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Inexperienced Bay could know the opponents on his board, however there may be one massive query that must be answered earlier than breaking down how the Packers will fare in 2021: will Aaron Rodgers be the quarterback?
The three-time MVP reportedly plans to go away Inexperienced Bay, and that story devoured NFL draft weekend 2021. Rodgers has not but traded, but when he fails, Normal Supervisor Brian Gutekunst may attain out to Jordan Love, who will go for the 2020 first spherical .
MORE: Power of the schedule for all 32 groups in 2021
That adjustments the dynamics of NFC North, which the Packers have gained within the final two seasons below coach Matt LaFleur with similar 13: Three information. Inexperienced Bay remains to be the favourite, however the schedule is hard for opponents of NFC West and AFC North. What occurs to Rodgers by then will decide how these profit-loss projections may change.
Within the meantime, here’s a full breakdown of the Inexperienced Bay Packers’ schedule for 2021, together with dates and begin instances for all 17 video games and our early forecast.
Inexperienced Bay Packers schedule 2021
The Packers schedule can be launched as a part of the NFL schedule launch on Wednesday, Might 12 at eight p.m. ET. These are the groups they’re presently anticipated to play through the 2021 NFL season.
- At residence: Bears, Lions, Packers, Browns, Stahlers, Aries, Seahawks, Washington
- Street: Bears, lions, packers, bengali, ravens, 49ers, cardinals, saints, chiefs
Inexperienced Bay takes first place for the second straight season and it’s harder than 2020. The Packers have 10 video games towards groups that performed within the 2020 playoffs and the 17th sport consists of two-time AFC defending champions Kansas Metropolis on the best way.
There are a number of prime-time choices, however like the whole lot else, a part of it will depend on Rodgers being the Packers quarterback. Inexperienced Bay has performed 61 prime-time video games since Rogers took over as starter in 2008, averaging almost 5 video games per season.
Packer’s power of the schedule
Inexperienced Bay’s opponents had a 0.531 p.c acquire final season, which means the Vikings have the fifth heaviest schedule ever. The Bears and Vikings rank third and fourth, respectively, on the hardest schedules, based mostly on their playoff berths final yr.
Hardest checks: Inexperienced Bay introduced New Orleans and San Francisco to the streets final season. The Sport of Saints can be totally different this yr with out Drew Brees, however the Superdome stays a problem. The 49ers will proceed to be more healthy subsequent season, and the Packers have misplaced 4 of their final 5 video games in San Francisco. You are considered one of two groups that under-0.500 at residence final season that the Packers face. The opposite – Cincinnati (3-5) – would not know the Bengals have overwhelmed the Packers in three of their final 4 encounters, and the video games at Paul Brown Stadium have been insane.
Baltimore and Kansas Metropolis may also be powerful matchups with MVP candidates Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes II.
Greatest breaks: We talked about the loaded line-up of playoff groups, however at the very least 5 of these non-division video games happen at Lambeau Subject. Cleveland and Pittsburgh are the cross-conference matchups, and Los Angeles, Seattle, and Washington are the NFC matchups. These 5 groups had a mixed 24:19 document on the street final season.
Higher to catch these groups at residence and if Rodgers is the quarterback he has a 78-19-1 document at Lambeau.
Backside line: LaFleur and Rodgers have mixed a 26-6 document for the previous two seasons, and that comes with a 14-2 residence document. Inexperienced Bay has one of the best residence document within the NFL at this stretch, and NFC North has been dominated by Rodgers.
Due to this, it’s tough to make an actual prediction of the place the packers will find yourself in 2021 till this example is resolved. With Rodgers, Inexperienced Bay stays ok to dominate NFC Nord – the Packers are 7-1 towards division opponents for the previous two years – and one other run to the NFC championship is feasible.
If Love is the starter it opens a really aggressive division with a tricky schedule. The packers may very well be barely under .500 at this level, however who is aware of? We’ll be projecting Rodgers as starters till confirmed in any other case, and Inexperienced Bay is taking a step again with the stricter schedule.
Nevertheless, the Packers nonetheless win the NFC North.
Report prediction: 10-7
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