NFL Will Release Schedule Thursday; Daunting Slate Awaits Packers
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The NFL on Monday night announced it will release its 2020 schedule at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Despite the global coronavirus pandemic, which has put the NBA and NHL pause and delayed baseball’s opener by more than a month, the NFL will announce a full, 16-game schedule. In trumpeting a three-hour NFL Network special, it boasted a breakdown "of all 256" regular-season games.
“We plan to start on time,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told ESPN. “If we have to make adjustments, we will be prepared to do so based on the latest guidance from our medical experts and public health officials and current and future government regulations.”
The season is set to begin on Sept. 10, with the Super Bowl scheduled for Feb. 7 in Tampa, Fla.
The league could put the Packers in one of its Week 1 spotlight games, whether it’s a NFC Championship Game rematch at San Francisco, an Aaron Rodgers vs. Drew Brees showdown at New Orleans, or a Rodgers vs. Tom Brady clash of the quarterbacking titans at Tampa Bay.
Here are Green Bay’s opponents:
Home: Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Carolina, Atlanta, Jacksonville and Tennessee.
Away: Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, San Francisco, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Houston and Indianapolis.
The Packers will play seven games against teams that reached the playoffs in 2019: Minnesota, Philadelphia and Tennessee at home, and Minnesota, San Francisco, New Orleans and Houston on the road.
On the other hand, Green Bay will play seven games against teams with losing records: Detroit, Carolina, Atlanta and Jacksonville at home, and Detroit, Tampa Bay and Indianapolis on the road.
Beyond the divisional clashes, the road schedule looks especially challenging. The 49ers and Saints are among the best teams in the league, the Buccaneers won their last four games last season and added Brady and Rob Gronkowski in the offseason, the Texans posted back-to-back seasons of 10-plus wins, and the Colts added Philip Rivers.
The Packers potentially could play five indoor games with trips to Minnesota, Detroit, New Orleans, Indianapolis and Houston. The past four seasons, Green Bay is 3-7 indoors, though it did win at Minnesota and Detroit to close the 2019 season to snap a five-game losing streak.
In a world filled with the unknown, the NFL has put together a contingency plan for a schedule that has a regular season starting in mid-October, a season with no bye weeks and a Feb. 28 Super Bowl, according to the Sports Business Journal.
