(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
No respect: 13-3 Packers have worse chance of winning Super Bowl than 9-7 Titans
Despite tying for the best record in the NFC, advanced metrics don't make a good case for the Packers compared to the other three teams in Sunday's conference title games.
January 14, 2020 at 7:51PM
If you look at regular season records, there appear to be three remaining NFL teams in the same class — the 49ers, Packers and Chiefs — along with one outlier underdog, the Titans.
But advanced metrics — and the betting odds heavily influenced by those metrics — have instead divided the four conference title game participants into two neat groups of two. The Packers, despite tying for the NFC's best record at 13-3, are heavy underdogs against the 13-3 49ers — more than a touchdown at 7.5 points.
And Green Bay has a worse chance to win the Super Bowl than the 9-7 Titans in some places you look.
One of those: FiveThirtyEight.com, which gives Green Bay just a 14% chance of winning the Super Bowl — less than Tennessee (17%), San Francisco (26%) and Kansas City (43%).
The Titans have already pulled two huge upsets over New England and Baltimore coming from the No. 6 seed, and Caesar's Palace has the same spread (+7.5) on the Titans/Chiefs game as it does Packers/49ers.
The 49ers routed Green Bay 37-8 during the regular season, which carries some weight. Still, it's surprising to see the Packers given so little respect.
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.
