Sizing Up the Vikings’ Rivals: The Packers
Is any chant more annoying in sports than “Go Pack Go!” wafting through the air? If you head to the “Frozen Tundra” of Lambeau Field, you will hear it thundering all around you.
The chant carried weight at their rivals’ stadiums for many years with their well-traveled fanbase. Nothing was more sickening than going to the Metrodome and hearing it loudly being chanted in the 1990s and early 2000s. For Vikings fans, that cheer was muted increasingly with the Randy Moss era of Vikings fans not selling off so many season tickets to the visiting cheese heads.
Adrian Peterson kept the fans locked into that pattern, which carried over to the Adam Thielen/Stephon Diggs/Kirk Cousins/Justin Jefferson run we are currently in. But no matter how hard people try, Packers fans will find their way into US Bank Stadium, and you’ll hear about how many Super Bowls they have won. Twenty-five years of great quarterback play from Brett Favre and then Aaron Rodgers validates all that confidence, along with two Super Bowl wins.
Rodgers’ last year in Green Bay was not spectacular, though, and he was shipped off to the New York Jets. Jordan Love has since taken the reins these last two years.
The Packers have stayed at or near the top of the NFC North Division for several years with just a few dips. A Hall of Fame quarterback playing with a strong defense will do that for a team. In recent years, Jordan Love hasn’t been that level of quarterback, but he’s solidly in the tier 2 level at that position.
He’s a good quarterback, but may need more key pieces around him to look better. This has been a sore spot for Packers’ fans, even when Rodgers was still there, that the team management refused to draft 1st round talent at the wide receiver position. That failed strategy has caught up with them now, as the receivers on the team are good, but they would mostly be 2nd and 3rd wide receivers on most other teams. If you keep drafting starting wide receivers in the 3rd to 7th rounds, you will eventually end up with that level of talent.
The other complaint the Packers’ fans have bemoaned is the lack of free agent signings to strengthen the team at key spots. They have hit on a few bright spot players over the last few years, but none have stayed long or become legendary like when they (and God apparently) got Reggie White to join their cause. Regarding their cap situation, they have done relatively well keeping it under control and not having a big quarterback hit for a few years.
General Manager Brian Gutekunst has been managing things well in that department, although some question the lofty contract given to Love after one decent year of play, which may have been too ambitious. The bulk of the cap is tied up in Love — now on a big-time QB deal — and defenders Rashan Gary, Jaire Alexander, Kenny Clark, Xavier McKinney, and offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins.
Most would think that they are drafting so well that they don’t have to pay as much for free agents, but the truth is that many players from five years ago are no longer with the team, and some have not stayed reliable at key spots with both Jaire Alexander and Eric Stokes being in the training room more than on the field. Stokes is now playing for the Raiders, and Alexander may be an offseason cut.
Coaching Stability
Head Coach Matt LaFleur is well-regarded in NFL circles, but some feel his success may have been inflated, having Aaron Rodgers as his quarterback. Who’s wouldn’t be? He has had some questionable decisions pop up over the years, and not getting a first-round wide receiver is also partially his fault. Adam Stenavich is their offensive coordinator and has been in that position since 2022.
Hardly anyone knows him since LaFleur makes all the play calls. Defensively, the Packers have been pretty good, but they let go of NFL retread Joe Barry last year and brought in Jeff Hafley, who has bounced back and forth from the college ranks to the NFL. Last year, the team had a dramatic uptick in tackling efficiency with him leading them, and the unit was ranked 8th overall in the league by DVOA.
Keeping a coaching staff together in the NFL can be tough when they are successful, and this bodes well for the defense again in 2025. The challenge for Hafley is whether or not Gutekunst brought in enough help to strengthen the defense and make up for players they lost in free agency. Let’s just say they didn’t go out and sign any big names on defense. If it makes you feel better, they also didn’t draft any notable players for him either. Or at key positions for the very least. LaFleur knows how to keep things together, and the only reason they finished 3rd in the division with an 11-6 record last year was because of the Vikings and Lions’ hot streaks.
Free Agency
Every year, the Packers seem to have enough cap space to go out and sign a couple of key free agents without breaking the bank. However, they never make a splash signing when you think they should. Building through the draft is great, but sometimes that extra few millions on a key free agent could put your team over the hump.
The Pack stayed true to form by signing no one of consequence again. They signed a good guard in Aaron Banks from the 49ers, who should shore up the offensive line in the middle. The problem is that there is talk that the team will be open to shifting almost every other player on the line to new positions, which could take time for the unit to meld together. Jordan Love, I’m sure, would much rather come back with an improved and solid line.
They also brought in Nate Hobbs from the Raiders to play cornerback. Hobbs is not a flashy signing on defense and doesn’t exactly excite folks with his 96.3 passer rating against per PFF. To go along with that, he has had trouble staying on the field his entire career.
The Packers’ free agency is more notable for who they lost than gained, with AJ Dillon, Stokes, TJ Slaton, Josh Meyers, Eric Wilson, and Corey Ballentine all joining other teams. While they aren’t all huge names, they all had key moments for the team last year, and depth is a key commodity in the NFL. With Alexander still a cut possibility, it could get worse for the team.
2025 Draft
The Packers finally did something that caused the fans to do a Lambeau Leap into their Barcaloungers and davenports during this year’s draft: they took a wide receiver in the 1st round!
Matthew Golden from Texas is the wide receiver the fans have been clamoring for these past few decades. He is fast, can play all three wide receiver positions, and is an upgrade over the receivers already on the roster. His only knock seems to be that he has some dropped passes, but nothing crazy that coaching up won’t fix.
The team knew they had to give Love more support both at the skill positions and in the trenches. With their 2nd round pick, they took tackle Anthony Belton to strengthen the line and then went back to the wide receiver bucket and plucked Savion Williams.
With their next four picks, they went all defense, but I found it surprising that the players they went after, Barryn Sorrel and Collin Oliver at defensive line, and Warren Brinson at linebacker, are going to rooms that are pretty deep for the team. Somebody will have to move out at defensive line where they currently have 18 players on the training camp ready roster. The only defensive back they took wasn’t until the 7th round, where they picked Micah Robinson. That makes their defensive backfield look awfully thin and very inexperienced.
Final Analysis
As much as the Packers can lose in a year from their roster and not gain as much, I never fully doubt them. They always seem to find a way to be a playoff contender and a relative pain for the division. I think that’s a reflection of LaFleur and his staff.
Strictly looking at it on paper, this could be a year that the Packers are vulnerable. If the offensive line doesn’t come together and give Josh Jacobs room to run, he might be neutralized in games. He’s good enough to make up for it sometimes, but he could get beat up trying to get those extra tough yards. He also doesn’t have Dillon to take some pressure off him and fight for the short-yardage plays he was best suited for.
While Love is a good quarterback, he has had moments of throwing the ball up for grabs, and if he’s on the run behind a porous offensive line, these moments could increase. He also had a banged-up knee last year, and another injury has an increased possibility for a quarterback who is also good at running the ball when needed. Golden is a great prospect to add to the team, but everyone on the roster has had moments to shine the last few seasons, only to drop passes, miss routes, or fight the injury bug.
If he struggles and others don’t step up, the passing game could once again be ulcer-inducing.
The division is still one of the toughest in the league, with the Bears making upgrades, the Vikings having a great free agency, and the Lions no longer the laughingstock of the NFC North. The Packers may finally end a season in fourth place, but you’d be a fool to put all your money on that bet.
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