When coaches look at the schedule for the upcoming season, they often have marquis games that get “circled” but coaches also like to break the season down in terms of “quarters”. A sixteen game season has four quarters and the Packers’ season will definitely be a tough one.
Marquis games start with winning the NFC North battles of course but the Packers will likely have less of a struggle against the Bears than against the Seahawks, Broncos, and Cardinals. Let’s take a look at the 2015 season, quarter by quarter.
Quarter 1: A Fast Start?
Much has been said about how the Packers want to start fast this year over against their seemingly perpetual 1-2 season starts of the past. This year the Packers’ first quarter of the season could be a challenge not just because they have historically struggled to get off to a fast start. The Packers start the year against the Bears who have retooled their coaching staff/GM and are looking to improve their defense. If Jay Cutler can limit his interceptions, he will be a dangerous quarterback against a young Packers backfield.
But the Seahawks are the team that Packers fans want to see go down. And the Pack gets them at Lambeau for a change so this should be a good game. Game two of the 2015 season could very well be a benchmark for where this team is really at. With the addition of Jimmy Graham, the ‘Hawks will put pressure and try to create matchups against the Packers linebackers which will show quickly whether the Packers changes at ILB and the players they kept have paid off.
The road doesn’t get any easier from there though as the Packers get to take on the Chiefs at Lambeau too. The 49’ers seem like a team in transition but they also have been a bit of a bugaboo for the Packers, especially in the playoffs. The NFC West in particular has been troublesome for the Packers and this year’s schedule has the entire NFC North head-to-head with the NFC West so how the Packers and their NFC North rivals fare against the NFC West will be a big factor in who is successful this year.
Quarter 2: The BYE comes at the right time
The Packers then have home games against tough opponents the beginning of the second quarter. The Rams’ defense is going to be one of those that can actually challenge the Packers offense but I don’t think their offense can score enough points to win that game. But it will be a tough one. The second game at home with the Chargers will be one that the Packers want to take going into their bye week. But the Chargers have inked Philip Rivers to a new deal and certainly would get a boost if they could take down the Packers at Lambeau. The Chargers likely have the Packer game circled as one of their marquis matchups.
The bye week in week 7 comes at a good time and the Packers will have extra time to prepare for the game at the Broncos which is important to me. Watch out for this Broncos team, I’ve watched them…they are going to be good this year. The Packers cannot afford to come back out of sync after the bye, they need to get healthy and rested to handle the thin air at Mile High Stadium.
The Carolina Panthers just got word that they lost Kelvin Benjamin for the season and this will be very difficult for the Panters to overcome. They are not loaded with young talent like the Packers but again…this is an away game and one that the Packers can’t afford to stumble on. If they win in a close game against the Broncos…watch out for this to be a trap game coming back the next week.
Quarter 3: The NFC North quarter
Quarter three is a critical one for the Packers. They play away at the Lions and Vikings, have both of their games against the Lions with the Bears at Lambeau in there too. For the playoffs, this quarter could be the most important of all. If the Packers run the table in quarter three, they will likely have their destiny in their own hands heading toward the playoffs. On the other hand, our NFC North rivals will be gunning for the Champs hoping to position themselves to go into quarter four with a legitimate chance to punch their ticket to the playoffs. A lot of people are touting the Vikings and there is reason to beware. The Vikings defense is going to be tough and Teddy Bridgewater came on strong at the end of the season and has looked good so far this preseason. The return of Adrian Peterson is to me the wildcard that makes me think that the Vikings may very well be the toughest competition that the Packers have in the North in 2015. But I have also kept a close eye on the Lions and I do not think the loss of Ndomokong Suh is going to amount to as much of a defensive dropoff as I did before I watched the team play. The Lions are down but not out.
Quarter 4: Time to shine
When December rolls around, the Packers had better be healthy. They take on the Cowboys in what will be billed as a rematch for the Dez Bryant no-catch that has been pissed and moaned about more than any other by-rule incomplete pass since Calvin Johnson was called incomplete for the same reason in the year the rule was implemented. I am just glad that Packers receivers know the definition of a catch in the NFL and how it applies on the field, I wouldn’t want to have to take up for crybabies who don’t know the rules of the very position that they get paid millions to play. By this point in the season, we will have a good idea of whether the success of the Cowboy’s run game last year had more to do with the running back or the offensive line.
The Packers’ game against the Raiders, to me, is the classic trap game of the whole season. Very easy to overlook…don’t do it. Take care of business here and we can look to what could be the toughest matchup of the whole season. This away game against the Cardinals is going to be a beastly affair. This team made the playoffs last season with their third string quarterback. Now with Carson Palmer back and that defense, this game could be a very difficult one in that the Packers have to travel. Red-circle game…period.
And to finish up the season, as always, the Packers will have a division rivalry game. Of course this is where the Minnesota Vikings will have a chance to show that they are for real. A lot will depend on how the teams are positioned at this point but when the league changed the scheduling to include division rivalries for every last game of the season…they got it right. Remember Randall Cobb and the Bears game a couple years back? How about the Lions game last year? If Aaron Rodgers had not been able to come back…well, let’s not think about that. I expect the Vikings game to be another critical season finale to end a critical 4th quarter of 2015.
So those are some of my thoughts quarter by quarter…what quarter of the 2015 season do you think will be the toughest for the Packers in 2015? Let us know in the poll below: