The Green Bay Packers will be playing their biggest game of the 2023 season on Sunday afternoon.
With a win over their divisional rival Chicago Bears guaranteeing the youngest team one of the highly coveted few spots in the NFL postseason this will feel no different than a playoff game for Pack fans.
The best part?
The Packers will be the home team, and while plenty of NFL stadiums don’t have true home field advantages, Green Bay has one of the best in the league.
Ahead of the 2023 season, the Green Bay Packers legendary home stadium was voted the highest-rated NFL stadium in an analysis of reviews on Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor to determine the most popular NFL stadiums in America based on the average number of five-star ratings in total for each stadium.
“Crowned the most popular NFL stadium in America is Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which received a total average rating of 4.807 across Google, Yelp and TripAdvisor,” the study said on OnFocus News.
“Home to the Green Bay Packers, the stadium opened in 1957 with a capacity of 81,441. It is the fifth largest stadium in the NFL, but according to ESPN, is best known for its atmosphere, history, and traditions.”
While Lambeau Field may have the best fan experience largely due to the iconic history and legendary moments associated with not only the oldest — but one of the most iconic and unique NFL venues — located in the middle of neighborhoods, it provides fans a one-of-a-kind experience that will never be found anyone else..
While it has undergone renovations since being built in 1957, the fans — who also are the owners of the franchise — are unwilling to waver on the history that makes the Packers home field so special. They host a few concerts and the city has been selected as the location for the 2025 NFL Draft, but like other modern NFL stadiums in LA and Las Vegas, Green Bay isn’t concerned about building a new home stadium capable of hosting major college football games, college basketball tournaments and other various events.
The most important thing is to keep the field attached to its history and provide a pristine playing surface for the players on game day.
A redevelopment projects was approved by voters in 2000 raised seating capacity to more than 73,000 by 2003. Also added to the stadium was the Atrium, a building that is open year-round and houses the Packers Hall of Fame museum, Packers-themed commercial outlets, and meeting space. Additions of more seats and a standing-room area in 2013 and 2014 brought capacity to more than 81,000, second-largest in the NFL at the time.
It may be a fan favorite and on the bucket list for many, while locals call it home on Sunday afternoons in the fall, but opponents dread playing in Green Bay.
Lambeau Field is one of the toughest stadiums for opposing teams according to multiple media outlets and opposing players.
Greeen Bay Packers Lambeau Field Ranked As Top Hardest NFL Stadiums For Opponents & Will Be Critical To Beat Chicago Bears
Lambeau Field almost always has an electric atmosphere, but Sunday’s win-and-in matchup vs. the Bears will create a playoff atmosphere in one of the toughest NFL stadiums for opponents according to NBC.
Why? The biggest factor is the noise.
NBC ranks the Packers home as the fourth loudest stadium in the NFL behind only Arrowhead Stadium (Chiefs), Lumen Field (Seahawks) and the Caesar’s Superdome (Saints).
The Top 10 loudest stadiums in the NFL 🗣️🔊 (per NBC)
NFL Week 11 Power Rankings 👇https://t.co/DJATHiyIV3 pic.twitter.com/p7jiza3YUq
— Joseph Smith 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 (@liljoe1583) November 21, 2022
With a trip to the postseason on the line against a hot Chicago Bears team that would love to upset the Packers — Lambeau Field will be rocking on Sunday which will be a critical component when Green Bay is on defense.
But is isn’t just NBC that gives this accolade to the home of the Green Bay Packers. Sportsbrief.com also has Lambeau at No. 5 when it comes to noise while The World Sports Network has Lambeau Field ranked as the 6th loudest stadium in the NFL.
‘Rounding out the top five in our list of the loudest NFL stadiums is Lambeau Field in Green Bay,” the World Sports Network writes.
“Packers fans are known as some of the most passionate in all of football. After all, many of them own parts of the team. But those team owners and non-owners come together to produce incredible amounts of crowd noise on a regular basis, maxing out at a rambunctious 123 decibels, the equivalent of a rock concert.”
But noise alone doesn’t make a stadium tough for a NFL opponent.
Bleacher Report the Green Bay Packers as the No. 7 home fan base in the NFL back in 2011.
And just like Lambeau has never changed, the green and gold faithful have likely gotten even more intense, especially with the sudden turnaround this season in Jordan Love’s first year as the starter and a roster loaded with rookies and second-year talent producing in a big way.
Former Detroit Lions defensive lineman Wallace Gilberry played his first and only game at Lambeau Field in the final exhibition game of 2011 for the Kansas City Chiefs.
In a meaningless preseason matchup the NFL veteran summed up the Packers home field advantage perfectly.
“Those fans I would say are one of the most prideful group of fans in the NFL,” he said. “And it’s tough to win in an environment like that when you’ve got the fans that are behind you win, lose or draw. That’s kind of tough. And Seattle’s the same way. Those two are the toughest fans I’ve played in front of.”
“What you do with teams like that is you get on them early and you kind of put the fans on the back burner, you take them out of the game,” he said. “You do that by fundamentally sound football and doing your job.”
There’s One Key For The Green Bay Packers To Beat The Chicago Bears
The former Lions DL made a great point that’s relevant to Sunday’s matchup with the Packers and the Bears.
Green Bay must get off to a fast start, get the crowd behind them and ride that momentum to secure a trip to the playoffs.
Over the team’s last four wins, the Packers have taken first-half leads of 23-6 (vs. Lions), 14-3 (vs. Chiefs), 23-10 (vs. Panthers) and 23-3 (vs. Vikings).
When this team starts fast, good things happen.
In the first meeting between the longtime division rivals in Week 1, the Packers got a first-quarter touchdown and led 10-6 at half before breaking the game open to begin the second half.
Ultimately that fast start gave Jordan Love and the raw Green Bay Packers offense confidence, and Love finished the 38-20 debut with 245 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. The Packers offense didn’t turn the ball over one once, while the defense forced a fumble, recorded an interception and held the Chicago Bears to 3-of-12 on third down.
With that said? We are looking at two very different teams since that Week 1 matchup.
The Pack hit a skid mid season and needles to rebound from a 2-5 start by winning six of the last nine games to have a chance for a NFC wildcard spot. Now, a win on Sunday — at home in front of the raucous Lambeau Field faithful — seals the deal. Once a team reaches the NFL playoffs, anything can happen, but it starts with beating the Chicago Bears.
Matt LaFleur’s Green Bay Packers have been victorious against Chicago 9-straight times, but just like the Packers have improved drastically, so have their division rivals.
The Bears are eliminated but have comeback from a 2-7 start by winning five of the last seven games.
Chicago would love nothing more than to break the losing streak and essentially knock Green Bay out of playoff contention (there’s still a chance, but it’s a long shot with a bunch of scenarios needing to play out) of playoff contention.
