The Green Bay Packers keep getting pushed into the same familiar spot: overlooked, second-guessed, and handed more bulletin-board material.
That theme showed up again this past week when FS1’s First Things First rolled out its season tiers and placed Green Bay in the top half of the league, but behind both the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears. For a team that has spent much of the last decade as the class of the NFC North, it was another reminder that respect is not coming easy.
There is at least a case to be made for Chicago to sit ahead of Green Bay based on last season’s results. Detroit, though, is a tougher sell.
The Lions are coming off a missed playoff berth and, as the source reporting frames it, are dealing with clear defensive concerns. That makes Green Bay’s spot below them stand out even more.
The broader issue for the Packers is that this isn’t a one-off. It fits into a bigger offseason pattern in which pundits have questioned Green Bay’s decisions and its ability to stay in the mix in a crowded NFC. Even after a stretch in 2025 when the Packers looked like the top team in the conference before injuries derailed their push to hold the NFC North, the doubt has kept coming.
For Green Bay, the upside is obvious. Being dismissed gives the roster and coaching staff something to lean on, and it flips the usual dynamic. Instead of being the hunted team in the division, the Packers can play the underdog card.
That is a shift they can use. Green Bay still has the stability of coaching and quarterback that should command more confidence, but the league’s skepticism hasn’t let up, with Jordan Love and the team drawing plenty of it.
And if the Packers are looking for motivation, they do not have to search very hard. The message from this latest ranking is the same one they’ve been hearing all offseason: people are still betting against them.
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