The Green Bay Packers' road to regaining the NFC North is already a monumental task in a crowded and talented division, but the league is doing everything imaginable to crank up the challenge.
While the NFL won't officially announce the schedule for a few more days, rumors and leaks are well underway.
There was already smoke about the Minnesota Vikings going to Dublin, and not the Packers, to play the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the latest rumor takes it a step further. The Vikings can consider themselves incredibly lucky.
Nothing is confirmed, but according to Arif Hasan of Wide Left, who has previously covered the Vikings, they will play back-to-back international games across the pond. That includes the Steelers game at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland, in Week 4, followed by a matchup with the Cleveland Browns a week later at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England.
The Vikings have caught a massive break in an NFC North playoff race that could feature all four teams.
Vikings catch a scheduling break, and it's a slap in the face to the Packers
The Packers were heavily rumored to play in the Dublin game against the Steelers. While Matt LaFleur isn't a fan of the long-distance overseas games, there is a significant benefit.
Minnesota is supposed to play Pittsburgh and Cleveland on the road, but the AFC North rivals lose all home-field advantage by moving the games to a neutral venue. If anything, the Vikings have the upper hand, having played across the pond twice as many times as the Steelers or Browns combined.
It will be Cleveland's first international game in eight years and Pittsburgh's first in 14. Minnesota has played in London twice in the past three seasons.
The Vikings also gain another big advantage by playing back-to-back contests.
After their game against the Steelers, they will have had additional time to adjust to the time zone change. The Browns, the "home" team, would have to travel halfway across the world and overcome jet lag to take on a Vikings team that had already been in Europe for a week.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have played back-to-back London games in the past two seasons and used that to their advantage. They won the second game in both seasons, including a surprise victory over the Buffalo Bills in 2023. Jacksonville was fresh and ready to roll in the second week, while its sleepy opponents arrived in London with the odds stacked against them.
The Packers will play the Steelers and Browns on the road. Minnesota gets them at neutral sites, and to make it worse, it will have a significant advantage over Cleveland due to the lack of travel and jet lag challenges.
Talk about making life easy for Minnesota. The Packers' path to the NFC North title will become that much tougher if the league gift-wraps a comfortable run for the Vikings.