Will Packers Finally Open a Season at Home?
When the NFL schedule is released on Wednesday, will the Packers host a Week 1 game at Lambeau Field for the first time since 2018?
There was a time when the Green Bay Packers always opened the season at home. From 1986 until 2009, the Packers opened at home 21 out of 24 seasons. The Packers had two very long streaks of hosting games to start the season. From 1986 to 1995, and then 1997 to 2003, the Packers played Week 1 at home.
However, since 2010 it has been more likely for the Packers to open the season away from Lambeau Field. The Packers have opened the season at home just four times in the last 15 years.
The #Packers' 2025 opponents are finalized...
As part of the rotation, they'll travel to third-place finishers in AFC West (Denver) and NFC West (Arizona), and host NFC South's Carolina.https://t.co/My6kSneL7v
— Weston Hodkiewicz (@WesHod) January 5, 2025
One thing the last six Packers home openers have in common is they were all games played on national TV. In 2008, the Minnesota game was on Monday Night Football, in both 2009 and 2018, the Packers and Bears played the Sunday Night Football opener.
As the defending Super Bowl in 2011, the Packers hosted the Saints on Thursday Night Football. It was the first time since 2000 that the two previous Super Bowl champions played in Week 1 (Rams vs. Broncos).
And in both 2012 and 2017, the Packers played on FOX in the late doubleheader window playing the 49ers and the Seahawks, respectively.
| Year | Opponent | Result | TV |
| 2008 | Minnesota | W 24-19 | ESPN |
| 2009 | Chicago | W 21-15 | NBC |
| 2011 | New Orleans | W 42-34 | NBC |
| 2012 | San Francisco | L 22-30 | FOX |
| 2017 | Seattle | W 17-9 | FOX |
| 2018 | Chicago | W 24-23 | NBC |
Will the Packers open at home for the first time under Matt LaFleur? There are some intriguing options for the league to pick from. The Packers home opponents this year are: Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Carolina.
The Eagles can be eliminated since they will start the season in the Thursday Night opener as the defending Super Bowl champions.
An NFC North tilt in one of the national TV windows would make a lot of sense. Having the Packers host one of their division rivals at home to start the year has been a popular pick by the NFL’s schedule makers the past 30 or so years.
Week 1 Home Matchups since 1990
| NFC North Team | Years |
| Chicago | 1997, 2006, 2009, 2018 |
| Detroit | 1998, 2001 |
| Minnesota | 1992, 1994, 2003, 2008 |
If the Lions are not the choice to open the season in Philadelphia, having them play the Packers would be a great TV match-up for Week 1. The Packers have only opened a season once at Ford Field, which was in 2005. The Lions have won three straight times at Lambeau Field, which seems unheard of after they failed to win in Wisconsin from 1992 to 2014.
Today in 1998: LeRoy Butler's 32-yard fumble return TD and two Favre-to-Freeman scoring connections lift Packers to 38-19 opening-day win over Lions.
In the second half, Detroit's Terry Fair ends 3Q with a 101-yard KR TD, while Roell Preston begins 4Q with a 100-yard KR TD. pic.twitter.com/9NqgppM3Lg
— Packers History (@HistoricPackers) September 6, 2023
A couple dark-horse choices for Week 1 games would be either the Ravens or Bengals coming to Lambeau Field. In some years both CBS and FOX have had doubleheader games in the 4:25 PM Eastern time window, and they both do, a game between the Packers and one of the two AFC North powers would be very intriguing. Pitting Jordan Love against either Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow would be must-see-TV.
Taking a closer look at Green Bay Packers 2025 opponents https://t.co/aku6HTnOuh pic.twitter.com/NH8njodaIV
— The Packers Wire (@ThePackersWire) May 7, 2025
Taking a Closer Look at the 20025 Opponents- Packerswire.usatoday.com
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Mitch McLaughlin is a Packers fan and shareholder residing in Sacramento, California. He will be writing Packers stories each week on Cheesehead TV. He can be found on Twitter: @McLaughlinMitch
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Comments (18)
LLCHESTY
May 11, 2025 at 01:36 pm
Much rather have an extra home game in the last five weeks of the season than week 1. Besides the league trying to avoid Florida games the 1st couple weeks of the season, or at least making them night games, I would hope it's pretty random.
