Cheesehead
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- Mar 19, 2019
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GREEN BAY – The Packers haven’t had a chance for this since 2014.
A first-round bye in the playoffs, that is. That year, the NFC North title and a bye were on the line in a Packers-Lions regular-season finale at Lambeau Field.
As everyone knows, Green Bay won, got to rest up, and ultimately came a few agonizing minutes from the Super Bowl a few weeks later.
The scenario won’t be the same Sunday at Ford Field, which the Packers enter as division champs against a Lions team with just three wins. But the bye is there for the taking, and the Packers can in effect advance to the second round of the playoffs by beating a team on an eight-game losing streak.
Talk about opportunity knocking.
“The bye is huge, and home-field advantage is huge,” said center Corey Linsley, who was a rookie on that 2014 team. “Everybody knows that. We knew it back then, we know it right now. We’ve got to get it done.”