State of the Packers Address: Pack look forward to next season
The 2023-24 season saw the Kansas City Chiefs win a thrilling Super Bowl 25-22 in overtime vs the San Francisco 49ers. With 3 championships and 4 SB appearances in 5 years, they are the latest dynasty. They are a model franchise and what every other team is aspiring to be, including the Packers.
As for the Packers, they had quite a season themselves. It was a changing of the guards when Aaron Rodgers announced his desire to join the New York Jets. The Packers ultimately complied, sending Rodgers to the Jets for a 2nd round pick, which would have turned into a 1st round pick had he played 65% of his snaps. That came nowhere close to happening as he suffered an ACL injury during the Jets’ opening drive of their season.
Meanwhile, Jordan Love took the reins, and both the team and himself had a roller coaster of a season. At times, they looked like a force to be reckoned with, and at other times, they looked overwhelmed, even against the teams with the worst records in the league. They ended up finishing with a 9-8 record and a playoff appearance on the road vs the Cowboys. They defeated “Big D” but lost a close game to the eventual NFC Champion 49ers the following weekend. Entering the 2024-25 season, the Packers have a lot of different expectations. Let’s recap the highs and lows of the team this past season before we move forward.
First, the Highs: Fittingly, the first game for Jordan Love as the main guy was a road game vs the Bears. The media and the fans in Chicago were excited, thinking they finally had the better quarterback and the better team, but Love and the Packers sent them crashing down to earth. Love took the reigns from Rodgers as the new owner of the Bears. In Love’s first home start, they fell behind 17-0 vs the New Orleans Saints, but they rallied and won 18-17. It was a bumpy road for a month or so, but they won a huge game on Thanksgiving on the road vs the Lions. Then, they defeated the defending champion (and eventual champion) Kansas City Chiefs. Love outplayed Patrick Mahomes and the Packers scored the most points vs KC all season long, and that includes the postseason. After a rough stretch, they faced the Vikings at their own playground. They shook off their SKOL chants to dominate them 33-10. They then faced the Bears at home, Chicago playing some inspiring football the last month or so and looking to prevent GB from getting into the playoffs. It was a battle, but the Packers scrapped out a victory and made it into the playoffs, earning the 7th seed and drawing the Cowboys.
The Cowboys were rolling going into the playoffs, having gone a perfect 8-0 at home, the only undefeated home team, and putting up crazy scoring numbers most of the season at home. In fact, except for the (controversial) game vs the Lions, they hadn’t scored less than 30 at home. The Packers were just supposed to be a minor speed bump on their way to an NFC Championship appearance and perhaps further. A funny thing happened. Jordan Love and the Packers came out on fire, dominating the first half and continuing it in the second half. Aaron Jones deserves much of the credit too. They sent “Big D” to a bitter playoff defeat and exposed them as just pretenders and also established themselves as a team that no one wants to see in the playoffs.
Now, the Lows: The Packers led most of the game on the road vs the Falcons, but they ultimately lost a tough one. After a win, they hosted the Lions on a Thursday night, and they were not ready, falling 34-20, and it wasn’t as close as the final score showed. They fell flat against the Raiders and didn’t look much better at Denver, who finished the season on a semi-respectable note, but they were not very good at all coming into the matchup. They picked it up, but then they faced the Giants on the road, and they looked bad, especially on defense, losing on a field goal on the final play of the game. Tampa Bay and Baker Mayfield came into GB the following week, and Mayfield had a perfect quarterback rating. In both games, the opposing quarterbacks were named the NFC players of the week. The Packers then faced Carolina on the road on Christmas Eve. Even though the Packers won the game, they hardly looked like a good team, allowing the league-worst Panthers to tie the game late. A field goal put GB ahead, but Carolina mounted a furious comeback, and only the clock stopped the Panthers as time ran out as they spiked the ball. The Packers faced the 49ers in the playoffs and led them late, but SF scored late and held on to win the game and then rallied to defeat the Lions the following week to reach the Super Bowl.
Where do we go from here? There has been a few changes already as Defensive Coordinator Joe Barry has been fired and replaced by Jeff Hafley. He brings a much different defensive philosophy. They lost their last 5 postseason games vs the 49ers after going 4-1 in the first 5 meetings. They need to get past this team, and they host SF at some point in the regular season. That will obviously be a huge game on their calendar. They defeated KC in the regular season, so on paper, they are not far off. They must not take anything for granted and come out next season ready to dominate and take that next step. This past season, there were no real expectations because of Love (who was an enigma) taking over and having a very young supporting cast around him. This next season, they will be expected to do a whole lot more and go on a bigger playoff run. Although a championship is the standard, that doesn’t mean this past season was a failure. They had a winning record and upset the “mighty” Cowboys, and they came very close to upsetting the #1 seed. I see them next season competing with the Lions for NFC North supremacy, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they make a deep playoff run. They need to develop some consistency and become balanced in all phases. That includes special teams, and they plan to stick with kicker Anders Carlson for now, but I expect them to at least bring in someone to challenge him.
The Packers certainly exceeded expectations as they went from a team in transition to a playoff team and not an easy out either. They will be expected to win that type of game next year that they lost vs the 49ers in the playoffs. Will they take the next step in 2024 or will they suffer a letdown? They won’t be sneaking up on anyone this time around. With Jordan Love at the controls, they will be expected to win a lot of games, especially against the teams with bad records.
Last season gave us a lot of thrilling moments, but I am looking forward to what they have for us next season. Let’s have some great news in free agency, a great draft, and a great training camp as we look forward to kicking off the regular season in September. Thank you for all of your contributions Packer fans! We will keep in touch as we look forward to an exciting future!
Go Pack Go!
@DieHardPackersFan #DHPF #GregGoshaw @gg901
