @packers run the table? 👀@MJD and @89JonesNTAF predict their record ⬇️
📺: @NFLTotalAccess https://t.co/FHcrl0yytI
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) July 11, 2018
Unsurprisingly, Jones cites the return of one Aaron Rodgers as a big factor in the Packers bouncing back from their disappointing 7-9 campaign last season.
“The man is back,” Jones said, “Aaron Rodgers, No. 12 is back.”
Jones was part of the great 2011 Packers team which very nearly swept the regular season following their Super Bowl win. They won 14 straight games before falling in Week 15 to the Kansas City Chiefs as they finished the regular season 15-1. Unfortunately, they were then upset by the New York Giants in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
Even with the return of Rodgers as well as the addition of Jimmy Graham and a presumably improved defense, the Packers will have their work cut out for them to go undefeated this year. They face a challenging schedule this season, with back-to-back tough road games against two possible Super Bowl contenders in the Rams and Patriots after their Week 7 bye.
But while going perfect in the regular season would be great — as improbable as it is — the Packers would probably prefer to have some postseason success for a change this year. They haven’t gone back to the Super Bowl since 2011, which is too long considering Rodgers’ greatness. If Rodgers can return to his best and the defense makes a huge jump, a Super Bowl run should be more realistic than going 16-0.
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