For the most part, books seem to like the Packers’ chances more than the power rankings right now. In general, Green Bay is hovering around 8th to 10th in power rankings, while these books have the Packers ranked as the sixth- and eighth-most probable Super Bowl winners this year.

Let’s take a moment to give Broncos quarterback Bo Nix more respect than he’s had the past two years, because he was sensational in Denver’s 34–26 victory over

6. New England Patriots (2): The loss to Buffalo with a division crown on the line was a reminder that this is a young and inexperienced team, and one that's only beaten a single opponent this season that currently has a winning record … though it was the Bills.

The Packers aren't going to go away without Parsons. There's still a lot of talent. But Super Bowl dreams are much less realistic without their best player, and one of the best players in the entire NFL. Even beating the Chicago Bears for the NFC North championship becomes harder.

We used the ESPN Football Power Index's most likely simulation to project Weeks 16, 17 and 18 -- and how the NFL playoff field could stack up.

Denver fell into the background in the early '90s as the Bills replaced them as the AFC's preeminent team. That started to change, however, after the Broncos hired Mike Shanahan, who had just won a Super Bowl as the 49ers ' offensive coordinator prior to coming to Denver.

The Green Bay Packers lost to Broncos, and the Micah Parsons injury officially cooked their hopes of reaching the Super Bowl.