After narrowly missing out on the playoffs, the Green Bay Packers are hoping for good fortune in the upcoming NFL season.
Although the 2023 Green Bay Packers may not have the highest of ceilings, they are actually picking a pretty good time to reload, or slightly rebuild, to be totally honest here.
While making the NFC playoffs with a new starting quarterback in Jordan Love would certainly be incredible, that is not what this year is about. What is most important is being able to reset and solidify a new foundation in which to build on in the years to come. Green Bay has done a better job than most NFL franchises of sustaining success for the better part of three decades now.
No, they are not winning the Super Bowl, but these five outcomes would be tremendous for them.
Green Bay Packers: 5 dream scenarios for the upcoming 2023 NFL season
5. Detroit Lions crumble, Minnesota Vikings pull back, Chicago Bears still stink
Outside of their six games in-division, this scenario is entirely out of the Packers' control. However, it would be pretty sweet from their perspective to see the entire NFC North division not live up to expectations, outside of all the good things the Packers can do. This is all about the Detroit Lions crumbling under pressure, the Minnesota Vikings pulling back and the Chicago Bears being awful.
In truth, I don't think we are going to get all three of these scenarios, in addition to the Packers playing up to their relatively low potential for Green Bay standards. But if I had to pick two of three outside of Green Bay to unfold, it would be to short the Bears and for the Vikings to pull back. I do like what the Lions are doing, so if the Packers aren't winning the North, my money is on Detroit.
My beef with the Bears is I don't think Ryan Poles knows what he is doing, and Kevin Warren is a walking disaster. With Minnesota, you do realize that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah wants to blow this thing up like a science fair project, right? As far as the Lions are concerned, they do have the potential of getting to the NFC Championship game. They have the highest ceiling, but it is Detroit!
The Packers might be able to win 11 games, but to see their three rivals struggle would be funny.
4. Matt LaFleur coaches his tail off to win bad division and home playoff game
2023 will serve as a tremendous opportunity for Matt LaFleur to prove to the rest of the NFL world that he is a fantastic head coach. He may stem from the Shanahan coaching tree, but this fall will be his biggest test to date. Without Aaron Rodgers under center, look for LaFleur to really hone in on his Green Bay running game to possibly win a bad division, and a home playoff game.
Ideally, Green Bay would need to go 4-2 or 5-1 in-division to be in a great position to win the NFC North. That would require sweeping Chicago, splitting with Detroit and taking at least one from Minnesota. You add six more wins in what will be a third-placed schedule for the Packers, and 11-6 or maybe even 10-7 may be good enough to get the No. 3 or No. 4 seed in a down NFC this year.
Look. I don't think even in a best-case scenario that the Packers will be able to beat this season's equivalent of the Philadelphia Eagles or San Francisco 49ers on the road in the divisional round, but they could potentially knock off someone like last year's Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings or New York Giants. Being one of the last eight teams remaining is this year's team's definite ceiling.
To be this year's equivalent of the 2022 Jacksonville Jaguars, or the G-Men, would be impressive.
3. A new star emerges in WR corps between Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson
It will be the second season without Davante Adams being a vibrant part of the Packers' receiving corps. Well, if Brian Gutekunst and the rest of the front office drafted well, then that shouldn't be much of a problem. That is because Green Bay has two potential breakout stars within its wide receiver room in Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson. Could one, or both, break out? We shall see!
While I don't think either will be as good for the Packers as Adams was in his prime, because who is really?, seeing Doubs and/or Watson emerge as a go-to target for Love will do wonders for the Packers going forward and their overall trajectory with this new team core of sorts. Skill sets are important, but you cannot put a price on Love developing quite the rapport with these two guys.
Ultimately, it would be a huge success for Green Bay this season if Love-to-Doubs or Love-to-Watson looks to be well on its way towards becoming Rodgers-to-Adams, Rodgers-to-Cobb or Rodgers-to-Nelson. Heck, if we wanted to kick it back a bit further, how about them giving off the vibes of Favre-to-Sharpe, Favre-to-Freeman or Favre-to-Driver? That sounds pretty good to me!
The big goal in the Packers' receiving room is for either one of these guys to become a superstar.
2. Aaron Rodgers' first season with the New York Jets is a Brett Favre disaster
As with the entire division underachieving simultaneously, this is pretty much entirely out of the Packers' control. However, you would be lying to yourself if you didn't think some legions of Cheeseheads would revel in Aaron Rodgers suffering a Brett Favre New York Jets fate in year one leading Gang Green. The Jets are so dysfunctional, but with Rodgers, they have great expectations.
When it comes to what the Jets could conceivably be at their apex in year one with Rodgers as their quarterback, they could probably get to the AFC Championship before bowing out to either the Cincinnati Bengals or the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. New York has the ceiling of a final four team, but the Jets have not qualified for the AFC playoffs since … 2010…
So no matter what happens on the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field this year, you better believe more eyes than normal will be watching whatever the AFC East franchise that calls MetLife home does. Simply put, the Jets need to make the playoffs with Rodgers as their quarterback. Anything short of that will be seen as a massive disappointment, one that might sustain some Packers fans.
I do not think Rodgers will play like Favre did for the 2008 Jets, but history tends to repeat itself.
1. Jordan Love proves to everyone that he is the guy very early on in the season
This is the only thing that actually matters for the Packers this season: Can Jordan Love play or not? If he lives up to the draft hype and that sensational sophomore season of his at Utah State, then good for Green Bay. If not, well,… they can look towards fully tearing this thing down to the studs and look for a new face of the franchise in either the 2024 or 2025 NFL Draft if they choose.
To make things easier in an ideal scenario, let's just say Love looks to be the real deal well before Halloween. I'm not saying he needs to play like Patrick Mahomes did in his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs starter, but Green Bay begins to realize it can win games because of Love, not just with Love, or in spite of Love. Let's equate this to Jalen Hurts with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Keep in mind that Love was seen as a better pro prospect over Hurts. He too was drafted by a team that had a starting quarterback. However, his intangibles, work ethic and leadership traits made it simply undeniable that he needed to be the guy going forward. Comparing Love to Hurts is nearly as foolish as comparing him to Rodgers, but people love to compare people to other people.
The best thing that can happen for the Packers in 2023 is for Love to show us all that he is a guy.