GREEN BAY — Xavier McKinney’s answer came immediately. For as important as the Green Bay Packers’ back-to-back-to-back victories over NFC North foes had been over the past three weeks, the veteran All-Pro safety wasn’t about to shortchange Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos. 

“I mean, it’s definitely a playoff game,” McKinney said before the NFC North-leading Packers (9-3-1) departed for Denver for their matchup with the AFC West-leading Broncos (11-2). “They’re the top team in the AFC. And you know, we believe that we are a top team in NFC. So it’s going to be a clash of two really good teams. And I think this is going to be a good pre-test before the real test.

“We know how much this game is going to mean moving forward. We’re just setting the tone of who we think we are. And, yeah, it’s going to be a good one.”

The Broncos have won 10 straight games and of their 11 victories, nine have come after they trailed in the fourth quarter.

“We know it’s going to be a fourth-quarter game but, at the same time, we’re not the [New York] Giants and any other defense they faced this year. They ain’t [faced] us,” Packers star edge rusher Micah Parsons said of the Green Bay defense, which enters Sunday’s games ranked sixth in scoring defense (19.0 points per game) and fifth in total defense (287.2 yards per game).

“I don’t think they’ve played anybody like us outside of Houston. So … I’m excited to go see what we do against this team.”

Here’s a look at three aspects of the game worth keeping an eye on:

1️⃣ — PRIMO PASS RUSHERS

Entering Sunday’s games, Cleveland’s Myles Garrett leads the NFL in sacks with 20 in only 13 games — putting him on pace to shatter the NFL single-season record of 22.5 set by the Giants’ Michael Strahan in 2001 and tied by ex-University of Wisconsin star T.J. Watt with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021.

The Giants’ Brian Burns is next with 13, followed by Parsons and the Broncos’ Nik Bonitto with 12.5. And while Parsons and Bonitto won’t be on the field at the same time, of course,

But that doesn’t mean they won’t be going against each other, Parsons said.

“There’s always a certain pride when you’re playing against, whether it’s another good rusher, another good defense. I’m pretty sure even with QBs, there’s a debate about MVPs and who’s going to be the best quarterback [that] day,” Parsons explained. “There’s always those type of self-pressure that you put on yourself to outperform the other defense or other players. That’s definitely going to be involved in this game. I know they’ve got some really good guys over there and I’m excited to see whose front is going to play better.”

Bonitto, who has been playing with a club cast to protect a broken thumb, has a chance to break Von Miller’s single-season franchise record 18.5 sacks, set in 2012, with a strong finish.

“Getting 10 sacks in this league isn’t easy,” said Bonitto, who has had back-to-back double-digit sack seasons. “Just finding ways to be effective with the quarterback, finding ways to be disruptive during the game is always my main goal. Being able to reach 10 again is real special.”

Broncos coach Sean Payton said Parsons is even harder to game-plan for than Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby, whom the Broncos faced last week, because of how many different places Parsons lines up.

“The more challenging thing with Micah is where he’s at. He’s not as predictable as maybe some guys,” Payton said. “Some guys, you know they’re going to be. … We’ve tried to do a whole study on his alignments. He’s inside in the nickel in the pass rush situations. So that becomes challenging.”

2️⃣ — RAREFIED AIR

They don’t call it the Mile High City for nothing, of course, and while the Packers played in Denver during the 2024 preseason, most of their starters spent that game as spectators. So their experience with the altitude difference between Green Bay and Denver is limited.

Head coach Matt LaFleur had the team’s athletic performance staff talk to the players about hydration, nutrition and rest heading into the game, but even he admitted, “Ultimately, it’s just a circumstance, and you got to try to best prepare your body to go out there and handle the elements.”

While the elements themselves shouldn’t be an issue — unlike Green Bay, where sub-zero temperatures were the order of the day on Saturday, the Denver forecast calls for temps around 60 degrees at kickoff — Packers running back Josh Jacobs fielded all sorts of questions from teammates about how to approach the game since he played in Denver once a year during his time with the Raiders.

“You definitely do [feel it]. I was trying to tell the guys that,” Jacobs said before the team departed. “The thing that I’ve learned when it comes to Denver is, you have to make sure you’re almost hitting your second wind before the game starts. So make sure whatever you do in pregame, whatever your routine is, you’ve got to really get after it because you’ve kind of got to be tired so you can hit your second wind. Because once you hit your second wind, you’re good. It’s just that first little 10, 15 minutes that get people.”

3️⃣ — TONS OF FUN

The Packers run defense enters Sunday ranked ninth in yards allowed per game (101.4) and per play (3.93), and while the Chicago Bears managed to gain 138 yards on the ground last Sunday, it took them 32 attempts and they never managed a run longer than 9 yards — a week after they hung 281 rushing yards on the Philadelphia Eagles.

“Let me say this: I think we’re playing the run game pretty well,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said at midweek. “I mean, I know there’s been some runs that have hit us, but I think these guys are playing really good run defense, and I think it’s helped us.”

The Bears game marked the Packers’ first without defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Detroit on Nov. 27, and for their 70 defensive snaps, the Packers manned the middle of their line with Karl Brooks (47 snaps), Colby Wooden (43), Warren Brinson (27) and recent addition Jordon Riley (14).

Undrafted rookie Nazir Stackhouse was inactive as a healthy scratch, as was another newcomer, Quinton Bohanna.

The Packers plucked Riley off the Giants practice squad, playing him those 14 snaps despite only practicing three times with his new team. They claimed Bohanna off waivers from the Seattle Seahawks on the Friday before the game against the Bears, giving him no time to get up to speed.

The Packers list Riley at 338 pounds, making him the heaviest player on their roster, and Bohanna at 327 pounds, which ties him with Stackhouse as the third-heaviest. (Rookie right guard Anthony Belton is listed at 336 pounds.)

It’ll be interesting to see how snaps are dispersed against the Broncos, whose ground game ranks a middling 14th in rushing yards per game (121.8) and 11th in yards per attempt (4.59). R.J. Harvey has taken over for an injured J.K. Dobbins and the rookie second-round pick is coming off his most productive game of the season (17 carries, 75 yards, one touchdown) against the Raiders.

“Both of those guys have done a really good job coming in, trying to get sped up, learning the defense, learning the fundamentals, learning the techniques, trying to learn new teammates,” defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington said of Bohanna and Riley. “Both of them have been true professionals in trying to stay a step ahead of that.

“You sign those guys for a reason, to be able to come in and anchor, play in the middle of the defense, take on double teams, defeat blocks. Those guys are working hard each day, competing, and trying to bring value to the team.”

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