GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are favored to win nine of their first 10 games during the 2025 NFL season. If they can at least come close that that mark, they’ll be in good shape to make the playoffs.
They’ll need to start fast, though, because the finishing stretch to the schedule is tougher than a cheap steak.
The Packers’ final six games are at the Detroit Lions, home against the Chicago Bears, at the Denver Broncos, at the Bears, home against the Baltimore Ravens and at the Minnesota Vikings. That’s four games against 2024 playoff teams and two games against Chicago, which could be vastly improved after a busy offseason in which it hired a new coach, fixed the offensive line in the veteran market and gave quarterback Caleb Williams even more weapons in the draft.
There’s one game between Game 10 at the Giants and Game 12 at the Lions on Thanksgiving. That’s the Week 12 game against the Vikings at Lambeau Field.
The Vikings are a very good team. They finished 14-3 last season, just missing out on dethroning the Lions atop the NFC North and earning the No. 1 seed.
It’s been an eventful offseason in Minnesota. It allowed quarterback Sam Darnold to sign with the Seahawks and flirted with Aaron Rodgers before hitching the franchise to J.J. McCarthy, last year’s first-round pick who sat out his rookie season due to a knee injury.
While Minnesota (perhaps) backtracked at quarterback, it bolstered the offensive and defensive lines and added a talented running back, Jordan Mason, to take some of the burden off Aaron Jones, the 30-year-old former Packers star who rushed for a career-high 1,138 yards last season.
Overall, the Vikings’ roster is better than it was last year, when they beat the Packers twice to finish 14-3. Plus, unlike the Lions, they retained both of their coordinators, including esteemed defensive guru Brian Flores.
The Packers are a very good team, too, and also should be better than they were last year, when their late comebacks fell short in both games against Minnesota.
Assuming he’s healthy, quarterback Jordan Love, who wasn’t 100 percent when he returned to the lineup for the Week 4 loss to the Vikings at Lambeau last season, should be better than he was last season. The Packers gave him two shiny-new weapons with receivers Matthew Golden and Savion Williams. With Josh Jacobs back for Year 2, the coaches and Love should be better positioned to take advantage of play-action passing.
There are questions on defense. Now that there is a book on Jeff Hafley, will Green Bay’s defense be as strong? Will the pass rush be as impactful as they believed at this time last year? Will they be able to match up in coverage against elite receivers such as the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson?
The Packers and Vikings are quality teams who should have goals beyond merely reaching the postseason. This game could help decide playoff seeding, the NFC North champion or even the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.
With the Packers getting the short end of the scheduling stick for the Week 18 rematch in Minnesota (as well as other games), this game will be of critical importance for the Packers.