Spock
May 11, 2025 at 01:46 pm
The Packers have been slow starters in recent years. Regardless of whether they get a home game or not (I think they will) I just hope they play less like it's still a "warm-up" game (extended pre-season) and with more purpose this year!
Off subject: It's been driving me nuts (some would say I'm already there) when I'm trying to type a comment and the AI keeps finishing my words with the wrong ones and then I lose what little train of thought I had going. All this AI "help" is NOT what I want. Anyways, I spent some time this morning trying to get rid of that damnable "Co-pilot" and finally was successful! I'm using Microsoft edge on Windows 10. FINDING where MS hide the Co-pilot and text altering stuff took a while. Here's what worked for me: Click on the three dots at the right of your screen and choose "Settings". If you don't see the left sidebar information you may have to reduce your screen size to pop it up. When you get that Settings side bar click on "Languages". This brings up the option for English. Below that is a text box for "Writing assistance" There you can turn OFF (blue is ON, White is OFF) the "Use Copilot for writing on the web" button and the "Use text Prediction" (THAT'S the *&^%^& one I was looking for!). Now I found where the whole (alleged "Handy Feature") "Copilot" is located. Under the Settings area where you found "Languages" is a seemingly harmless setting called "Appearance". THAT'S where MS is hiding the "Copilot" on/off button!! When you click on "Appearance" there will be some pretty looking color themes shown. Scroll way, way, way down and you will find "Copilot and sidebar" hidden amongst the "Fonts" and "Tabs" options. Click on the arrow to the right of this and "Voila!" there is finally (the bottom of the page, of course) the "Copilot" option. Click on the arrow to the right and NOW you can TURN OFF (at least seeing) that annoying Copilot pop-up that pops up on seemingly everything you open on the internet these days. Hope this is useful to all this Mother's Day. I also uninstalled an AI app from my programs in Control Panel, but I'm not sure if that was needed. GPG!
TarynsEyes
May 11, 2025 at 02:26 pm
Careful, the people who want to indoctrinate all into allowing them to think and speak for you will be upset. AI is nothing more than a means to allow the weak-minded to let it do what they want for you.
Congrats are being a free thinker and for disabling a system used to dictate how you do/say/think about everything.
There was a song back in the very late 60's, 69 I guess, called In The Year 2525 and here is a line from that song, as it lends a truth to the AI and more that is coming, perhaps a total ban on free-thinking since free-speech is almost eradicated.
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie
Everything you think, do and say
Is in the pill you took today
I hope I'm not around for it, and I sure don't have sympathy for the generations that seem to want it to be a reality.
Spock
May 12, 2025 at 03:05 am
Taryn, I remember the song well. You gotta love when you open a story on the internet and the AI says it can "summarize" the story for you! I'll make my own decision on what I think of the story, thank you. This AI "algorithm" driven news stuff isn't just annoying; it is meant to send the reader down advertising driven rabbit holes. I agree with you that this is not a future I'm liking right now.
Since'61
May 12, 2025 at 09:01 am
Spock, Taryn is correct. It's only going to get worse and more invasive. I avoid it at all costs and will continue to do so for as long as I can. GPG! Thanks, Since '61
Bitternotsour
May 12, 2025 at 09:34 am
AI is a tool. Some clung to horses and buggies, some resisted electricity, AI, like a search engine is simply a time saving tool. I use it every day, it has saved countless hours for me doing historic research on investments, rewriting my will, crafting simple sympathy notes and thank you's. Technological advances are not without hiccups, but can you imagine a world where you couldn't google something you were curious about (like say who was on the roster in 2014 at tight end), where you couldn't check youtube for a tutorial on assembling or repairing a piece of equipment, or for the users like NLFfan to learn what and where a clitoris is.
