Packers: Get ready for a 17-game regular season in 2021
After a lot of talk about the possibility, get ready for a 17-game regular season in 2021.
The Green Bay Packers, along with the rest of the league, look set to play an additional game this year.
The idea of a 17-game regular season has been discussed for a while, but now it looks set to happen. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the NFL is expected to make the switch for 2021, although it isn’t yet official.
NFL is expected to expand the regular season schedule this week to 17 games. The league had played a 16-game regular season schedule since 1978, by far the longest stretch without a change in NFL history.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 28, 2021
So, how will it work?
We’ve all got used to the current schedule formula. The Packers play each of their NFC North rivals home and away, along with all four teams from one NFC and one AFC division on a rotating basis, as well as teams from the other two NFC divisions who finished in the same position as them the season prior.
But who will each team play as their 17th opponent?
According to Peter King of NBC Sports, each team will meet an opponent from the opposite conference in a division they met two years earlier. To make it easier, it means the Packers will play one team from the AFC West in 2021.
As the Packers won the NFC North last season, they would meet the winners of the AFC West. That would be the Kansas City Chiefs, who also reached the Super Bowl.
Elsewhere in the NFC North, the Chicago Bears would take on the Las Vegas Raiders. The Minnesota Vikings would meet the Los Angeles Chargers and the Detroit Lions would play the Denver Broncos.
It’s hardly the most fair of systems, but it is what it is. It’s all about making the regular season bigger, and there aren’t many other options to make it fairer if the decision is to move to 17 games.
So, get ready for a Packers-Chiefs matchup in 2021. It’s looking likely.