Can Packers turn the corner in 2026?
Mike Florio and Chris Simms break down the Green Bay Packers 2026 schedule and discuss how the team will need to take a step up in the notoriously difficult NFC North to make more of a run in the playoffs.
Video Transcript
The schedule makers have high expectations for the Green Bay Packers as well.
They have six prime time games and another standalone game.
So we will see a lot of the Green Bay Packers.
We'll see Cowboys at the Packers week six, Sunday Night Football.
I've never been to Lambeau Field, Chris.
Is that right?
I have a feeling that that's gonna be one of the weeks.
Assuming that there's an easy way to get from Pittsburgh to Appleton or wherever you have to fly into to get to Lambeau Field.
Never been there.
That's incredible.
Never been there.
I did not know that.
We have- Yeah.
We, we were there one time- We have two games this year the Wow.
So yeah, we were there- Yeah a few years ago for Minnesota, oddly enough, and you didn't come there that day.
You know, it was a freezing night late in the year.
Do you remember that ni- that game?
It was, it was Case Keenum- I- and the Vikings that year.
and I'm just, you know, I was new to the, the NBC and all that, and I d- I guess in my memory I just assumed you were there that night, but I, I guess you were warm and cozy at home.
That was a Saturday, that was a Saturday game.
I didn't even realize that the I don't remember the crew going on the road that year.
I remember, I remember doing the pregame show, but who knows.
That was 20, that was 2017.
That was the year the Vikings ended up in the AFC or NFC Championship, excuse me.
Well, yeah.
And that was a, a, a rare thumping by the, by the Vikings of the Packers at Lambeau Field.
I remember that very well.
It, it was.
And, you know, I'll, I'll make you chuckle because one of the things that I'll always remember about that, it was f- it was, like, you know, one of those nights that was, like, four degrees, seven degrees, something like that, and I remember we was gonna do a segment with Collinsworth on the field, and he had been out on the field for a while.
And to the point to where I'm starting to look at him going, "His face is numb."
Like, his lips aren't moving the right way, right?
And I remember just about tw- 20 seconds before we came on air, he looked at me and he was like, "What are we talking about?"
And I was like, "This, this," and he's all, "Oh, yeah, yeah."
And of course, he was a pro and knew what he wanted to say, but that was a, a funny moment for me seeing, you know, that moment unfold in live action there.
But that's special, Mike, that you're gonna get to go there.
It's one of the coolest stadiums there is.
Well- And on top Yeah, go ahead, Mike.
Well, we- Yeah we'll see, we'll see.
Yeah.
I still haven't gone through the full schedule- Oh week by week- Okay to figure out where I'm gonna go and where I'm not gonna go, but I really would like to go to Lambeau Field.
We'll see how easy it is to get there.
Yeah.
That's, that's gonna be the real question.
Right.
How do So the Packers, though, you know, when I do look at the Packers, we know they're talented, definitely.
They, you know, what, what's the They didn't add a lot in free agency, right?
So there's not like it's a new look team.
You know, I do feel like we're in a year here where there's some pressure on the Packers.
It's been three years in a row of one and done in the playoffs, and I think the expectations are greater than that.
We're not gonna have Micah Parsons, it looks like, in the early part of the season because the ACL injury is a lot tougher to come back from for a pass rusher compared to Patrick Mahomes who plays quarterback.
So yeah, the, the Packers are one of those teams where I go, "I know they're gonna be good," but, like, it's how good?
Is it gonna be 10 and 7, we just get in the playoffs good, or can they turn the corner and play more consistent football, and Jordan Love consistently play at a high level to where they can be 12 and 5, 13 and 4?
And that's the big thing with the Packers.
We felt like they were going that way last year, and then they lost that game in Denver and everything changed