Reject if you will, but CoPilot has been really valuable to me, so too ChatGPT. Eventually you'll be having a conversation with your computer when you want to research something and you'll be able to search deeper if you develop some fundamental understanding of how to use the tool and ask it better questions. Hell, you can even ask it what better questions you might consider asking...
Spock
May 12, 2025 at 10:03 am
Bitter, I'm fine with using it as a tool, just not being FORCED to use it which is darn near what's happening. While checking forums to see how to get rid of Copilot one of the chats included a guy who asked if it would be "nice" to him. It replied, "I'm always nice to you AS LONG AS YOU DO WHAT I TELL YOU" (caps are mine). I'm no Luddite, but some technology I see as bad. The ubiquitous cell phones have created a society where people barely speak to each other (especially the younger generations) and politeness is nearly to the point of disappearing. My hands are very arthritic, yet it seems a law must have passed that I missed since Texting is forced on us everywhere. The computers should be self-aware within the next few years (if some aren't already) and this "Tool" seems closer to Skynet than Robbie the robot. Our condo association management is now putting an AI interface into our help line to the front office meaning I'll have to waste time like most of do trying to get through to an actual human who (hopefully) gives a shit about us. We've all spent hours of our life trying to get through a barrage of "helpful" FAQ'S that we'd love to ignore. My workaround this is to speak nonsense into the phone in an increasingly louder voice to get the pre-programmed answering device to see that nothing matches the "expected" response by the customer so it "gives up" if you will and transfers me to a living breathing human. THIS is the kind of thing that is coming more and more. I'm glad you find the AI stuff useful in your work.
Packerpasty
May 11, 2025 at 08:03 pm
If the Steelers have Rodgers at QB then the NFL would love to have the Packers open up the season at Pittsburg I bet...but I hope they finally get a home game..
T7Steve
May 12, 2025 at 06:23 am
I would love a home opener, but not in a season where they have nine away games. There'd be a chance they'd have 3 away games in a row with maybe a Thursday, or a Monday game mixed in.
NickPerry
May 12, 2025 at 06:30 am
The NFL seems to like to do that with the Packers. Maybe it hasn't happened in the last few years (I'd have to check) but it used to happen ALL the time. Or at least it seemed it did. I'm with Steve here...Let them open on the road so hopefully there's more home games in December/January.
T7Steve
May 12, 2025 at 06:37 am
Yes, have a week 1 home opener in a season when you have 9 home games. Wouldn't be surprised if the NFL in their infinite wisdom, hasn't figured that out already.
Leatherhead
May 12, 2025 at 08:20 am
I like the opener on the road, followed by the home opener. It's like two openers.
LeotisHarris
May 12, 2025 at 08:38 am
Exactly! Like playing your high school homecoming game on the road, then coming home for homecoming.
Leatherhead
May 12, 2025 at 01:47 pm
My high school football team was so bad that we were everybody's homecoming opponent. Opponent's were willing to play their homecoming game on our field.
jont
May 12, 2025 at 01:16 pm
Everyone has a pet peeve and this is mine.
The home opener should be an every-other-year thing for every team so that each team's fans get to enjoy the opening opening kick-off. Opening day is a big event, and Lambeau fans should get our share of home openers but the NFL rarely (if ever) puts fans first. Fans who lay out real money for the full stadium show simply do not matter to the NFL as much as TV ratings; the Packers will draw an audience so send them to Brazil and screw the small market.
Starrbrite
May 16, 2025 at 11:18 pm
Agree—farming out a national pastime is for me, very irritating.
Send the foreigners the NBA, WNBA, or MLB, but not this.
Brewcity_BearsFan
May 12, 2025 at 04:44 pm
Not sure about opening, but I am guessing they will close at home. Just dropped Packers at Bears week 16 on Saturday. My guess is GB will host Detroit week 17, while Chicago will be at Minnesota.
coolhand
May 12, 2025 at 05:27 pm
The most interesting opponent is the Steelers on the road. Will ARod be their QB? That would be an interesting meeting.