‘Packer football weather’ is on its way

“That’s how we’re going to have to get this thing going,” Rodgers said.

“We’ve been playing from behind for so much of this season.

“We like to defer (when winning the coin toss). If we can get a stop and a score, that changes the dynamic of the game. When you get the ball back with a chance to go up two scores, again, that changes the whole outlook on the game. I think there’s a palpable energy shift that happens when you go up by two scores, especially at home, in cold weather, against an opponent that’s eliminated from the playoffs.”

Coming off the bye week, the offense could be more equipped than it’s been all season to do that, now that rookie receiver Christian Watson has emerged as a dynamic threat, fellow rookie receiver Romeo Doubs is expected back from his ankle injury, and veteran receiver Allen Lazard has gotten time to heal a banged-up body.

The backfield duo of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon also appears at full health, and the No. 1 offensive line is intact except for rookie Zach Tom filling in at left tackle for David Bakhtiari, who is recovering from an appendectomy.

Is the offense, which has scored 28 or more points in three of its last four games, ready to put it all together?

“If we aren’t, we’re going to be thinking about the offseason pretty quickly,” Rodgers said. “We’ve got to score points. We need to be in the 30s moving forward. Regardless of what our defense does, we score 30 points, we should win those games. Whatever it takes for us on offense.

“If we can get ahead of teams at home – we have three out of four at home – we can put some things together, I think.”

Even if the Packers can put together their first winning streak since the opening quarter of the season, they’ll still need help in the playoff chase.

But you can’t win ’em all unless you win the first one, which will be the first of three in the cold down the stretch.

“We’re playing meaningful football in December,” Rodgers said. “That’s important and that should be the focus. Look, the fact is, there’s stuff that’s out of our control. What we can control is we’ve got to win out.

“We control our focus and our approach and be a pro about it. If we do that, you never know what could happen. Get on a little run here and make things interesting.”