The Green Bay Packers now know the path they’ll need to take to return to the playoffs after the release of the 2025 NFL schedule.
According to Sharp Football Analysis, the Packers face one of the tougher schedules in the league next season, ranking in the top 10. Given that they play in what’s considered one of the NFL’s most competitive divisions, the NFC North, that comes as no surprise.
Green Bay finished 11-6 last season, reaching the playoffs for the second straight year and the fifth time in the past six seasons. However, their postseason run was short-lived, ending in the Wild Card round with a 22-10 loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
With quarterback Jordan Love entering another season as the starter, several key offensive additions through the draft, and a defense expected to remain a strength, expectations are rising. One of the boldest predictions comes from Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton, who projects the Packers to win the NFC North in 2025.
“In 2024, the Green Bay Packers struggled mightily within their division, going 1-5 against NFC North opponents,” Moton wrote. “With this roster and head coach Matt LaFleur’s 67 percent winning percentage, they will bounce back against their bitter rivals.”
Moton has the Packers finishing 12-5, which would put them ahead of last year’s division champion Detroit Lions and hold off the second-place Minnesota Vikings and an improving Chicago Bears team that finished last.
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ESPN’s Rob Demovsky echoed the division concerns, noting the significance of Green Bay’s lack of divisional success despite their 11 wins last season.
“They went 1-5 in the division and had the fewest division wins of any team that has ever won 11 games in a season,” Demovsky wrote. “Early in LaFleur’s tenure as coach, he dominated the NFC North, winning 13 of his first 14 division games and going 15-3 overall in his first three years. In each of those seasons, the Packers hosted at least one playoff game.”
Demovsky also boldly predicted that Green Bay’s current four prime-time games won’t be their final number.
“Flexible scheduling will move them into at least one more showcase game,” he wrote. “The Week 16 game against the Bears could either be on that Saturday afternoon or Saturday night. And it’s possible either or both of the final two games, against the Ravens and at the Vikings, could become a night game.”
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