Playing in Green Bay was once considered a death sentence for visiting teams. The Packers had never lost a home playoff game until the Atlanta Falcons exited Lambeau Field with a victory in 2003. Up to that point, Green Bay was 13-0 at home in postseason affairs.
After losing all three divisional home games in 2024, the question looms.
When will the Packers get that Lambeau magic back?
As someone who attended his first game at Lambeau in 1998 and was in attendance for all three of those NFC North home losses in 2024, I can vouch that the vibes have slowly but surely shifted.
Green Bay felt unstoppable at home after Brett Favre took the reins at quarterback in 1992. Seeing the Packers lose a game in Wisconsin felt stunning, even in the regular season.
From 1994 to 1998, the Packers went 37-3 at home and never lost more than one game at Lambeau Field in any of those seasons. Even in Favre’s first two years in 1992 and 1993, Green Bay went 6-2 at home in back-to-back campaigns.
There were some wobbly times during the end of Favre’s tenure in Green Bay, but things stabilized for much of the Aaron Rodgers era.
Rodgers took over in 2008, and the Packers went 28-4 at home from 2009 to 2012. There was another stretch at the end of Rodgers’ time in Green Bay where the Packers were 22-2 at Lambeau from 2019 to 2021.
In the past three years, two with Jordan Love under center and one with Rodgers, the Packers are 16-9 at home. It’s not a bad mark, but it pales in comparison to what it used to feel like coming to Green Bay as a road team over the past quarter century.
This isn’t a Jordan Love problem. It’s not a Matt LaFleur issue. Things have just changed for one reason or another.
Green Bay lost to the Detroit Lions at home last year. As the masses exited through the atrium, I had to Google the last time the Packers beat the Lions at home to realize it hasn’t been since 2021.
Sure, the Lions are on the come-up, but this is Green Bay. Lambeau Field is hallowed ground. Seeing the amount of blue present in that stadium last November was eye-opening. The same can be said for the purple waves throughout the crowd in September when the Minnesota Vikings were in town, and even the blue and orange for the regular-season finale against the Chicago Bears.
Some will lazily point out that the Gold Season Ticket Package received all three division games in 2024. The harsher reality is that many, including myself, have attended numerous divisional home games over the last decade-plus, and more Lions, Vikings, and Bears fans have filtered into Lambeau, regardless of whether it’s a Green or Gold Ticket Package game.
We need to get back to the way it used to be. However, that may be wishful thinking at this point.
Again, this isn’t an indictment of the current regime in any sense. It has been a slow yet noticeable change at 1265 Lombardi Ave. over the course of many years.
I can remember witnessing the Packers narrowly escape in overtime against a Bailey Zappe-led New England Patriots in 2022, perhaps a harbinger of things to come.
After losing in London to the New York Giants, Green Bay was 3-2 and heading back home to face that other New York team. Green Bay never showed signs of life against the Jets, and Zach Wilson — yes, that Zach Wilson— left Lambeau Field on a rain-soaked Sunday in October with a 27-10 victory.
Later on that season, the Packers faced a win-and-in scenario in the final game of the season. The Lions were in town and had been eliminated from postseason contention earlier that day. Sunday Night Football. Packers-Lions at Lambeau. Green Bay wins, and they’re in the playoffs. A loss, and the curtains drop on the season.
Detroit won, and it was the last time we saw Rodgers play for the Packers.
Seeing Wilson pummel a Rodgers-led Packers team and later lose to the Lions in a game that held no weight for Detroit left Packers fans numb. The sub-30-degree temperatures on that January night had little to do with it.
Green Bay has had down seasons at home in the last three decades. Every team has. The Packers have had stretches spanning multiple years where they’ve floated slightly above .500 at home during both the Favre and Rodgers eras.
Losing all three games at home to NFC North rivals last year felt like something entirely new. Going 0-2 in the last two playoff games at home and not winning a postseason contest at Lambeau since 2021 hits different.
One priority for the Packers needs to be restoring that aura, that magic, that mystique at Lambeau Field. Beating the Lions in Week 1 to kick off the season would be a hell of a way to start. Doing that with as little silver and blue in the crowd as possible would be the cherry on top.