Can the Packers Keep it Up?

Author: Matthew Iberger

After beating the New Orleans Saints 37-30 this past week, the Green Bay Packers have improved to 3-0 on the season. Now tied for 1st in the NFC North with the Chicago Bears, who are surprisingly undefeated as well, the season could not be off to a better start for Rodgers and Co. Averaging 40.7 PPG, the potent Packers offense has definitely been one of the biggest surprises so far this season despite an injury to Davante Adams in Week 2. Aaron Rodgers is a dark horse MVP candidate and Aaron Jones has looked as good as he did last season when he put up double digit touchdowns. The defense is nothing to scoff at either, while not the best unit in the league they get the job done when it comes to it. However, it seems that this team is really not getting the respect it deserves from the national media right now. Is Green Bay underrated, or is this just a hot start that is going to come grinding to a halt?

It all started last year. Despite reaching the NFC Championship game the Green Bay Packers under new head coach Matt LeFleur were considered by many to be a team that just got lucky with their 13-3 record, and that championship game was an exposure of their flaws as they were handily beaten by the San Francisco 49ers. Things got even worse in the public eye for the Packers when they drafted Jordan Love in the first round of the NFL Draft this year, one of if not the biggest shock to come out of the draft. They followed that up with another odd selection, RB AJ Dillion in the second round. This came as another shock as many had seen the Packers RB room as one of their strengths, with the one-two punch of Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams. Many felt that these moves were from a team that decided to close its own Super Bowl window and move towards the future. With a year older Rodgers, it was not a controversial opinion to say this was the year the Packers fall flat.

This is why their start is so surprising. Despite building for the future with their early picks, Green Bay is still lighting up the scoreboard with its less than star studded WR and TE core. This is the best offense in the NFL in PPG right now, above the super bowl favorite Kansas City Chiefs and even the Seattle Seahawks who are being led by MVP frontrunner Russell Wilson. If this team had added a Tee Higgins or Michael Pittman-type WR late in the first round, we might have been seeing even greater fireworks on the field. Even if this offensive showcase does not last the entire season, there is still a strong possibility that the Packers are leading the NFC by the halfway point of the season. The thing working the most in Green Bay’s favor is that they do not have a very tough upcoming schedule. After an easy matchup with the Falcons this week on SNF, they head into their bye week likely 4-0. Their two tough matchups will be the Buccaneers the week after and a severely injured 49ers in Week 9. Hopefully by then Davante Adams will be back, and also Allen Lazard after injuring his core against the Saints. By Week 10, they could be 9-1 or 8-2 if everything goes according to plan. Even the rest of their schedule after Week 10 is not that hard, if the current teams stay as they are and do not get hot later on. This is much easier than the Seahawks, who will face the Cardinals, 49ers, Bills, Rams, and Cardinals again, who might get bogged down by their difficult schedule.

I know that the Packers have not had the toughest schedule so far, the mark of good teams is to make sure to take care of bad teams. With their easy schedule and early success, this is a team I could see being the 1 or 2 seed in the NFC. In a year where the 1st seed is more important than ever with the 2nd seed losing their first-round bye, the Packers need to keep putting away bad teams and not lose easy games. If the beginning of the season is an inclination, they will be just fine.

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