It would never be a cake walk in 2025 for the Green Bay Packers.
Six games are against opponents from within the toughest division in football a year ago. Matching up with the AFC North would always be a huge test.
Despite those two truths we knew a few weeks ago, when the schedule came out, there were a couple of glaring details working heavily against the Packers.
Head coach Matt LaFleur has often said throughout his tenure that he prefers the bye week to come later in the year. The league can’t cater to certain teams, but the Packers getting a Week 5 bye this year didn’t make much sense considering the early part of the schedule.
The counterpoint to the difficulties of playing a Thursday night game is often spun as a mini-bye once the game is wrapped up.
Not counting the season opener, which is reserved for the defending champion on a Thursday, the Packers will play the first official Thursday Night Football game in Week 2 when they welcome the Washington Commanders.
It won’t be easy after playing the Detroit Lions in Week 1, but the Packers will be able to do it if they get the Commanders at home.
After that Week 2 contest, there’s that mini-bye or buffer between games before Green Bay heads to Cleveland in Week 3. Two weeks later, the Packers get their official bye.
Speaking with Chris Simms on his Chris Simms Unbuttoned show, LaFleur sounded less than enthusiastic about the layout.
It’s interesting, you have a real quick turnaround in Week 2 getting a Thursday night game against a really talented Washington Commanders team, and then we have an early bye, which is kind of weird after that Thursday night game, but it is what it is.
So much intricate work goes into constructing the schedule, and it will always put teams in less-than-ideal scenarios throughout the season. The league isn’t targeting Green Bay; it’s just how the puzzle fell into place. That doesn’t mean the oddities don’t exist, though.
Green Bay also leads the league in short weeks before road games with three. The Packers will host the Philadelphia Eagles on a Monday night in November before turning around to play the New York Giants on the road the following Sunday. Green Bay will host the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, November 23, then quickly turn around and head to Detroit for a Thanksgiving Day showdown. Finally, the Packers will be in Denver on Sunday, December 14, before playing the following Saturday in Chicago. No other team in the NFL has more short weeks turned into road games the following week.
If there’s one glaring rough stretch in the schedule, it’s those finals weeks. The Packers will finish with five of the last seven against NFC North rivals, including three in a row from November 23 through December 7. The only games that aren’t against division rivals in the final seven weeks are a trip to Denver and a home game in Week 17 against the Baltimore Ravens.
One bruiser of a game after another will come at the Packers down the stretch. Five of those seven are against playoff teams from a year ago. The only two not against postseason squads from 2024 are the two matchups against the Chicago Bears, who are primed to be much improved in 2025 with Ben Johnson taking over as head coach.
It’s not all doom and gloom for Green Bay, though. They open the year with back-to-back games at home, the first time in the LaFleur era, the Packers are starting the season at Lambeau Field. After the bye week, Green Bay gets the Cincinnati Bengals at home and would appear to have some winnable matchups in the three weeks that follow against the Arizona Cardinals, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Carolina Panthers.
Last year, the Packers went a combined 0-6 (including the playoff loss) against the three teams in the NFC with the best record (Detroit, Minnesota, Philadelphia). Green Bay will have ample opportunity to show they’ve turned over a new leaf in 2025 and can beat some of the better teams in the conference and the league. That’s how the Packers should view it.
The bye week coming at the earliest possible time — and when the Packers will already have a mini-bye after Week 2 — isn’t ideal. Finishing up a 13-game stretch after that with five of the last seven against division rivals is just plain tough.
It’s foolish to believe there are layups in the NFL, but there are softer spots early on in the schedule for Green Bay to hopefully stack up wins before finishing the gauntlet. And of course, nobody will complain about how the schedule shaped up for Green Bay if it results in another postseason trip in January.