The Green Bay Packers should look back at 2011 before calling for an undefeated season

The Green Bay Packers‘ current roster might not be aware of what happened 14 years ago when Aaron Rodgers and head coach Mike McCarthy were leading the side.

Sorry, Packers fans, but it’s time for a trip down memory lane to the year after you won Super Bowl XLV.

Green Bay Packers went 15-1 in 2011 and were knocked out in Divisional Round

After a sensational 2010 NFL season, winning the Super Bowl after a 10-6 regular season record and entering the playoffs as the sixth NFC seed, the Packers made history the next year.

The current Packers roster might be a Super Bowl contender, but as the 2010 and 2011 seasons showed, nothing really matters until the playoffs as long as you make it in the first place.

In the case of 2011, the Packers became only the sixth team ever to win 15 games in the regular season, and also went on the second-longest winning streak in NFL history (19), two behind the New England Patriots’ record (21).

Adding to the record books, it tied the record for the best start to a season in NFC history with the 2009 Super Bowl-winning New Orleans Saints. This was surpassed by the Carolina Panthers in the 2015 season.

The only team to beat them in the regular season was the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15. Just to cap it all off, they were the first NFC North team to go undefeated in the division since the 1987 Chicago Bears.

Rodgers linked up with WR Jordy Nelson for 15 touchdowns in the regular season, the third highest in the NFL. DB Charles Woodson led the league with seven interceptions.

All of this, just to lose in the Divisional Round to the Eli Manning-led New York Giants, which was their second stop on the road to an iconic Super Bowl XLVI.

It gives flashes of the Detroit Lions last season, who went 15-2, only to lose to the Washington Commanders in the Divisional Round.

Matt LaFleur’s Green Bay Packers are strong Super Bowl contenders

It might be early in the season, but Jeff Hafley’s Packers defense looks the real deal, and the offense is not far behind them.

Elite safety Xavier McKinney refuses to buy into the hype, which is a more apt statement on the Packers’ season prospects as opposed to saying they will go the season undefeated.

Among the several tests, the Packers and Micah Parsons return to Dallas in Week 4, they play the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 10, and the Baltimore Ravens in Week 17.

If there was ever a team to end a 15-1 streak, it would be Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens, who are a nightmare to deal with towards the end of the regular season. Recent years suggest that it doesn’t translate into the postseason, however.

However, when looking at Jordan Love’s start to the season, and the elite defense to complement the offense, it would be foolish not to consider them Super Bowl contenders.