Super Bowl?!? Exactly One Month Until Packers Training Camp, Here’s Why It’s Possible

On July 29, exactly one month from today, the Green Bay Packers will hit the field for the first time during training camp.

It’s easy to pinpoint the issues that could plague the team. You could start and stop simply by pointing out the Packers lost their last five games of last season and won’t have Micah Parsons on the field for the first five-plus games of this season.

However, bad teams don’t qualify for the playoffs three consecutive seasons, which the Packers have done. This could be another playoff team – and more than a playoff team. Here are seven reasons why the Packers could have a Super Bowl season.

1. Jordan Love

After a sensational ending to his first season as the starter in 2023 and a bit of an injury-plagued stagnation in 2024, Jordan Love took flight in 2025.

Last year, 32 quarterbacks threw at least 250 passes. Love and Josh Allen were tied for fifth with a 101.2 passer rating. Critically, he set a career high in completion percentage and a career low in interception percentage.

Now, the Packers are counting on another step. He had the Packers in total control of the playoff loss to the Bears, only to be part of the team-wide breakdown.

“Since I’ve been the starter here, we’ve had some tough playoff losses, and it’s all about trying to find ways to keep growing and getting better,” Love said.

“Now we get a new opportunity this season moving forward where it’s just about getting back to work, learning from mistakes that are made throughout the whole course of the season, improving on those things as an offense, finding ways to put our best foot forward, find the best plays that work for us, have the best guys out there on the field, things like that.”

If Love takes the next step in his career and becomes more of an assassin in key moments, he could be on his way to greatness. The trajectory is promising.

2. New Offensive Line

There are high hopes for Sean Rhyan as the full-time center for the Packers. | Mark Hoffman-USA TODAY Network v

One of the big issues offensively last season was the play of the offensive line. That’s reflected in the downturn in production for Josh Jacobs and the other backs as well as Jordan Love ranking 11th out of 32 quarterbacks in pressure percentage, according to Stathead.

This will be a new offensive line. It requires a lot of projection to make it a strength, though none of the individual evaluations are tremendous leaps of faith.

At left tackle, the time is here for 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan. Will he be an upgrade over Rasheed Walker, the underappreciated starter the last three seasons?

“J-Mo, since we got back, he’s looked good,” Love said. “He’s put in the work throughout the offseason, just working out, getting that strength right. For him, I think it’ll be great to be able to get him settled in at left tackle. We know he’s bounced around – been at guard, moved around to tackle.

“For him to be able to settle in and get all these reps throughout the offseason and going into training camp at tackle, it’ll be great for him and just continue to grow and be the best player he can be. I’m excited for him.”

At left guard, can Aaron Banks stay healthy and play with greater consistency? At center and right guard, can Sean Rhyan and Anthony Belton use their half-season experiences to become solid (or even excellent) starters? At right tackle, can Zach Tom stay healthy and return to elite form?

That’s a lot of things that have to go right. Fortunately for the Packers, none of them are unrealistic, which leads to optimism that last year’s inconsistent unit could be an asset this year.

3. Tucker Kraft and Receivers

Tucker Kraft was on top of the world after the game at Pittsburgh. He caught seven passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns in a tour de force performance. He gained 128 yards after the catch, the most by any player in a game last season and the most by any tight end since 2018.

Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) stiff-arms Pittsburgh Steelers safety Juan Thornhill. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

And then, a week later against Carolina, he suffered a torn ACL.

“I feel like I went out as Tight End 1, in my opinion,” he said.

Kraft expects to be back on the field for Week 1 with no limitations. If so, the Packers will have their centerpiece to a slimmed-down passing attack.

Along with Christian Watson, Matthew Golden and Jayden Reed, they’ve proven in moments that they could be an elite foursome. Now, they have the opportunity to carry the load.

“J-Love locked in, J-Reed locked in, M.G. locked in for the next couple years, hopefully 8-5 over there will be locked in, too,” Watson said. “Just to have the foundation of our offense locked in for the next couple of years I think will be huge for us just in terms of finding consistency in our offense. Having those go-to guys available for the long-term I think will definitely be big for us in the flow of our offense.”

4. Micah Parsons Will Return

Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons (1) reads after a sack against the Minnesota Vikings. | Kayla Wolf-Imagn Images

The Packers were 9-3-1 headed into a showdown at the Broncos. That game, of course, changed everything. They not only lost the game but they lost Micah Parsons and Zach Tom to season-ending injuries.

Parsons is going to miss a big chunk of the first half of the season.

