Packers' playoff chances are slim. Then again, Aaron Rodgers knows all about improbable comebacks

Even after Green Bay earned consecutive wins via a 24-12 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Monday, the chances that the Packers (6-8) pull off an end-of-season run into the playoffs remains remote.

First, they need to win their final three games — at Miami before visits from Minnesota and Detroit. They then need Seattle to lose at least once, Washington at least twice and the New York Giants to lose all three of their remaining games.

Aaron Rodgers knows all of this.

Which made Rodgers' postgame media session even more enjoyable, as he boldly talked up the Pack's chances, mapped out the scenarios for success and sent positive messages to his own locker room while, perhaps, sowing doubt in opposing ones should it come to that.

Mainly, he acted just like a guy who has spent his career orchestrating improbable fourth-quarter comebacks, some of them in the 21 playoff games he has started.

Here near the end of a season marked by unusual failure — eight losses for the Packers, 10 interceptions thrown by Rodgers — maybe it was expected that given a glimmer of hope, he reverted back to his old confident, even cocky, self.

Even if those two victories were against three-win Chicago and four-win L.A. — not exactly a murderer’s row.

“We’ve got two [victories],” Rodgers said. “Got two in the bag. Look, before the Bears week, some of us who peek ahead, knew we needed to win five and then have a lot of things go our way.

“So we won two and just about everything we needed to happen has gone our way, so things are looking up …”

He isn’t wrong. Things are looking up, if only because they couldn’t have looked worse. Earlier this season, Green Bay lost five consecutive games.

This was classic Rodgers though, and it was likely a very purposeful statement of pseudo-confidence designed to inspire his teammates that the near-impossible is possible.

When ESPN’s Lisa Salters mentioned to Rodgers postgame that all three remaining opponents have winning records, Rodgers stopped her to note: “Well, one of them is at .500 right now.”

That would be the 7-7 Lions, a franchise Rodgers has tortured through the years. Rodgers later acknowledged Detroit is playing “really well” but he’d still love to try to play some mind games in case the season finale in Lambeau becomes a win-or-go-home proposition.

The chances are, the playoffs will go off without Rodgers and the Packers for the first time since 2018, so maybe this was just his chance to stay in the mix for as long as possible. Or maybe he truly believes?

“We’ve got two at home, on this field, in the cold weather, and Miami on Christmas,” Rodgers said. “Start with Miami, get a good performance, come out with a win.

“A lot of stuff has gone our way with other teams that we needed to lose, losing,” he continued. “We need a little more of that. Take care of business and see where we are at, at the end of the season.”

He wasn’t done.

“They're all good football teams,” Rodgers acknowledged. “Miami is playing for the playoffs, Minnesota is the division winner and Detroit has won six of seven, they are playing really well. It’s going to be three really difficult games.

“But, two of them are home against dome teams [Minnesota, Detroit],” he continued. “It will be January for those two. We’ve notoriously been pretty good in those games over the years. This one [Miami] is important because it’s on the road, they have a high-powered offense. They have been up and down the last few weeks, so maybe we’re catching them at a good time.”

Maybe. This has been a tough season for Rodgers. His unwillingness to commit to a return this year played a role in top receiver Davante Adams leaving for Las Vegas. Finding a replacement has been a long process.

Rookie Christian Watson certainly isn’t Adams, but he’s playing better and, as Rodgers notes, he doesn’t lack for speed. “When he gets in space, everyone holds their breath,” Rodgers said.

Of course, that’s when Green Bay is going against lousy teams that are mostly playing out the string. The Rams are an injury-riddled mess, “nobody was upset that [Aaron Donald] wasn’t playing,” Rodgers noted.

So now he tries to pull an inside flush and find a way back to the playoffs. The Packers need to be perfect. A lot of other teams need to stumble. Rodgers just keeps pointing to the fact it isn’t over, yet.

“We can beat anybody,” Rodgers said. “We can also lose to anybody. But, you win a couple games it gives you confidence that you can go to Miami and win … a lot to still play for, a game and a half out of the playoffs.”

It would be one of his most outlandish comebacks ever.