Make no mistake about it, the Green Bay Packers face a lot of uncertainty coming into this season. The baptism by fire of new starting quarterback Jordan Love gets most of the headlines, of course, but there are holes and question marks all throughout the team.
The 24-year-old Love, who has just one career start and 83 total pass attempts since being drafted in 2020, is being asked to lead a receiving corp that is, in many cases, even less experienced than him. Other concerns center on spots in the offensive and defensive lines, at safety, and with a young tight end crew.
To the Packers’ benefit, though, is that they exist in the mini-bubble of the NFC North, a division made up entirely, at least this season, of teams in flux and/or teams without much of a chance of sustained elite-level performance. In short, even a team riddled with question marks has a shot at winning the division.
Still, according to a panel of writers covering the NFC North and asked to comment by USA Today’s Packerswire, the Packers were the overwhelming favorite to finish last in their underwhelming division.
“As for Green Bay, it starts at the quarterback position,” writes Alyssa Barbieri of Bears Wire. “With Aaron Rodgers now with the Jets, the pressure is on Jordan Love, who has the weakest supporting cast in the division. Not to mention, Love hasn’t done anything to inspire confidence [that] he’s the long-term solution.”
Barbieri, however, does express a commonly shared belief that the Packers’ defense will keep them competitive.
“Green Bay’s defense will keep them somewhat respectable,” Barbieri added, “but they’re primed to take a significant step back after an already underwhelming 8-9 season.”
Jeff Risdon of Lions Wire shares another common theme in assessing the Packers’ chances this coming season– Jordan Love and his questionable supporting cast.
“Love will have to do that behind the division’s shakiest (with David Bahktiari’s age and durability concerns) offensive line and with relative greenhorns all over the receiving options,” Risdon writes.
The Lions writer closes out his assessment, damning with faint praise.
“This is not a bad team,” Risdon asserts. “I think they’ll finish with the most wins of any last-place team in any division.”
Tyler Forness of Vikings Wire feels that this season will be one full of growing pains, but that, long term, the team is not too far away from where they want to be.
“They traded Aaron Rodgers away to the New York Jets and they are going to be dealing with salary cap issues,” writes Forness. “Pair that with relying on a lot of young players that will need to step up, including quarterback Jordan Love, could lead to a struggling season. Long term, the Packers will be fine, but this will be a small step back like they did with Rodgers in 2008.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, the only panel member to not give Green Bay the last place spot was Zach Kruse of Packers Wire, who picked the Chicago Bears to end up at the bottom.
“To be completely fair,” Kruse qualified, “I think all four teams have a realistic chance of finishing last in the division. My guess is all four teams end up in the 6- to 9-win range.”
