But in a year with only eight home contests, that means nine of the remaining 15 games will be away from Lambeau Field, including four of the ensuing five, with Green Bay’s Week 5 bye mixed in.
There’s no such thing as Weeks 1-2 being make-or-break over the long grind of an NFL season. But with those first two opponents being bona fide Super Bowl contenders, and with just one more home game between Sept. 11 and the end of October, it would certainly behoove the Packers to start fast and avoid climbing uphill in the early going.
The other critical five-day stretch comes at the end of November, with a visit to Lambeau from the Vikings in Week 12 (Nov. 23) followed immediately by a Thanksgiving trip to Detroit.
The importance of this condensed back-to-back is even more obvious and heightened, with both contests against division rivals who finished ahead of the Packers in the NFC North last year – and who accounted for four of Green Bay’s six regular-season losses.
It was a rough go for the Packers against the Vikings and Lions in 2024, which made for a poor mark in the division overall. In Week 18, after losing to the Bears for the first time in LaFleur’s tenure, the Packers finished 1-5 in the NFC North, their worst division record since 2005.