The Green Bay Packers hired Matt LaFleur in 2019. As he enters his seventh season, his resumé already boasts impressive accolades: three NFC North division titles, five playoff appearances, two NFC Championship Game trips, and a .670 regular-season winning percentage – 12th-best in NFL history.
But until now, one oddly specific milestone had eluded him: Starting a regular season at Lambeau Field.
From 2019 through 2024, the Packers opened every season on the road, the longest streak in team history and the longest active streak in the NFL during that span. Green Bay has only opened a season at home three times in the past 13 years. The league hasn’t done the Packers many favors with their Week 1 matchups.
The last time they started at home? The unforgettable 2018 comeback game, when Aaron Rodgers returned from injury to erase a 20-point deficit and beat the Bears in a game that kicked off the franchise’s 100th season.
No such drama is required this time, but a statement performance would be welcome. A Week 1 win over the reigning NFC North champion Detroit Lions could serve as the springboard this Packers team needs.
Despite finishing 11-6 and earning a playoff spot last year, LaFleur’s squad went a dismal 1-5 in division play, nearly going winless save for a Karl Brooks fingertip deflection on a field goal attempt in the final seconds. They often looked outcoached, outplayed, and simply overmatched in those contests. The Lions bullied the Packers in their trip to Lambeau last year, beating Green Bay 24-14 in the rain in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicates.
That makes a Week 1 home opener against the Lions the perfect opportunity to reassert themselves in the division and the NFC playoff picture from the jump.
Detroit enters the 2025 season after losing its respected coordinators to head coaching gigs — Ben Johnson to the Chicago Bears and Aaron Glenn to the New York Jets. Those two were instrumental in Detroit’s transformation from perennial division bottom-dwellers to back-to-back division champions.
John Morton steps in to replace Johnson as offensive coordinator. While Morton has a long NFL résumé dating back to 1998 in various offensive coaching roles, his only stint as an OC came in 2017 with the New York Jets, whose offense ranked 24th in a 5-11 season. Granted, he has more offensive talent at his disposal in Detroit. Still, the underwhelming past performance is worth noting.
Kelvin Sheppard takes over for Glenn on defense. The former NFL linebacker is entering his fifth season as a coach and his first coordinator role. Sheppard has been Detroit’s linebackers coach for the last four years. He’s earned praise for developing talents like Alex Anzalone and Malcolm Rodriguez, but calling a defense is an entirely new challenge, and he will have a learning curve. Week 1 at Lambeau will be his trial by fire.
Of course, starting at home doesn’t guarantee success, but it certainly helps. Consider last year’s chaotic opener in Brazil. On the third-to-last play of the game, Jordan Love twisted his knee on a terrible playing surface and was later diagnosed with an MCL sprain. While that kind of injury can happen anywhere, the transcontinental flight home did nothing to aid his recovery, and the effects lingered most of the season.
By contrast, opening this season at Lambeau means familiar turf, controlled conditions, and a potentially roaring crowd. The Lions have won at Lambeau the last three seasons in a row, including the final Packers game of Rodgers’ career to keep Green Bay out of the playoffs in 2022.
When Green Bay consistently topped the division, it beat the Lions at home in what became an annual tradition; it was as guaranteed as grass is green. The Lions had not beaten the Packers at Lambeau from 1992 to 2014. While that type of streak is unlikely to happen again, why not start a new mini-streak?
I love this matchup for LaFleur’s team and what it can mean for their momentum. How anticlimactic would it be for them to start against the Cleveland Browns or Carolina Panthers? A late-afternoon kickoff, prime viewing window, against a top-tier opponent who happens to be one of the best teams in the league is just *Chef’s kiss*. Plus, the game plan is simple: Punch the Lions in the mouth early and often, and use that momentum to roll into Week 2’s Thursday night matchup with Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders.
A 2-0 start against two legit NFC contenders would be a dream scenario and a great start for a team with its sights set on Super Bowl LX. Of course, if the Packers do reach the pinnacle at the end of the season, then they will definitely play at Lambeau again in week 1 next season, in the season’s opening game as the defending champions.