Packers Game-by-Game Predictions and Impact of Micah Parsons

It’s time to look into our crystal balls.

The NFL season is under way with two games to whet our appetites, followed by a full slate of games on Sunday. One of the biggest matchups of the week will be contested at Lambeau Field between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.

The Lions have won three in a row at Lambeau. Some revenge could kick-start Green Bay into a fast start. That’s exactly what we are predicting.

Here are more thoughts on Week 1, every other game and why we changed our mind on this team’s potential fortunes.

Week 1: Detroit Lions

If there ever is a statement that can be made in the first week of the season, it’s the Packers and Lions at Lambeau Field.

The Packers were awful against the NFC North a season ago, finishing 1-5. They were even worse against the NFC’s top teams, finishing 0-6. This game will have plenty of juice. It’s two teams that don’t like each other, and the Packers are debuting a shiny new toy with Micah Parsons expected to make his debut.

What better way to bury last year’s disappointment than by beating the Lions in the first game of the season on their home turf? That’s exactly what they’re going to do.

Prediction: Win (1-0)

Week 2: Washington Commanders

There’s no rest for the weary, as the Packers will face a Washington team that was in the NFC title game a season ago.

Quarterback Jayden Daniels is great and coach Dan Quinn is a good defensive mind, but the Commanders are a team that could be looking at regression this season after finishing 7-2 in one-score games last season. They also have the oldest rosters in football, which could be an issue coming off a short week.

Prediction: Win (2-0)

Week 3: at Cleveland Browns

There are no layups in the NFL, but this is a game that the Packers should be able to roll. The Browns are a mess at quarterback with journeyman Joe Flacco set to start the season. He’s backed up by two rookies, both of whom could start by the time the season is over.

Cleveland’s defense has some great players, notably All-Pro pass rusher Myles Garrett, but the Packers should be able to handle the Browns in their first road game of the season.

Prediction: Win (3-0)

Week 4: at Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay against Dallas is always a game that is going to garner a lot of eyeballs. With a bitter divorce between Micah Parsons and the Cowboys, this game will have even more juice.

Even without Parsons, the Cowboys showed they are a good team in their season-opening loss at the Eagles. Their offense has a lot of talent, especially in the passing game with Dak Prescott throwing to receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.

This game will be close, but the Packers always win in Dallas, and they will again to complete a perfect September.

Prediction: Win (4-0)

Week 6: Cincinnati Bengals

Did Green Bay have enough of a pass rush to affect Joe Burrow prior to the Micah Parsons trade? Maybe not. By now, Parsons should be fully incorporated into the defense. Coming off their bye, the Packers might even have some new wrinkles for this game, in which getting pressure with that revamped front four will be paramount.

Burrow and his group of receivers will score points, but Cincinnati’s defense is absolutely atrocious and didn’t look much better in preseason play. It’s hard to have much confidence in Cincinnati’s defense to stop any offense that is competent.

Prediction: Win (5-0)

Week 7: at Arizona Cardinals

The Packers were not going to go 17-0, and Arizona has been a tough place for them to play, even with the number of Packers fans in attendance.

The Cardinals have enough weapons on offense to be able to score with Green Bay’s offense. Defensively, the Cardinals added Josh Sweat to their pass rush. After a hot start, the Packers will drop their first one of the year.

Prediction: Loss (5-1)

Week 8: at Pittsburgh Steelers

Aaron Rodgers versus Jordan Love. The master versus the apprentice.

This isn’t quite Brett Favre versus Green Bay, because Rodgers does not have near the animosity for the Packers organization that Favre harbored during his time in Minnesota. Still, Rodgers will want to stick to his old team that drafted his replacement in lieu of adding a player who could have helped Rodgers and the Packers return to the Super Bowl.

This is a matchup in which Green Bay’s pass rush should be able to take over a game. Rodgers does not move like he used to. Pittsburgh’s offensive line is a question mark.

While the Steelers’ defense is one of the best in football, Green Bay can attack them in more ways than the Steelers can attack Green Bay’s. Look for the Packers to win a defensive slugfest.

