GREEN BAY, Wis. -- A prophetic quarterback and an even-keeled head coach have the Green Bay Packers in a position no one could have imagined a month ago: one victory away from another division title.

How many teams that started 4-6 and were riding a four-game losing streak could say that?

If you ask Aaron Rodgers -- and he was indeed asked after Saturday’s 38-25 victory over the Minnesota Vikings that put the Packers at 9-6 and extended their winning streak to five games -- not many.

“Says a lot about the leadership of this football team and the way that we didn’t start pointing fingers or be the unnamed source in the paper that’s calling somebody out,” Rodgers said. “We just got back to work and trusted the system and plan as many questioned obviously myself and my teammates, but [also] coach [Mike] McCarthy and his plan and his system, which again stands the test of time and has proven to be something that works.”

There will be more angst between now and next Sunday’s NFC North title game at Detroit given the unpredictability of this team, but the reality is this is the best the Packers could have hoped for when they departed Washington after a 42-24 loss to the Redskins on Nov. 20.

Aaron Rodgers has completed better than 71 percent of his passes with 11 touchdowns and no picks during the Packers' five-game win streak. Rick Wood /Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via USA TODAY NETWORK

It wasn’t just that they were 4-6 and had lost four straight; it was how they looked doing it.

Or how bad they looked. They allowed 153 points in those four losses and were blown out in the final two.

“There’s not a lot of teams that could’ve come back from that,” outside linebacker Datone Jones said. “A lot of teams would’ve broke. We bent a little, but we never broke. We know how to overcome adversity as brothers in this locker room and not as individuals.”

For some reason, Rodgers said that night in Washington that he still felt confident in his team. A few days later, he took it a step further when he said he thought the Packers could "run the table." He explained last week that it was more of a feeling than a prediction, but it had a unifying impact in the locker room.

“He’s a prophet,” receiver Davante Adams said. “He told you guys a couple of years ago to relax and went out there and balled out. Now he said run the table, and we’ve been running that damn table. We’ve just got to keep it going, keep our foot on their neck and we’ll make some noise.”

Football analysts from near and far will come up with plenty of X's-and-O's reasons for the turnaround -- and certainly Rodgers’ own MVP-level play that was on display Saturday against the Vikings, combined with a defense that has feasted on takeaways, factors into that -- but it’s hard to ignore a more intangible aspect to this.

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Surely, some mocked McCarthy when he reminded everyone after a 47-25 loss at Tennessee that he was "a highly successful NFL head coach." But it’s a point that’s hard to argue and which might have been proved once again.

“Mike didn’t get all negative and start cussing everybody out,” receiver Jordy Nelson said. “He stayed positive and understood the games weren’t turning out the way we wanted them, the scores weren’t even close in some of those games, but we weren’t far off. And we had to fine-tune some things, take care of the little things and now we’re reaping the rewards. No. 1 is the turnover ratio. That’s not the way we’ve ever played here. And we’re back to the way we play Packer football, taking care of the ball, getting a lead and letting our defense do what it does.”

Despite a series of injuries -- a pulled hamstring, a strained calf and even a stinger against the Vikings -- Rodgers seemingly got better as the season wore on. His numbers during the five-game winning streak suggest as much: 115-of-161 passing (71.4 percent) for 1,367 yards with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions for a 119.8 passer rating.

“He never changed when we were in the slump, so I don’t want to say just his numbers because I don’t want to put it all on him,” Nelson said of Rodgers. “I think everyone’s playing better football. I think everyone’s taking care of the ball. He continued to lead us, even in that stretch of making sure we were all on the same page, making sure we were all sticking together. He has the whole package. He has a lot on his plate and he carries it.”