The Packers are back home on a short week, and the betting market has already made its call: Green Bay is a solid favorite over Carolina for Thursday night.
FanDuel opened the Packers at -4.5 for the Week 8 matchup, a number that would match their largest favorite role of the season if it sticks. The last time Green Bay laid 4.5 points was in its previous Thursday night game, when Bijan Robinson powered through the Packers’ defense.
Both teams are coming off ugly Week 7 losses, but the mood around those defeats was very different. Green Bay dropped a 20-17 decision to the Lions on a last-second field goal, a game that left plenty of blame to go around. Carolina’s afternoon went off the rails much earlier and much harder, as the Panthers were hammered 43-13 by a Buccaneers team that entered the day 1-5.
That Tampa Bay loss was especially rough for Carolina because the Bucs managed only 64 passing yards and still piled up 43 points. They rushed for 258 yards, scored on defense with a fumble return touchdown, and added points on special teams with a two-point conversion after a blocked PAT. Carolina also lost Taylor Moton, their longtime right tackle, to an injury.
The short week only adds to Carolina’s challenge. The Panthers have to travel, while Green Bay gets the home-field edge after a more competitive showing in Detroit, which helps explain why the Packers are favored.
Green Bay is 3-2-2 against the spread this season and has covered in each of its last three games. That stretch includes back-to-back covers as 3.5-point underdogs against Detroit, after the Packers cashed in against the Bears and Cowboys in the two weeks before that.
The total is set at 47.5, a more standard number than the Detroit game’s over/under, which sat well above 50. The under has hit in five of Green Bay’s seven games so far, including each of the last four.
In Other News...
Packers Loss Fueled A Ref Debate Fans Wont Let Go
The Packers 20-17 loss to Detroit was decided by Jake Bates game-winning field goal, but the final score only told part of the story. The afternoon also turned into a showcase for officiating debate, with the game marked by a string of controversial flags, including roughing-the-passer calls against Green Bay and an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Lions that kept drawing attention throughout the broadcast.
Tom Brady added to the noise from the Fox booth, pushing back hard on several of the rulings and making it clear he did not agree with how the game was being officiated. For Packers fans, the frustration was obvious: a divisional game slipped away in the final moments, and the calls around it only gave them more to argue about long after the kick sailed through. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Win Sparked A Postgame NFL Reaction Packers Fans Hated
Frustration spilled well beyond the final whistle after Green Bays 20-17 loss to Detroit, with Xavier McKinney taking aim at the officiating and making clear he was willing to risk a fine if it meant saying what he thought. The postgame mood around the Packers only sharpened when Fox analyst Tom Brady also questioned several calls against Green Bay, including a roughing the passer penalty that drew plenty of second-guessing from viewers and fans alike.
Social media only made the sting worse for Packers supporters when the league itself got pulled into the conversation. The NFL posted a celebratory clip tied to a key late penalty against Green Bay, and the reaction from fans was immediate, with many seeing it as a tone-deaf move that felt less like neutral coverage and more like the league piling on a team already furious about the way the game was officiated. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Loss To Lions Sparks A Frustrated Micah Parsons Response
Green Bays 20-17 loss to Detroit left the Packers with more than a tough result to digest. A walk-off field goal ended the game after the Lions benefited from a roughing-the-passer penalty, and the finish only added to the frustration around a night when Green Bay also left points on the field with two missed field goals and a costly interception by Jordan Love.
Even while rehabbing a knee injury and not playing, Micah Parsons made his displeasure clear afterward on social media, a reaction that fit the mood around a game the Packers let get away. The officiating call became the flash point, but it landed against a backdrop of missed chances that made an already painful division loss feel even harder to swallow. [Read more 🡒]