FiveThirtyEight survey finds Packers as most-loved NFL team

It's no secret that the Green Bay Packers have passionate fans.

Occasionally that passion can veer into vitriol at Mike McCarthy calling timeouts right before halftime or exasperation at Ted Thompson's infrequent dips into free agency.

But a survey by number-crunching website FiveThirtyEight found that the Packers are the most-loved team in the NFL - by a healthy margin:

The website polled NFL fans in early September, asking them about their three favorite - and least favorite - teams. According to the site, they also "asked respondents to assign a favorability rating to a randomly drawn subset of teams, which we used to further judge the admiration — and, more importantly, the vitriol — between fan bases."

To the surprise of no one, the New England Patriots and the Dallas Cowboys are the most divisive teams in professional football, ranking near the top in both categories.

The Packers were ranked No. 8 among fans' least-favorite teams.

It's too bad we couldn't get a favorability ranking of the Packers among their passionate fans after Sunday night's 34-23 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.