The Packers are sitting at 4-3 after their Week 7 loss to the Lions, and that record alone doesn’t scream disaster. With the injury pileup they’ve already weathered and Micah Parsons still not back, there’s at least some context for why Green Bay hasn’t hit full stride.
But the bigger problem is staring them right in the face: this division is a beast.
Minnesota is 6-0. Chicago is 5-2.
Detroit, fresh off beating Green Bay, is 4-2. In other words, the Packers aren’t just chasing one team - they’re fighting to keep up in what might be the NFL’s toughest division.
ESPN’s Rob Demovsky put it bluntly: "Where are the Packers in the NFC North pecking ordeR? The short answer: They're in trouble," Demovsky writes.
"... They're 1-2 against NFC North teams."
That’s the part that really stings. Green Bay has already dropped games to the Vikings and Lions, which leaves the Packers behind in the tiebreaker race before the stretch run even starts to get serious. If the playoffs opened today, the Packers would still be in, but only as a Wild Card team - and even that spot is far from safe.
The standings around them are crowded. The Vikings, Lions and Bears would all sit ahead of Green Bay. And the NFC Wild Card picture doesn’t offer much breathing room either, with the Seahawks and Rams lurking and the 6-1 49ers in control of the NFC West.
That makes the road ahead look awfully unforgiving for Green Bay. The wins they’ve banked so far have come against the Jets, Buccaneers, Bears without Caleb Williams, and Cowboys. That’s a decent list, but not one that guarantees much if the losses keep piling up inside the division.
The next three weeks may tell the story. The Packers get the Panthers on Thursday Night Football, then the Patriots, then the Vikings before their Week 11 bye.
After that, the schedule only gets tougher with the Rams, Bills, Bears, Lions and Texans still left. The Saints and Dolphins are in there too, but this closing stretch is anything but soft.
So while it’s still too early to bury Green Bay, the warning signs are obvious. Last in the NFC North and already trailing every division rival, the Packers have put themselves in a spot where the margin for error is shrinking fast.
In Other News...
Packers Just Got Another Harsh Reminder About Jared Goff
Jared Goff keeps finding ways to make the Packers pay, and his latest outing in Detroit was another reminder of how comfortably he is running the Lions' offense. In the Week 7 meeting, Green Bay had him in a tight game, but Goff still guided Detroit to a 20-17 win while continuing the kind of early-season production that has made the Lions one of the league's most efficient passing teams.
The uncomfortable part for Green Bay is how cleanly Goff picked apart the defense in the areas it needed to hold up most. He was especially effective against zone looks, and the Packers had few answers as the Lions kept the passing game on schedule and avoided mistakes. Through seven games, Goff has not thrown an interception, and that blend of accuracy and control is becoming a familiar problem for Green Bay. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Fans Arent Alone In Being Fed Up With NFL Officiating
The frustration Packers fans have been feeling this fall has spilled far beyond Lambeau Field. ESPN anchor Scott Van Pelt took aim at the leagues officiating this week, pointing to inconsistent calls and the sheer volume of flags that have slowed games and left viewers wondering what the standard actually is from week to week. It was the kind of gripe that landed because it echoed what plenty of people around the league have already been saying out loud.
Xavier McKinney has been among the Packers voices pushing back, and he was hardly alone. Hall of Fame receiver Cris Carter also weighed in on the broader problem, underscoring how the conversation has shifted from isolated complaints to a wider annoyance with how games are being called. For Green Bay, it is not just about one bad break or one rough sequence, but the growing sense that officiating has become too inconsistent to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Are Putting Too Much On Jordan Love Right Now
Jordan Love has been asked to do a lot for the Packers early on, and Jeff Saturday made sure to point out why on ESPNs First Take. Saturday defended Love by stressing the problems around him, from a heavy number of dropped passes to a run game that has not offered much help, along with pass protection issues that have made the offense even harder to sustain.
Love offered a similar view after Green Bays loss to the Detroit Lions, saying the run game needs to improve and expressing optimism about what Josh Jacobs can bring after his first appearance of the season. For a Packers offense still searching for rhythm, Jacobs return matters because it could give Love more balance and take some of the burden off his shoulders. [Read more 🡒]