GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are this close to punching their ticket to the playoffs for the third consecutive year.

The Packers lost to the Chicago Bears in overtime on Saturday but got some big-time help from Aaron Rodgers on Sunday when the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions 29-24.

With that, the Packers have a game-and-a-half lead over the Lions in the race for the final playoff spot with two weeks to go. That means they have a magic number of one to clinch a playoff spot.

Here’s the tale of the tape.

Green Bay Packers: 9-5-1.

Remaining games: home vs. Baltimore Ravens, at Minnesota Vikings.

Detroit Lions: 8-7.

Remaining games: at Minnesota Vikings, at Chicago Bears

If Green Bay wins one game, or Detroit loses one game, the Packers will return to the playoffs.

According to The Athletic’s playoff simulator, the Packers after Saturday’s loss had an 82 percent chance of reaching the playoffs. That would have grown to 92 percent with a victory over Baltimore or fallen to 64 percent with a loss. Now, with Detroit’s loss, the Packers have a 94 percent chance of qualifying for the playoffs. Even if they lose to Baltimore, they’d have an 88 percent chance.

Thank You, Aaron Rodgers

While the Packers suffered an agonizing loss at Chicago, coughing up a 16-6 lead in the final minutes, they benefited from the Lions’ agonizing loss to the Steelers.

Pittsburgh took a 29-17 lead with 6:41 remaining but Detroit pulled within 29-24 with 4:11 remaining in regulation. After the Steelers missed a chip-shot field goal, the Lions scored a pair of touchdowns in the final 25 seconds, but both were nullified by offensive pass-interference penalties.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur said he wouldn’t be watching.

“No, no. I’ll be totally focused on the Baltimore Ravens,” LaFleur said of Saturday night’s opponent at Lambeau Field.

Rodgers was 27-of-41 passing for 266 yards and one touchdown for the Steelers, who lead the AFC North.

LaFleur should send Rodgers a thank-you note if his squad winds up wiggling its way into the postseason through the back door.

His team took a 16-6 lead with 5:03 remaining but coughed it up in a comedy-of-errors meltdown that included Warren Brinson’s 15-yard facemask penalty, which turned a third-and-20 sack into a first down at Green Bay’s 31 and led to a field goal, a botched onside kick and a fourth-down coverage breakdown that led to the game-tying touchdown, and a fumbled snap that ruined Green Bay’s opening possession of overtime and Caleb Williams’ long touchdown pass to end the game.

“I was proud of the way we played,” LaFleur said. “I thought our guys competed. I thought we were physical. I thought there was a lot of good things we did. But, ultimately, we didn’t close it out and we didn’t make a play here or a play there. It was third-and-20 – and it’s an unfortunate penalty – but we get facemask that gives them a first down when the quarterback is under duress.

“There’s so many plays in there that we do one thing a little bit different, we have a different outcome. But we didn’t. So, we have to take our medicine. It sucks. Everybody’s bothered, I would say at a high level, because of it, and it’s hard to sleep at night when you have a game like that. Losing sucks.”

The Packers followed a four-game winning streak with back-to-back losses to the Broncos and Bears.

“We put a lot of time and effort (and) energy into this thing,” LaFleur said. “When you don’t get the outcome you desire, it should be painful. But bottom line is we got to deal with it. We got to learn from it, and we just got to find a way to go 1-0. Period. And that’s going to be the message to the team.”

Green Bay split the season series against Chicago. It escaped Lambeau Field with a win two weeks ago and let Chicago escape with a win on Saturday.

The Bears clinched a playoff berth with the combination of their victory over Green Bay and Detroit’s loss to Pittsburgh. They lead the Packers by a game-and-a-half for the NFC North championship and are in control of the No. 2 seed.

If the playoff standings are unchanged at the end of the regular season, the Packers will return to Chicago for a wild-card matchup.

“I’m not worried about anything past Baltimore,” LaFleur said, “so I want to get through this press conference and then turn my attention to the Ravens.”

There’s good reason to focus on his own team.

The Packers have significant questions at quarterback entering Saturday’s game against the Ravens. Jordan Love suffered a concussion during the second quarter at Chicago and backup Malik Willis sustained a shoulder injury when he was sacked on the final series of regulation.

“There’s a lot of steps to getting through that,” LaFleur said of the concussion protocol. “But I do think just my conversations with people, I have not specifically talked to him today, but it sounded like he was doing better.”

Meanwhile, Green Bay’s defense played well for most of Saturday’s game, but the pass rush without Micah Parsons was tepid and the coverage wasn’t good enough to offset the lack of pressure.

“We’re focused on us,” LaFleur said. “The way I look at it, I know it might not be totally irrelevant, but the way I look at it is it’s irrelevant. We got to handle our own business and it starts with, we have a home game, a great opportunity vs. a team that’s fighting for their playoff lives, as well, in the Baltimore Ravens.”

Latest NFC Playoff Standings

These seven teams lead the playoff chase.

1. Seattle Seahawks (second place, NFC West): 12-3

2. Chicago Bears (first place, NFC North): 11-4

3. Philadelphia Eagles (first place, NFC East): 10-5

4. Carolina Panthers (second place, NFC South): 8-7

5. Los Angeles Rams (first place, NFC West): 11-4

6. San Francisco 49ers (third place, NFC West): 10-4

At Indianapolis Colts on Monday night

7. Green Bay Packers (second place, NFC North): 9-5-1

– – –

8. Detroit Lions (third place, NFC North): 8-7

9. Minnesota Vikings (fourth place, NFC North): 7-8

10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (first place, NFC South): 7-8

11. Dallas Cowboys (second place, NFC East): 6-8-1

12. Atlanta Falcons (third place, NFC South): 6-9

13. New Orleans Saints (fourth place, NFC South): 5-10

14. Washington Commanders (third place, NFC East): 4-11

15. Arizona Cardinals (fourth place, NFC West): 3-12

16. New York Giants (fourth place, NFC East): 2-13

“We still got two more games left in the season,” defensive back Javon Bullard said after the game. “We can’t dwell on that sh**. We got to keep going. We got to win out, to be honest with you. We got to win out. We got to stick together, gel together. Go back and fix our mistakes and get ready for Baltimore.”

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