Green Bay Packers

DREAM WEAVER: There are plenty of reasons to like the Packers and the obvious one is Aaron Rodgers. He is one of the three or four best quarterbacks in the league and as long as he's on the field, Green Bay will always have a good chance to win. And while "You need a franchise quarterback in today's NFL to win a Super Bowl!" is pretty much a cliché at this point, an often overlooked aspect of championship teams are good defenses.

When you say it out loud (or read it -- or read it out loud if that's your thing) it sounds ridiculous. "Wait, what, stopping the other team is important?!" But the 2010 Packers had their defense catch fire near the end of the season and parlayed that -- along with a high-powered offense -- into a Lombardi Trophy.

The Packers also know how to win. Again, another cliché but in a division with Cutler and Stafford, Rodgers has the advantage. Not solely because the numbers paint him as the better passer, but because he has been in -- and come out the other side -- of tough, late-season, game-on-the-line situations. Cutler and Stafford haven't been nearly as successful.

There are questions about the offensive line, but Rodgers, who occasionally holds the ball too long, has an uncanny ability to sense and avoid pressure. And that, coupled with maybe the quickest release in the league, can buy time in the pocket even when the protection is adequate or worse.

And now Rodgers has a running game. Eddie Lacy was a pleasant surprise a season ago and the hope is that he can continue to play like one of the league's best young runners.

ARMAGEDDON: This is straightforward: Rodgers gets knocked around, has to miss some time and the offense is left to Matt Flynn or Scott Tolzien. This defense, which ranked 31st in '13 but eighth the season before, isn't capable of carrying the offense for an extended period, even with new faces like Julius Peppers and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. But here's the thing: Even if Rodgers misses two or three games, the Packers are almost guaranteed to make the playoffs. Their final four regular-season games? Atlanta, at Buffalo, at Tampa Bay and Detroit. Even if Green Bay loses to the Patriots in Week 13 to fall to 6-6, they could reel off four straight to get to 10-6. And that's the worst-case scenario. Best case: They win 12 or 13 games and end up in the Super Bowl. This development would shock exactly no one.

CBSSports.com wrote: