The Green Bay Packers return home and host the Miami Dolphins this week.  Miami may be just what a struggling Packers team needs to calm the waters of their season.

It's a very small sample size of games between these teams.  Let's take a look back and to now in the series.

The Past

There have been only 14 meetings total since 1971.  The first one took place in 1971, one year before the famous 1972 Dolphins completed the only undefeated season in the Super Bowl era.

Miami leads the all-time series 10-4 with the Packers winning four of the last six meetings.  The Dolphins won the first eight meetings and it wasn't until 1997 that the Packers got their first win against Miami.

Most recently the road team has fared better in this match up. 

In 2014, the Packers won a thriller capped by a late touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers to Andrew Quarless for the win. 

The play was set up by a critical first down that was picked up when then rookie wideout Davante Adams got on the same page with Rodgers and flanked out on a fake spike of the ball.  The irony was that many years prior, Dolphins Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino helped win a game with a similar play.

In 2010, the Packers lost in overtime to the visiting Dolphins on a late field goal.  Green Bay was pushing their way through a rough patch in what would be a Super Bowl championship season.  This week's game is Miami's first time back since that meeting.

The Present

The Packers dropped below .500 with the loss to the New England Patriots.  The Dolphins improved to 5-4 with their win last week against the New York Jets.  

Miami started off 3-0 and has come back to earth since.  They did add in a win over the Chicago Bears, which is always worth mentioning.  Did I also mention that Brock Osweiler was Miami's quarterback in that game? 

Before the jokes get out of control, Osweiler will once again be under center against the Packers and it won't be a joke anymore if things don't end well for the good guys.

This is typically where I'd try to sprinkle in some statistics and talk about how each team got to where it is.  The Packers have been so disappointing over the past two games that I'm not sure that any of the trends or tendencies mean a whole lot.

One stat that heavily favors the Packers in this game is that they haven't lost at home this season.  

These NFC-AFC games can sometimes get crazy with the lack of familiarity between the two teams.  The 2010 match up is a perfect example.

The Dolphins are still in the mix in the AFC and are surely trying to keep pace with the Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs and the rest of the playoff field.  They'll be looking to try and kick the Packers while they're down on their way to another win.

The Packers are just looking for something positive at this point.  Their last two losses have come on the road to very good teams, but Green Bay's uninspired play at times along with several untimely mistakes have them searching for a way to get back to good.

General manager Brian Gutekunst made more moves this week that signal that he's looking for the same.  One week removed from trading two starters who seemed unhappy, Gute released safety Jermaine Whitehead following Whitehead's ejection from Sunday's game in New England. 

Whitehead had played a good number of snaps at safety this season so while Gutekunst says his moves aren't to send a message to the rest of the locker room, it's hard not to be on notice if you're one of those left behind.  Especially given that it leaves the Packers with just Kentrell Brice, Josh Jones, Raven Greene and Ibraheim Campbell as pure safeties on the roster.

Each week, the question about whether a game is a "must win" for the Packers comes up.  If the postseason is still in their plans, Green Bay really can't afford many more losses.  A loss this week wouldn't mathematically eliminate them by any means but it won't do a single thing for their confidence or silence the doubters.

Packers head coach Mike McCarthy continues to face heavy criticism for the performance of his team this season.  Speculation grows with each loss as to where he could be coaching next season.  Every game seems to be one that McCarthy has to win to save his job for another week.

It's not likely that the Packers would make a drastic coaching change before year's end but if the Dolphins make a mockery of the Packers in their own building, there exists a real possibility that the Packers could consider making a move.

The toughest part of Green Bay's schedule is behind them but they still face three potentially tough road games ahead against the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings and Bears.  A win against Miami builds at least some positive momentum towards the back half of their schedule.

The Future

This seems like the ideal game for the Packers to get healthy with, but can we trust the offense to churn out enough points?  Any Aaron Rodgers-led team being carried by their defense is just strange to say.

If nothing else, the Packers should be able to stave off Osweiler and make it easier for the struggling offense but nothing is a given with this year's Packers.

We've seen McCarthy's teams struggle and lose games like this one, when it seems like the most disastrous outcome.  We've also seen those teams bounce back and rise from near dead.

Have at it with your thoughts on how this one plays out.  Me trying to predict how the Packers will attack this game plan seems futile right now.