Packers need to rediscover dominance at Lambeau Field
The Green Bay Packers need to become dominant at home, something we haven’t seen in far too long.
Winning on the road is a tough challenge for any team against any opponent, which makes all eight home games particularly important. For many years, the Packers‘ record with Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau Field was dominant. But that’s changed slightly in recent years.
From the 2010 to 2014 seasons, the Packers went 34-5-1 at Lambeau Field, which works out at an 85 win percentage. In contrast, since the start of 2015, the Packers have gone 20-11-1 at home, just a 62.5 win percentage.
An argument can be made that Rodgers missed games in 2013, 2017 and also missed most of the season finale in 2017. So let’s take those games out and only include games in which Rodgers started and finished.
From 2010 to 2014, the Packers went an incredible 33-2 at home with Rodgers, a 94.3 win percentage. Since 2015, that drops to 19-6-1, a 73 win percentage.
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Sure, that’s still a strong home record since 2015 in games Rodgers has played, but with an elite quarterback, the Packers need that to be higher.
The Packers want to have a better home-field advantage. According to the team’s website, one of the new features this season will be players appearing on the video boards, with the hope it will “remind fans to get loud and stand up on defense”.
They tried a horn on third down during the preseason in an attempt to increase the volume of the home fans. There was the “Get Loud Lambeau” slogan a couple of years back.
I’m all for trying to get fans to create a tougher environment for road teams. It all adds to the home-field advantage. But the atmosphere isn’t the reason why the Packers’ win record has dropped at home in recent years. That’s on the team. Forget “Get Loud Lambeau”, how about “Play Better Football at Home”.
Better play will give the Packers a home-field advantage. The atmosphere in the stadium will only help that.
In 2014, the Packers went a perfect 8-0 at home. They outscored their opponents 318-163 in those games, averaging 39.75 points per game while allowing 20.38.
Compare that to 2018. Last season, Green Bay outscored its opponents 190-165 at home, averaging just 23.75 points per game, allowing 20.63.
The team in 2014 was dominant on offense and good enough on defense. Last year’s team was incredibly inconsistent.
Better play on the field can see Lambeau Field become one of the toughest stadiums for opponents to visit. The atmosphere and fan support helps, but it’s up to the players and coaches to give this team a home-field advantage.