Prediction: Win (6-1)

Week 9: Carolina Panthers

The Panthers are improving, but not enough. This is a game in which Carolina should be overmatched.

Prediction: Win (7-1)

Week 10: Philadelphia Eagles

The NFL schedule-makers did the Packers no favors in scheduling this Monday night game after the Eagles’ bye week.

The Eagles also have a chip on their shoulder after Green Bay’s proposal to ban their famed tush push. (Never mind that the NFL was the driving force.) The Eagles’ roster is loaded, especially on offense. The Packers will need to prove they can beat the big boys, but they will not this time around.

Prediction: Loss (7-2)

Week 11: at New York Giants

The Packers will hit the road on a short week to face the Giants, who should be greatly improved.

Russell Wilson or Jaxson Dart are better than anything the Giants had at quarterback last season. Meanwhile, the Giants’ pass rush could be vicious with the addition of Abdul Carter to Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns.

The Giants match up well enough with Green Bay to exploit some weaknesses of a team that could be beat up coming off a short week against a physical team.

Prediction: Loss (7-3)

Week 12: Minnesota Vikings

This will mark J.J. McCarthy’s first start in Green Bay. McCarthy was the Vikings’ first-round pick in 2024. After Sam Darnold played at an MVP level for most of the season, they let him go in free agency and handed the keys to the offense to McCarthy.

Minnesota has done well in Green Bay since Kevin O’Connell took over as coach, winning the last two at Lambeau Field, but this time the Packers protect their home turf.

Prediction: Win (8-3)

Week 13: at Detroit Lions (Thanksgiving)

Ford Field has not been kind to the Packers. They won on Thanksgiving in 2023, but have not won there since 2020 otherwise. The Lions will be juiced up to avenge a loss from earlier in the season, and the fast track and deafening noise bode well for them in the rematch.

Prediction: Loss (8-4)

Week 14: Chicago Bears

Chicago won at Lambeau Field for the first time since the Obama administration last year. That feels like a joke, but it isn’t.

Chicago should be improved this season, but the Packers did essentially treat last year’s season finale like a de-facto preseason game. Caleb Williams has some things to prove and may take some time to adjust to his new head coach, Ben Johnson. Williams was horrible when under pressure last season, and the Packers should be able to bring plenty of it with Micah Parsons.

Prediction: Win (9-4)

Week 15: at Denver Broncos

The Packers haven’t won in Denver since Brett Favre was the quarterback, which includes really ugly losses in 2015 and in 2023, Jordan Love’s debut season as quarterback.

Denver’s defense is loaded and may stake claim as the best defense in football when the season is over. Their offense led by Bo Nix was good last year and might be even better this season. This is a tough game in an even tougher environment. It’s hard to see Green Bay winning this one.

Prediction: Loss (9-5)

Week 16: at Chicago Bears

Last year at Soldier Field, the Packers had to survive a late field-goal attempt by Cairo Santos. Luckily for the Packers, Karl Brooks’ finger got in the way to preserve a 20-19 win.

This game should be competitive. Chicago could be fighting for its playoff lives because of an improved roster and coaching staff. The question here is which quarterback do you trust more. Based on what we’ve seen so far, the answer is Jordan Love.

Prediction: Win (10-5)

Week 17: Baltimore Ravens

This game should be one of the best ones on the late-season schedule. Two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson and his Ravens will be chasing to top seed in the AFC. Ditto for Jordan Love and his Packers.

In 2024, Josh Jacobs and Derrick Henry were part of a free-agent class of running backs headlined by Saquon Barkley who switched teams and made major impacts. Much like Jacobs in Green Bay, Henry in Baltimore was a perfect fit.

On the other side of the ball, Jaire Alexander will make his return to Green Bay. Even if he’s healthy, he won’t get the last laugh. The Packers will win a thriller.

Prediction: Win (11-5)

Week 18: at Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota will be playing for its playoff life in the final game of the regular season while the Packers will be playing for seeding.