“I think the goal has always been not right now but longevity with my career here, and I think they want that approach,” Parsons said. “We have a pretty good, strong nine-month rule.”

Nine months after surgery is Sept. 29, which would put him on the practice field for the first time before the Week 4 game at Tampa Bay. If Parsons gets a three-week training camp, maybe he’d be back for the Week 7 game at Detroit. If the team would prefer that first game to be on grass, that would mean the Week 8 home game against Carolina.

Regardless, Parsons will be back. If the Packers can survive the first half of the season, they’ll have their closer for the playoff push.

“The goal for me is to complete the season, not no relapse, and playoffs and pushing towards a championship,” he said. “The goal isn’t for me to go out there and re-hurt myself trying to force myself to get back the first few games. The goal has always been playoffs, and I think we’re all on the same page.”

5. Special Cisse

Arguably the Packers’ biggest weakness last season was their play at cornerback. The free-agent signing of Nate Hobbs was a bomb, so they had to roll with Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine as their starting corners.

To state the obvious, neither were stoppers. Nixon broke up a lot of passes but was guilty of a lot of penalties. Valentine provided decent coverage but didn’t make many plays and missed too many tackles. In the regular season, Nixon had one interception and Valentine had zero.

Nixon and Valentine are back, but general manager Brian Gutekunst signed Benjamin St-Juste in free agency and drafted Brandon Cisse in the second round.

St-Juste played some high-level football for the Chargers last season, but the real upside belongs to Cisse, who was tremendous last year at South Carolina.

If Cisse is special – and that’s a big if for a rookie cornerback – he could change the defense and give the Packers a potential answer to the high-profile receivers on the schedule.

6. Closing Time

The Packers blew through leads last season like the government blows through money.

“We had games last year that had us sick to our stomachs, so we’ve got to make sure we get on that,” linebacker Edgerrin Cooper said.

Generally speaking, you get what you emphasize. After blowing a big lead in a regular-season loss to the Bears and a bigger lead in a playoff loss to the Bears, closing out games has been and will continue to be a focal point.

“I think that’s been at the forefront of our mind in terms of being able to finish,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “Like I talked to the team about, just every facet of whether it’s drill work or whether it’s a team period, that’s got to be at the forefront of our mind.”

Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon (25) intercepts a pass in the end zone to clinch a win over the Bears. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Had the Packers finished off the Bears and Broncos in the regular season, they would have been in position to win the NFC North, earn the No. 2 seed and potentially get two home playoff games. Instead, they lost those games, stumbled into the seventh seed and suffered an epic meltdown in the wild-card rematch at Chicago.

“I think it starts in practice,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “When we get late in practice and everybody’s tired or we have a down period where we might just be doing teams and some people are not going, when we go back out there finishing the period, making sure that we’re not taking anything for granted.”

The Packers will be counting on the painful lessons from last season leading to improved performances this season.

“I think there might have been a couple of times last year where we felt like the game was kind of good,” McKinney continued. “We didn’t really let off the pedal but I feel like we could have been a lot better in certain situations. But I think it starts in practice. The later the practice gets, still having that same energy, that same mentality of trying to execute perfectly toward the end as we do in the beginning, I think that will fix a lot of issues that we might have had last year.

“Obviously, we’re older, too, so we understand we can’t let off the pedal. We can’t think you’ve got it because you never know, you know what I mean? I think it all starts in practice.”

If those lessons carry over into the regular season, the Packers will be dangerous.

7. Better Special Teams

There is one major concern on special teams, and that’s with rookie kicker Trey Smack. He’ll be the key to everything.

If the Packers get the kicking situation figured out, there’s real optimism the special teams under new coordinator Cam Achord will be better than the underachieving units fielded by Rich Bisaccia.

The pieces are in place. Daniel Whelan is as good as it gets at punter. Skyy Moore will give the Packers the returner they lacked last season. Of the six players who had eight-plus tackles on special teams last season, five are back. Long snapper Matt Orzech and top gunner Bo Melton are back, too.

“It’s the attention to details,” Achord said. “It’s the can’t win til you keep from losing mindset. Don’t commit penalties. We’re not going to want to start our offense inside the 30-yard line ever. …

“I tell the guys we want to consistently hit singles. If you use a baseball analogy, we’re going to hit the singles, we’re going to hit the singles and then that pitcher’s going to groove one and we’re going to knock it out the park. So, it’s the consistent thing and doing those little things over and over and over. It starts with the fundamentals and the techniques.”

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