The Green Bay Packers travel to face Washington this weekend in the 2016 NFL playoffs. The Packers led the NFC North heading into the final weekend, but a loss at home to the Minnesota Vikings cost them the division and a home playoff game. Had Green Bay won, I believe they would have hosted Minnesota this weekend.
The Packers opened the season 6-0, but subsequently stumbled through much of the rest of the season. They lost three straight after the 6-0 start, and lost their final two games of the season to finish 10-6. Throughout this stretch, their offense struggled with consistency. Play-calling was turned back over to McCarthy, but things did not get much more consistent.
Washington is playing some solid football to close out the season. They won four straight, and their offense looked really impressive under Kirk Cousins. It remains to be seen how good a long-term option Cousins is, but right now he's looking good. I think Washington is a dark-horse in this year's playoffs, and I would not be surprised to see them beat the Packers this Sunday.
The question now is what happens in Green Bay if the Packers lose on Sunday. I don't expect them to fire McCarthy, but crazier things have happened. The Packers have made the playoffs seven straight seasons under McCarthy. They won the Super Bowl following the 2010 season, and last year's conference title game was their best finish since. That's still a pretty impressive run given how awful some NFL teams are, but could the Packers get a little impatient? We've seen random impatience lead to some impetuous firings in the past. It adds at least a little extra level of intrigue to Sunday's playoff game.