The Packers are the NFL's dark-horse contenders, plus a funny typo

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Good morning! I hope our negotiations never stall.

While You Were Sleeping: Watch out for the Packers, too

Is it possible to be both 11-4 and underrated? I’m not sure, but the Packers have a case. After last night’s 34-0 destruction of my Saints (sigh), let’s just examine some facts:

Green Bay has won five of six and is arguably the hottest team in the NFL. The Pack clinched a playoff spot with this win.
They have the misfortune of playing in one of the best divisions in NFL history. Three teams — Green Bay, Detroit (13-2) and Minnesota (13-2) — have 11 or more wins. Bonkers.
Green Bay’s only losses this year: Lions (twice), Vikings and Eagles (12-3), aka the NFL’s elite.

Yes, the Saints have a depleted roster and an interim head coach. But this from the Packers might’ve been one of the league’s five most impressive performances this year. We are granting Green Bay the honorary title of Team No One Wants to See in the Playoffs. Merry Christmas.

The Packers have games against Minnesota and Chicago left this season, with plenty to prove optics-wise. See the full playoff picture here.

Things You Need to See: Fresno State’s new nickname

Most bowl games deliver us some sort of unexpected artistic beauty. Yesterday’s Famous Idaho Potato Bowl brought us this, via an unfortunate yet hilarious ESPN graphic typo:

The full Fresno State Bulldongs experience pic.twitter.com/bOjQMt4sUv

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 23, 2024

Bulldongs. That’s it. Let’s move on:

News to Know

Embiid ejected
Sixers center Joel Embiid was ejected from Philadelphia’s 111-106 win over San Antonio after getting called for a charge, which sent the 2023 MVP into a furor. Embiid towered over referee Jennifer Schroeder after the whistle and had to be restrained. See our report here.

Astros GM speaks on Bregman
As Houston and former franchise cornerstone Alex Bregman head for an apparent separation, Astros general manager Dana Brown said negotiations had “stalled” with the third baseman, who reportedly received a six-year, $156 million offer from the team. Our projection for Bregman came in at seven years and $189 million. The 30-year-old has spent his entire nine-year career in Houston, which included two World Series titles. Read Brown’s full comments here.

More news

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Merry GIFmas: We got you GIFs again, just differently

Last year, The Pulse started a GIFmas tradition, where we shared our favorite moving images of the year. In 2024, we’re doing something a little different.

I asked a group of our newsletter writers to write one holiday wish for their respective sports in 2025. Then, I assigned that wish to another writer in the group to secretly deliver a present in GIF form.

We’re doing this all week. Much like your favorite streaming show, let’s start with two answered wishes:

Wish No. 1: Jacob Robinson, Scoop City

📝 For the Bengals to field a league-average defense. Is that too much to ask? Probably.

From Zach Harper:

Ocho gif

It might be.

Wish No. 2: Phil Hay, The Athletic FC

📝 My wish for the humble game of football (aside from insisting you continue calling it soccer if you’d prefer): that somebody throws the ring of power into Mount Doom, thus diminishing FIFA’s grip on the empire. Football is smeared in the world governing body’s self-interest, and I see no discernible good coming of it.

From Jacob:

Who will play a Frodo-type character and cast into the fire the source of FIFA’s grip on the soccer world? I don’t know, but it will undoubtedly be a lonely journey requiring courage, luck and a lack of self-interest. A Gandalf-like figure would help!

I hope your GIFmas week has started well. We’ll have more tomorrow.

Watch and Play

📺 CFB: South Florida vs. San Jose State
8 p.m. ET on ESPN
Tonight our main event is the Hawai’i Bowl, which sounds like the most fun non-Playoff bowl event. Both of these teams were decidedly mediocre this year, but that matters none in bowl season. I am hoping for entertainment.

📺 Movie: “Home Alone”
8 p.m. ET on ABC
There is actually nothing else on tonight. If the bowl game goes sideways (or you need a sports break), put on one of our best holiday movies. We contain multitudes at The Pulse.

Get tickets to games here.

Pulse Picks

There are stories that stop you in your tracks. This, from Jacob Whitehead and Jessica Hopkins, is all at once a beautiful, heartbreaking, enraging and inspiring story about cycling prodigy Muriel Furrer — gone too soon. Make time for it today.

Donovan Mitchell, both an NBA superstar and a walking trade rumor, told The Athletic’s Tony Jones in an exclusive interview how he finally found peace. Having the best record in the NBA helps.

We keep harping on the Sabres, but it’s hard to ignore. Matthew Fairburn has a great inside look at how this team went from playoff hopeful to lottery team in a month.

Jeff Rueter has a strong column on the Netflix deal to broadcast the Women’s World Cup, which he argues reeks of American soccer’s harmful pay-to-play model.

Allow me another veer outside of sports: This New York Times story about Katie the dog, New York City’s most prolific rat-catcher, tickled me.

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our lovely feature on Howie Long, NFL legend and great human.

Most-read on the website yesterday: Mike Sando’s Pick Six column, which smartly dug in on what the Vikings should do with Sam Darnold this offseason.

(Top photo: Jeff Hanisch / Getty Images)

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