When it comes to the autumn season, one pastime reigns supreme in northeast Wisconsin — football.
Luckily for residents and visitors to the area, Brown County is home to the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. Since 1919, the Green Bay Packers have been a staple in the sporting world and have made way for many to enjoy an autumn or winter Sunday afternoon.
As has been the case since Brett Favre came to Green Bay from Atlanta more than three decades ago, the Packers have mostly finished near the top of the NFL standings, giving fans that much more of a reason to get tickets to the historic Lambeau Field.
This season follows that same storyline, as the Packers — today led by quarterback Jordan Love and head coach Matt LaFleur — are expected to compete for not only the NFC North, but also the Super Bowl.
To reach those lofty goals, though, Green Bay will have to run through somewhat of a gauntlet in the regular season.
Immediately the team is going to tackle two of its biggest challenges. The Detroit Lions come to town during Week 1; just four days later, Green Bay hosts the Washington Commanders. The Lions once again come into the season with lofty expectations as one of the contenders in the NFC, while the Commanders are looking to get back to the NFC Championship behind Jayden Daniels, the team’s young sensation at quarterback.
The first two games of the season are going to be a real test for a team looking to take that next step under Love. The QB1’s predecessor, Aaron Rodgers, notably won a Super Bowl in his third year as the leader of the team. These two early games could be a key indicator whether Love and the team can live up to those expectations and match Rodgers in Love’s third year as the starting quarterback.
“You know, you talk about Super Bowl, and that is the goal for us,” said Love. “I am definitely trying to be that guy to be able to take this team and lead them to that. When you talk about Aaron and what he did in his third year, I never try to compare, because that is so hard to do and there are so many situations. But at the end of the day, I am going into year six, my third year playing and everything is right there in front of us.”
Things theoretically taper off, as Green Bay travels to Dallas and Cleveland, before a Week 5 bye week.
Following the bye, the Packers match up with the Cincinnati Bengals at home before traveling to Phoenix for a matchup with the Arizona Cardinals.
Following the Cardinals, the Packers have one of their most anticipated games of the year. In Week 8, on a Sunday night, Green Bay will take on the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road, for the first (and likely only) matchup between the team and Rodgers (who is currently quarterbacking the Steelers).
This matchup is sure to be emotional as one of the franchise’s best players reunites with his old team. Outside of Rodgers, this game seems like it could be a pivotal matchup; just like in Green Bay, expectations are high in Pittsburgh, setting up a contest between two teams who should be in the playoffs.
Following the Steelers game, the Packers return home for two games, one against the Panthers, which on paper looks like a win, and the other against the Philadelphia Eagles. The matchup against the Eagles provides the Packers an opportunity to exorcise some demons, as the Eagles knocked Green Bay out of the playoffs last season, before going on to win the Super Bowl.
Theoretically, this should be the game to really test Green Bay’s chops at being able to compete with the elite in the NFL. Philadelphia sits at the top of the list of the teams in the NFL to win the Super Bowl.
With the Eagles in the rearview mirror, the Packers have a matchup with the New York Giants, before entering one of the toughest stretches in the NFL for any team.
With a home matchup against the Minnesota Vikings and then a road matchup against the Lions, the stretch will play a major factor in seeding come playoff time. Following the two division rivalry games, two of the next three games come against the Chicago Bears, with the Denver Broncos wedged in between.
The road does not get any easier after that, however, as the team ends the year at home against the Baltimore Ravens, finally finishing the season on the road against the Vikings.
While the second half of the season certainly seems tough on paper, the factor working in favor of the Packers is that it has had another offseason of work with Love and LaFleur.
Speaking of LaFleur, what else works in Green Bay’s favor is that the team has missed the playoffs only once in LaFleur’s six-year tenure. With a strong showing from the defense last season under Jeff Hafley, it is not foolish to think that even with a tough schedule, Green Bay has as good of a chance as any to make a Super Bowl run.
To accomplish this, though, everybody on the team is going to have to be at the top of their game.
“It is really playing your best ball going into those (games) later in the year and just executing at the end of the day. There are no excuses, you know; there is no secret formula. You have to execute when you get in those situations,” said Packers defensive lineman Kenny Clark. “All of the guys here are experienced. We are not a young team any more, so we can’t use that excuse. We just have to get after it.”
