The verdict is in: ESPN surveyed 111 NFL players on which stadium is the toughest to play in, and the Green Bay Packers are #8. This ranks behind division rival Minnesota (#3), but ahead of Detroit (#10). Only 12 total stadiums elicited votes.
Fans might scoff at this solid but non-stellar appraisal, but then again, just about every home crowd believes it is the best in the league.
For those of us looking for a reason to be miffed, the ESPN article does list only “weather and field conditions,” rather than crowd factors, as the elements that make Green Bay a tough place to play. In the four-level ranking system, with the fourth covering the “friendliest” venues and the first three all including difficult locales, Lambeau is classified under Tier 3: “Altitude, noise, and ‘Renegade’.”
So, how have the Packers fared at home, this season and historically? Based on raw performance, how should Wisconsonites feel: satisfied or slighted?
Packers13 Spt Sieu 17
Green Bay Packers Homefield Advantage: The Super Bowl Era and Beyond
In 2024, Green Bay has gone 6-2 at Lambeau, with a home game upcoming versus the Bears to wrap up the schedule. In the Jordan Love era, that figure is 11-5, compared to 9-8 on the road.
In that same time frame, the Vikings are 10-7 at U.S. Bank Stadium, while Detroit is 12-4 at Ford Field. The survey-leading Kansas City Chiefs (no surprise there) are 13-4. Of course, all have more total wins than the Packers over the past two years, which affects overall record. In fact, heading into Week 18 2024, all three have better W-L’s on the road than at home. Interesting.
Not to get carried away, two seasons is a very small sample size. (Although, yes, when it comes to opinion, recency bias is king.) Despite playing well in Lambeau, the Packers have not had a dominant squad since the 2021 division winners, which is also the last time they had a home playoff game.
In the postseason, it has not been a particularly jubilant run of late. Since 2002, the franchise is just 7-7 in home playoff games. Before that, the Super Bowl Era Packers were unbeaten (9-0) in the (and 4-0 in prehistoric times).
All-time, they are 472-238-20 in the bitter cold of Wisconsin, versus 338-365-18 in away games. Which is nice to know for the sake of stats, but not especially relevant in contemporary fandom. Let’s take a look at the home records under head coach Matt LeFleur and QBs Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre.
From Favre to LeFleur
Since LeFleur replaced the fired Mike McCarthy in 2019, his unit has bested foes 38-11 on home turf. This includes 22-2 in LeFleur’s first three years on the job. Green Bay won the division every season, with Aaron Rodgers capturing his third and fourth MVPs in 2020 and ’21.
During seasons with Rodgers as the designated starter, from 2008-2022, Lambeau produced a 91-28-2 record for the hosting team. Obviously those were some successful teams, but even so, a 62-59 road record during that period reflects a sizable homefield advantage: a 25.4% difference in winning percentage.
Going back to the Favre epoch, 1992-2007, they enjoyed nearly identical home/road splits: 97-31 vs 64-64.
(Note: records include games not started by Love, Rodgers, or Favre during their respective tenures.)
Whether that has more to do with opponent uneasiness in Lambeau or Packer players’ own comfort there, it is probably a mix of the two.
The Packers are a historically successful franchise, and one enjoying a three-decade run of elite quarterbacks, factors that have inflated their performance beyond atmospheric effects. Good teams win, especially at home. Still, it is interesting to see them as low as 8th.
That said, each location in the top seven has a case to be there.
As a wild card team for the second straight year, Love and the Pack won’t take the field at Lambeau at any point in the postseason. Their last chance to augment their homefield win total will be Sunday as current 10-point favorites.
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