The Green Bay Packers finished in second place in the NFC North last season with a 9-7 record. The Detroit Lions won the NFC North last season with a 12-5 record and the Minnesota Vikings won the NFC North with a 13-4 record the season before that.
It has been a couple of seasons since the Green Bay Packers won the NFC North title. Green Bay has the talent to win the division once again this season, but it will be very difficult to achieve that goal. The NFC North could be one of the toughest divisions in all of football this season.
The Detroit Lions will be the favorites to win the division, the Chicago Bears could surprise people, and the Minnesota Vikings have talent but have major questions at the quarterback position. The Green Bay Packers will need to take care of business in divisional play this season.
CBS Sports Garrett Podell Makes a Case For the Green Bay Packers To Win the NFC North Title This Season
CBS Sports writer Garrett Podell made a case for each NFC North team about why they can win the NFC North division. He said about the Green Bay Packers:
“Green Bay was thought to be in rebuilding mode after the departure of Aaron Rodgers and a number of other veterans.
Well that rebuild turned into a quick retooling once Jordan Love hit his stride the second half of the 2023 season. After the Packers started the year 3-6, and he threw 14 touchdowns to 10 interceptions, Love found his groove and powered Green Bay to a 5-2 mark down the stretch while throwing 18 touchdowns to only one interception from Weeks 11-18. That was the best touchdown to interception ratio in the NFL among the 27 passers to throw at least 150 passes in that span.
The Packers then earned the distinction of being the youngest team to win a postseason game since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger (average age of 25 years and 214 days) following their 48-32 demolition of the NFC’s No. 2 seed, the Dallas Cowboys, in the wild-card round. They led that game 27-0, and Love set the Packers’ single game playoff records for passer rating (157.2) and yards per pass attempt (13) after carving up Dallas’ top-five defense for 272 passing yards and three touchdowns while completing 16 of his 21 passes.
An impressive turnaround considering essentially all of Love’s pass-catchers were in their first or second season with Christian Watson standing as the old guy of the bunch at age 24. Green Bay nearly toppled the San Francisco 49ers, the No. 1 seed and eventual NFC champs, at Levi’s Stadium in a 24-21 loss — a game in which they led for most of the night.
Since, they have bolstered their roster with the signings of two-time Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs (four years, $48 million) and Pro Football Focus’ best safety in coverage (91.2 coverage grade) in Xavier McKinney (four years, $67 million). They also filled key positions of need by firing defensive coordinator Joe Barry and hiring a more aggressive, man coverage based DC in Jeff Hafley on top of drafting well to plug spots at offensive line, linebacker and safety. The Packers came away with USC running back Marshawn Lloyd in the third round, a player some viewed as the draft’s top running back.
Another year of Green Bay’s youth rounding into form could easily result in an NFC North championship.”
It will be interesting to see how this offense leaps this season with Jordan Love being the full-time starter for a second season. Love has the potential to be an MVP candidate this season. They don’t have a true number-one wide receiver in the offense as of now, but hopefully one will emerge.
The 2024 season will ride on the new 4-3 defensive scheme. The defense has been a letdown over the last several years and hopefully, it will be better to help out the offense.
Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Another thing to watch for with the Green Bay Packers is special teams. Greg Joseph or Anders Carlson will need to win the kicking job and it can’t be one of the reasons why they lose football games this season if they want to win the NFC North. The favorites should be the Detroit Lions, but Green Bay is right behind them.
