{"id":31930,"date":"2025-09-05T22:36:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T22:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=31930"},"modified":"2025-09-05T22:36:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T22:36:50","slug":"breaking-after-blockbuster-trade-the-green-bay-packers-face-great-challenge-to-start-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=31930","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING : After blockbuster trade, the Green Bay Packers face &#8216;great challenge&#8217; to start the season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25222513244288-e1757099842967.jpg\" alt=\"Football players in green and yellow uniforms enter the field from a tunnel, reaching out to high-five fans lined up along the entrance.\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After a disappointing playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in January, Green Bay Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst\u2019s message to his football team was that it needed to ramp up its \u201csense of urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s time that we start competing for championships,\u201d Gutekunst told reporters at his season-ending press conference.<\/p>\n<p>This offseason, the Packers general manager made a few aggressive moves aimed at getting the league\u2019s youngest team over the playoff hump. Green Bay drafted a wide receiver in the first round of the NFL draft for the first time in more than 20 years. And in a shocking move late last month, the team traded for Micah Parsons, widely considered one of the league\u2019s best pass rushers.<\/p>\n<p>Heading into the season, the Packers have the sixth-best odds to win the Super Bowl, according to sports-betting company Fanduel.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s team will get its first major test on Sunday when the Packers take on the division rival Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field. The Lions have won the NFC North division in each of the last two seasons and haven\u2019t lost at Lambeau since 2021.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve been the standard the last two seasons in this league, and I\u2019ve got a lot of respect for what they\u2019ve been able to accomplish,\u201d Packers head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters Wednesday. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a great challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Welcome back | Packers 2025 season trailer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/M8I3QnmQook?feature=oembed\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-jordan-love-preparing-for-third-season-as-starting-quarterback\">Jordan Love preparing for third season as starting quarterback<\/h2>\n<p>Aside from facing a division rival to kick off the season, Sunday also marks the start of Jordan Love\u2019s third season as the team\u2019s starting quarterback.<\/p>\n<p>Love has led Green Bay to the playoffs in both of his seasons as the starter. Last year, he missed two games early in the season with an MCL sprain and the Packers often struggled in big games.<\/p>\n<p>In August, the quarterback had surgery on his left thumb to address a ligament injury to his non-throwing hand that he sustained in the team\u2019s first preseason game. On Wednesday, Love told reporters the thumb injury is not \u201cmuch of an issue\u201d and he doesn\u2019t believe he will be limited by it.<\/p>\n<p>Sunday\u2019s game could have playoff implications. The Packers came in 3rd place in the NFC North last season and went 1-5 in divisional games.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur performance against every team in the NFC North wasn\u2019t good enough, wasn\u2019t up to our standards,\u201d Love said. \u201cThat\u2019s definitely something that\u2019s lingered with us throughout the offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25235769895218.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25235769895218.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25235769895218.jpg?width=768&amp;height=512&amp;fit=bounds 768w\" alt=\"After blockbuster trade, the Green Bay Packers face 'great challenge' to start the season\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><figcaption>Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) runs the ball against the Seattle Seahawks during a preseason NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis.<em> Jeffrey Phelps\/AP Photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Packers had the second-highest rate of dropped passes in the NFL last season at 6.9 percent, according to Pro Football Reference.<\/p>\n<p>First-round wide receiver Matthew Golden, set to make his regular season debut, hopes to help change that. Golden was listed as a starter on the Packers unofficial depth chart after several pass-catchers missed time during training camp and the preseason with injury.<\/p>\n<p>Golden told reporters this week that he feels he has a good grasp of the playbook and the chemistry he\u2019s built with Love is \u201cwhere it needs to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m definitely excited to be able to play for a quarterback like that, somebody that could put the ball anywhere in open space, no matter where the defender is,\u201d he said. \u201cIt definitely makes my job a lot easier.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-defense-was-a-team-strength-last-season-and-they-just-added-a-new-chess-piece\">Defense was a team strength last season, and they just added a new chess piece<\/h2>\n<p>After years of subpar and middle-of-the-road defenses, the Packers last season ranked 5th in total defense, led by defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, according to Fox Sports.<\/p>\n<p>The team welcomed all-pro safety Xavier McKinney to the roster last season, who led the team with eight interceptions. And this year, Hafley has another new chess piece in Parsons, who Green Bay acquired last week via a trade with the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n<p>Parsons has had at least 12 sacks in each of his first four seasons in the NFL. The only other player to do that is Hall of Famer Reggie White, who won Super Bowl 31 with the Packers.<\/p>\n<p>Parsons is dealing with a back injury and sat out of training camp during a contract dispute with the Cowboys. He told reporters this week he\u2019s been \u201cramping up\u201d after not playing football for six months. Whether he plays on Sunday, he says, will be \u201ccompletely up to the coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been trying to practice hard with the reps that they gave me on the ramp up, see what their plan is for me this game, and see how they were trying to unleash me,\u201d Parsons said.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25242005731752.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25242005731752.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25242005731752.jpg?width=768&amp;height=512&amp;fit=bounds 768w\" alt=\"After blockbuster trade, the Green Bay Packers face 'great challenge' to start the season\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><figcaption>Green Bay Packers pass rusher Micah Parsons speaks at his introductory news conference Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. <em>Morry Gash\/AP Photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In his introductory press conference last week, Parsons said he looks forward to adding to the \u201crich history\u201d of the Packers and said he felt \u201cgreat\u201d physically.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey didn\u2019t give up what they gave up for me to sit on the sidelines,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cI looked on that wall and I saw Brett Favre. I saw Reggie (White). I saw all those legends. And I was like, \u2018I gotta be there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hafley told reporters this week that he wouldn\u2019t reveal his plans for how to use Parsons, but he expects it to evolve over time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s all going to be gradual,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think it\u2019s anything that we need to rush into, but we need to get him caught up to speed as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Packers will face a quick turnaround after Sunday\u2019s game. They\u2019ve got a Thursday night contest against the Washington Commanders next up on the schedule.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year\u2019s team will get its first major test on Sunday when the Packers take on the division rival Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-bay-packers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING : After blockbuster trade, the Green Bay Packers face &#039;great challenge&#039; to start the season - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=31930\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING : After blockbuster trade, the Green Bay Packers face &#039;great challenge&#039; 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