Packers face tough four-game stretch following bye week
The Green Bay Packers face a daunting four-game stretch starting in Week 6, with three of four on the road against potential playoff contenders.
This year’s schedule could be a particularly challenging one for the Green Bay Packers. The NFC is loaded, and the Packers will face some of the best quarterbacks in the league including Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, Deshaun Watson, and Philip Rivers.
The toughest part of the schedule looks to be immediately following the bye, which is in Week 5. The Packers would’ve already played on the road against the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints, and now they’ll enter a tough four-week stretch.
It begins with the only time in the season they’ll play on the road in consecutive weeks. And those matchups will be against Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Watson’s Houston Texans. They then return home for one game, against the Vikings, before heading back on the road four days later to play the San Francisco 49ers. That’s a tough month of matchups.
The good news is that Green Bay will then be at home five times in the following seven weeks, but first, it must get through a tough phase of the season.
Given the competition in the NFC, the Packers can’t afford to lose all four of those games. They’ll do well to enter their bye week at 2-2, so losing the four after the bye could put them at 2-6, or 3-5 if they can beat either the Vikings or Saints earlier on.
But, need some positives? Realistically, I can make a case for the Packers winning at least three of those games.
Tom Brady is 42 and starting a new season for a new team in a new offense. Despite the talent he’s working with, it’s no guarantee it’ll lead to success. The Bucs defense is also a question.
The Texans are without DeAndre Hopkins. Watson is a star quarterback, but this is a winnable game for the Packers.
The Packers get the Vikings at home. That’s significant.
It’s hard to make a strong case for winning at San Francisco, and it being a short week only adds to that. But who knows? Anything can happen on any given Sunday (or Thursday, in this case).
If the Packers enter the bye at 2-2, then go 2-2 in their next four, I’m sure they’d take that. A 4-4 record after a tough stretch of games would set them up for a playoff push down the stretch. It wouldn’t be an ideal position but they’d get five of their final eight at home with a great chance to push for 10 victories.
But keeping in the playoff race during this four-game stretch from Weeks 6 to 9 will be so crucial to the Packers’ season.