(Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Not many people expected them to be as good as they were late in the year, let alone make it to the NFC Divisional Round.

Matt LaFleur’s team looked ahead of schedule, and they addressed Aaron Jones’ injury concerns by replacing him with Josh Jacobs.

This will essentially be the same roster next season, and the young players will only be better and more experienced.

On top of that, they finally replaced the underachieving Joe Barry with a new defensive coordinator, so they could be even more dangerous.

Nonetheless, NFL analyst Craig Carton doesn’t think they’re Super Bowl contenders right now.

If anything, he doesn’t even think of them as contenders in their own division.

Talking on The Carton Show, he stated that the Packers would finish third in the NFC North Division next season.

“The Green Bay Packers are coming in 3rd place in their own division this year,” Carton said.

"The Green Bay Packers are coming in 3rd place in their own division this year."

— @craigcartonlive pic.twitter.com/mahijvqEOu

— The Carton Show (@TheCartonShow) March 25, 2024

This makes sense if you consider the fact that the Detroit Lions should still be the strongest team in the division, and that the Chicago Bears have gotten significantly better and will add the No. 1 and No. 9 selections to the mix.

Then again, the Packers have plenty of talent on both sides of the field, as well as a young coach who has proven to be up for the task.

Truth be told, it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen with this division.

On paper, it should be one of the most competitive in the league, with the Minnesota Vikings being the only outlier.

Still, we’ve seen crazier things happen in this league in the past.