When will Packers know divisional playoff…

But first things first, learning the divisional foe and then preparing next week to play with the season on the line.

So, beginning Sunday afternoon, with the seventh-seeded Eagles playing first, if they win that opening NFC wild-card game, the suspense is over. Philly will be visiting Green Bay.

If Tampa Bay wins, then the next game could determine the Packers’ opponent. A win by San Francisco would send the 49ers here, and there’s no more waiting around.

The longest-wait scenario occurs, though, if the Buccaneers and Cowboys both win. In that case, those two teams would meet next week in one NFC Divisional game, and the Packers would host the Cardinals-Rams winner in the other.

As for exactly when those divisional games would be played, the league has said the schedule for Jan. 22-23 will be announced at some point during the weekend. Sunday evening is a good bet.

Presumably, the winner of the Cardinals-Rams game would play the following Sunday to avoid a rather unfair Monday-to-Saturday turnaround for one of the conference’s final four.

But any other assumptions would probably be foolhardy, including that the home teams have any significant advantage this weekend.

Dating back to 2012, road teams in the NFC Wild Card games are 11-8, with the Packers being both a home victim (San Francisco in ’13) and a road winner (Washington in ’15) over this stretch. Only once in the last six years, and two of the last nine, have the home teams turned in a sweep in the NFC’s first round.

So take it one game at a time this weekend, and see what happens.