Dr. Z came out with his new nfl Power Rankings yesterday, and the Packers peaked at #3 on the list. According to the doctor, the NFL pecking order is New England, Dallas, then Green Bay.

I probably would not put them that high, but it does raise a good question, just how good are the Packers?

A lot of this season has been spent wondering if the Packers were as good as their record, or if they were, frankly, playing out of their asses. Last week showed a lot of people that, yea, they were as good as their record. I would agree with Sharper that they are not 34-0 better than the Vikings, but they are good.

So how good? They are probably tied with Dallas for best in the NFC right now. Both Dallas and Green Bay have really widened the gap between the rest of the NFC field.

Even though Green Bay and Dallas are a clear cut above the competition in the NFC and they are both Super Bowl contenders, I would not say Green Bay is 3rd in the NFL. As much as I like Dr. Z, he has a hard time ranking teams with worse records higher than teams with better records in his Power Rankings.

Right now I would say both Pittsburgh and Indy are better teams than the Packers, and probably better teams than Dallas.

Indy has two losses, but one of those came against New England, and the Colts played closer to the Patriots than any other team this year.

The Steelers record is a bit worse than the Packers, but I think their team is better. It is hard to compare AFC vs NFC teams, but the Steelers defense is probably on par with the Packers, and it is probably their running game that is the difference. The Steelers play ball control offense, and if they went head to head, that would keep Favre and his 6 guns off the field.

I think the Packers are a Super Bowl team. We will probably have to play Dallas to get there, and as I said a few weeks ago in my Packers vs Cowboys preview, that will be tough. But if we get through them Green Bay will face one of those AFC powerhouses in Arizona.