The Packers feel they can still be Super Bowl contenders, and they will be if these three things happen in the second half of their season.
It already feels like the Green Bay Packers have had a full season full of highs and lows, as well as drama. The fact of the matter, though, is that at 6-3 and heading into their bye week, they're just now starting to look ahead to the second half of the 2024 season.
The Packers have a sour taste in their mouths after losing a big game to the NFC-leading Detroit Lions at home. But that Lambeau loss shouldn't take away the fact that the Packers were on a four-game winning streak before that and they're still generally thought of as a Super Bowl contender.
The shine on their “contendership” may have lost some of its luster, but if quarterback Jordan Love can step up in the second half of the season and the defense keeps playing like a Top 10 unit —and keeps creating turnovers — the Packers should be right back in the thick of the hunt.
There's still a lot of football left to play. With that in mind, here are three bold predictions for the rest of Green Bay's season.
Jordan Love will throw only two more interceptions
Love has not been great for the Packers, and it's okay to admit that. Yes, some of his throws are incredible and yes, he's thrown 1,820 yards and 15 touchdowns despite missing two games with injury. His 10 interceptions are tied for the most in the NFL with Geno Smith, though, and again, Love has played in seven games compared to Smith's nine.
Here's the thing, though, Love has proven in the past that he can take care of the football. His interceptions have been awful, and his two pick-sixes have been cringeworthy. But this is the same quarterback who had an 18-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio at the end of last season when Matt LaFleur's offense started humming.
As such, it's easy to believe that Love is more the quarterback we saw at the end of last season when everything was clicking than he is the quarterback from the first half of 2024, who has been banged up. He'll get an extra week of rest because of the bye and the expectation is he'll hit the ground running against the Chicago Bears on November 17.
Love knows how to take care of the ball, and you best believe LaFleur and the offensive staff will be focusing on that with him for the rest of this season.
He'll still throw a few, but the prediction here is he'll go on another great touchdown-to-interception ratio run and finish with just two more picks thrown in the next eight games. That would put him at 12 interceptions, which would be just one more than last season.
Evan Williams will be in Rookie of the Year convo
The Packers selected safety Evan Williams with the 111th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft (fourth round). He was drafted as somewhat of the afterthought to Georgia defensive back Javon Bullard, who the Packers took in the second round. So far in 2024, though, Williams has been an absolute revelation.
The Packers have slow played his snaps, as they always do with rookies, but he already has 18 tackles, a forced fumble, an interception and three passes defended.
The thing about Williams is that he reacts to what the offense is doing incredibly fast for a rookie. He's a strong tackler in open space and an above average athlete. Throw in the fact that he has Xavier McKinney and his six interceptions playing next to him, and Williams has had the opportunity to just go out and play knowing that McKinney will cover for many of his mistakes.
The one thing is health. Williams missed Week 9's game against the Lions with injury, but if he can come back healthy after the bye, he's just going to continue making plays. So many, in fact, that he'll draw consideration for the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
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Lukas Van Ness will finish with with seven sacks
The Packers are putting all the pressure on Lukas Van Ness. They traded veteran pass rusher Preston Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers and now they're asking Van Ness to step up.
General manager Brian Gutekunst drafted Van Ness with pick No. 13 in 2023 out of Iowa because he had all the raw talent and build to become a superstar pass rusher at 6-foot-5, 272 pounds. He notched four sacks as a rookie and flashed a ton of potential, but he has just one so far in 2024.
Some of that is because he's been platooned with Smith, but the Packers wouldn't have gotten rid of the veteran if they didn't believe Van Ness could step up. In fact, Gutekunst made it clear after the trade deadline that he believes that Van Ness, Kingsley Enagbare and Brenton Cox Jr. are the future for Green Bay's pass rush, and the future is now.
“We need more from those guys as we move forward into the second half of the season, and I think we'll get that,” Gutekunst said after the trade deadline, according to ESPN. “They gotta continue to keep pushing, and I think the addition of some of these guys getting some more snaps will help that.”
The Packers are finally going to let Van Ness lose, and he'll reward them with six sacks in the next eight games.
