By the time Green Bay kicks off on Sunday night v. Tennessee, the team will know if they could clinch the NFC's No. 1 seed, or if the game will be meaningless from a Packers perspective. Should the Seattle Seahawks win at home earlier v. The Los Angeles Rams, the GBP would be unable to wrap up the top seed since the Titans are a non-conference opponent. The Packers would win the No. 1 seed with a Week 17 win at Chicago, regardless of other results.
Per fivethirtyeight.com, Green Bay sits with a 68 percent chance of earning the lone first-round bye. The Arizona Cardinals home loss Saturday to San Francisco does wonders for the Chicago Bears, who control their own destiny by winning their remaining games. Even if the Bears lose their Week 16 game at Jacksonville they would remain in the Wild Card hunt heading into the final weekend, which guarantees Packers/Bears will have implications from the Chicago side.
At this moment the Bears are given a 71 percent chance of advancing to the postseason. The nightmare Green Bay scenario is a Week 16 win, but a Week 17 loss. That coupled with two Seattle wins (v. LAR, @SF) and a New Orleans win at Carolina would result in the Saints, Packers and Seahawks finishing at 12-4, New Orleans would win out via better conference record, suddenly rendering Green Bay's Week 3 win v. the Saints as mute. Seattle's elimination number for the top seed is 1, they must win out while the Saints and Packers lose out.
In other Saturday action, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers obliterated Detroit 47-7. A Bucs win in Week 17 secures a No. 5 seed and a first round game at the NFC East champion. A win there possibly pits Tampa against the No. 1 seed and a possible rematch of the Bucs Week 6 rout of Green Bay.
Look for the NFL in future years to minimize if not eliminate Week 16 interconfertnce games. Seattle's road game with San Francisco and Packers v. Bears will no doubt be slotted for the 4:25 PM ET window in Week 17.