Green Bay’s pass rush on a fast track could play a pivotal role in Green Bay sweeping the Vikings for the first time since the 2019 season.

Prediction: Win (12-5, NFC North champions)

NFC Playoffs: Packers Earn No. 2 Seed

Here are the NFC playoff seeds: 1, Philadelphia Eagles; 2, Green Bay Packers; 3, Los Angeles Rams; 4, Tampa Bay Buccaneers; 5, Detroit Lions; 6, San Francisco 49ers; 7, Minnesota Vikings.

Wild Card Round: Packers over Vikings; Rams over 49ers; Lions over Bucs.

Divisional Round: Eagles over Lions; Packers over Rams.

NFC Championship: Eagles over Packers.

Analysis: The Packers will win the division as the NFC North piles three teams into the playoff field again but will just miss out on homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

In the wild-card matchup, the Vikings are good but will be overmatched in this scenario with what is in essence a rookie quarterback starting.

That sets up a divisional-round matchup against the Rams. Sean McVay is a great coach and Matthew Stafford is a great quarterback, but Lambeau Field has been a house of horrors for both men since McVay arrived in Los Angeles.

Ultimately, the Packers will fall just short of the Super Bowl in a rematch from last year’s playoffs. While the Packers have made drastic improvements to their roster, the Eagles’ experience and championship fortitude wins out as the Packers’ championship drought extends to 15 years.

AFC Playoffs

Here are the AFC playoff seeds: 1, Kansas City Chiefs; 2, Buffalo Bills; 3, Baltimore Ravens; 4, Houston Texans; 5, Denver Broncos; 6, Los Angeles Chargers; 7, Pittsburgh Steelers.

Wild Card Round: Steelers over Bills; Ravens over Chargers; Broncos over Texans.

Divisional Round: Chiefs over Steelers; Ravens over Broncos.

AFC Championship Game: Ravens over Chiefs.

Analysis: The big upset here would be Aaron Rodgers having one final moment of magic left in him, flying into Buffalo and knocking Josh Allen and the Bills out of the playoffs.

Rodgers might have enough magic to win one playoff game, but two is likely too much to ask from what will be a 41-year-old quarterback going against Patrick Mahomes.

There won’t be a storybook ending for Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, though. The Ravens finally get over the hump and knock the Chiefs out before the Super Bowl for the first time since the Bengals did so in 2022.

Super Bowl: Ravens over Eagles

The Ravens facing off against the Eagles would pit two of the NFL’s best rosters against each other, and two of the best running backs with Derrick Henry facing Saquon Barkley.

The Ravens have had one of the best rosters in football for multiple years. John Harbaugh is a good coach and Lamar Jackson easily could have won last year’s MVP award. At some point, it has to happen for one of these non-Mahomes quarterbacks in the AFC.

The Impact Micah Parsons on Packers

The Packers’ acquisition of Micah Parsons cannot be understated. The ceiling of Green Bay’s defense without him was the potential to be very good. Now, the potential is to be the best in the NFL. That’s not to say they’ll reach that spot. There are a lot of factors that go into whether they could reach that elite status, such as injuries and inconsistency.

What Parsons does is give them the chance of having a great player at each level of the defense. Xavier McKinney is coming off an All-Pro season at safety. Linebacker Edgerrin Cooper looks every bit like a potential star and should not be held back by the coaching staff this year as he has better knowledge of the defense. What they were missing was a dominant defender up front. Parsons is that, and he should make players like Devonte Wyatt, Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness better simply by existing.

That shift on defense is dramatic because the offense could go through some growing pains early in the season due to the training camp injuries to Jordan Love and the receivers.

Prior to the acquisition of Parsons, my thinking was that the Packers could border on missing the playoffs, which would be a dramatic disappointment after making it each of the last two years. There were simply too many questions to answer, starting with whether or not they had enough great players.

Parsons gives them the chance not only to have a great player, which he is, but for him to turn some of his teammates into great players. That’ll be the difference between clawing to make the playoffs versus being legitimate Super Bowl contenders.