At the end of the 2024 season, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst talked about the need for the Packers to crank up their level of urgency.
That will be a necessity. The 2025 NFL schedule that is being unveiled on Wednesday reportedly has the Packers kicking off the NFL season at home against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Sept. 7, followed by a home game against the Washington Commanders on Thursday, Sept. 11.
Those are two of the best teams in the NFL.
“I think for me, the thing that’s been on my mind as we concluded this season is we need to continue to ramp up our sense of urgency,” Gutekunst said a few days after a season-ending loss at the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild-card round. “These opportunities don’t come [every year and] the life of a player in the National Football League is not very long.
“We’ve got a bunch of good guys in that locker room, we’ve got a bunch of talented guys in that locker room, and I think it’s time that we started competing for championships, right? I think they’re ready.”
They had better be ready from the jump. From 1990 through 2024, 288 teams started the season 0-2. From that group, 35 made the playoffs (12.2 percent), though the Ravens, Rams and Broncos reached the postseason after being among the nine teams that started 0-2 last year. Only three of 288 won the Super Bowl.
The Lions went 15-2 last season, winning their second consecutive NFC North championship despite a series of impact injuries. They finished No. 1 in the NFL in points scored and scoring differential.
Detroit won both matchups against the Packers last year and is 6-1 in the last seven meetings. It went 8-0 on the road last season and is 3-0 in its last three visits to Lambeau Field.
The Commanders went from 4-13 in 2023 to 12-5 in 2024, with Rookie of the Year quarterback Jayden Daniels leading them to a playoff win over the Lions before falling to the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. They finished fifth in the NFL in scoring.
Washington went 5-3 on the road last season. It has lost six consecutive games at the Packers, with its last win coming in 1988. It hasn’t scored more than 20 points in Green Bay since the Packers’ famous 48-47 victory on Monday night in 1983.
Expectations are high for Detroit, Washington and Green Bay. At FanDuel Sportsbook, Detroit has the second-shortest odds to win the NFC while Washington has the fourth-shortest. Green Bay is fifth.
This will be the Packers’ first Week 1 home game since 2018. That means coach Matt LaFleur opened his first six seasons away from Lambeau Field. The Packers are 3-3 in those games, including losses to the Eagles in Brazil in 2024, at the Vikings in 2022 and to the Saints in Jacksonville in 2021.
With Jordan Love at quarterback, the Packers went 2-2 in September in 2023 and again in 2024.
Asked about urgency, LaFleur said: “I would think that collectively, I think we are pretty urgent in terms of how we approach it. We’re not trying to waste any time when we’re together, when we’re in the building. We’re constantly striving to put our best foot forward. These guys got to understand, especially for younger players, is it goes by really fast and, before you blink, it seems like you’re at the end of your career.
“So, it’s just maximizing those moments and taking advantage on a day-to-day basis of really putting your best foot forward, because I am a believer (that) you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse every single day. You’re never staying the same. And that’s something we preach to them but, ultimately, each individual has to take that to heart and maximize our time together.”
For the Packers, the offseason program is under way. With a big-picture view, LaFleur eliminated one of the three weeks of voluntary organized team activities.
After the draft, he felt good about the state of the team. Then again …
“I think if you ask 32 teams when the draft is over, ‘Did you get better?’, they all would give you the same answer. They all feel good about it,” LaFleur said. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how you feel. It’s about what you do. I think that’s the challenge.
“To me, if you want more and you want to go further, you’ve got to be willing to give more. That’s what we’ve got to do. It’s going to be a collective effort. We need everybody to have that mindset, to come in with that mindset, and get to work.”
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