Green Bay Packers schedule 2023: Prime-time games aplenty even without Aaron Rodgers

Those of you who thought the Packers would fall out of the national television spotlight because future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers is gone, think again.

The league dealt Green Bay five prime-time games for the 2023 season: two Monday night games, two Sunday night games and a Thursday nighter. The Packers will also play on Thanksgiving Day for the first time since 2015 and the first time on the road on Thanksgiving since 2013. This year, they play in Detroit on Turkey Day for an 11:30 a.m. CT kickoff.

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Here’s the full breakdown of the Packers’ schedule, complete with Week 1 keys to victory, a must-watch game, the toughest stretch and more.

Packers 2023 schedule

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Week 1 keys to victory

The Packers play the Bears in Week 1, so the primary key to victory is simply to show up. I kid. It’ll be fascinating to see if new starting quarterback Jordan Love can carry on the success Rodgers had against the Bears, as the Packers were 24-5 against them with Rodgers at the helm. For Love, the key to starting 1-0 will be protecting the football. He emphasized Wednesday the importance of learning to simply find completions instead of “take those big shots or force the ball into areas” that his arm is probably capable of when they’re not readily available.

Must-watch game: at Raiders, Week 5

It’s “Monday Night Football” in Las Vegas — that’s must-watch material already. Add in the element of Davante Adams facing his longtime former team for the first time and this game becomes even more enticing. Adams played eight seasons for the Packers, rising from beleaguered youngster struggling with drops to the NFL’s best wide receiver before they traded him to the Raiders in March 2022. Packers All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander had many a training camp battle with Adams, and we should get the treat of a few more in prime time in Sin City.

Aaron Rodgers has said for a while that Charles Woodson is the best player he's played with.

Rodgers just said Davante Adams is now the best player he's played with.

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) December 26, 2021

Toughest stretch: Weeks 11 through 14

On paper, the Packers have a relatively easy schedule if we’re going off how their opponents performed last season. Green Bay doesn’t face a 2022 playoff team until Week 8, when the division-rival Vikings come to Lambeau Field. The toughest stretch is probably Weeks 11 through 14, when the Packers host the Chargers, visit the upstart Lions on Thanksgiving, host the defending champion Chiefs on Sunday Night Football and visit the Giants on Monday Night Football. That’s three straight weeks in which the Packers will be the only game going, and all four games are against solid opponents.

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Game that has gotten tougher: vs. Lions, Week 4

The Packers, and especially their fans, can’t look at the Lions on the schedule and automatically Sharpie in a win anymore. Detroit beat Green Bay twice last season, including at Lambeau Field in Week 18 to eliminate the Packers from playoff contention after they had won four straight games to keep their hopes alive. This year’s first matchup with the Fightin’ Dan Campbells comes in Week 4 in Green Bay on Thursday Night Football. Lions quarterback Jared Goff proved last year he’s not washed up just yet.

New Packers mailbag is out. Among the topics…

• Tom Clements staying for Jordan Love
• Why the Packers aren’t rebuilding
• Guesses for new captains
• Impact rookies
• Adrian Amos still in play?

And plenty more: https://t.co/CQcuJ6Tsu3

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) May 10, 2023

One game Packers can’t afford to lose: at Bears, Week 1

The Packers haven’t lost to the Bears since their second matchup in the 2018 season, in which Chicago eliminated Green Bay from playoff contention with a 24-17 win. Since then, the Packers have won eight consecutive games against the Bears to keep Matt LaFleur undefeated against Green Bay’s biggest rival as the head coach. If the Packers lose the first game of the Love era to the Bears, the noise from Chicago will be deafening. What better way to maintain order in the rivalry and for the first-year starter to silence any doubt, at least for one week, than winning in Chicago.

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Aaron Rodgers to Bears fans during Packers' win in Chicago: 'I own you'

Best offense Packers will face: Chiefs, Week 13

They’re the Super Bowl champions, plain and simple. The Chiefs led the NFL in points per game (29.2) last season, then they marched on to win their second Lombardi Trophy in Patrick Mahomes’ five years as a starter. Kansas City lost Mecole Hardman and JuJu Smith-Schuster this offseason, but they still have Mahomes and arguably the best tight end in NFL history in Travis Kelce, along with former Packers wideout Marquez Valdes-Scantling and promising young pieces in receiver Kadarius Toney and running back Isiah Pacheco. Defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s D might be in for a long Sunday night.

Best defense Packers will face: Steelers, Week 10

The Packers have only two games this season against top-10 scoring defenses from 2022, the Saints (ninth) in Week 3 at Lambeau Field and the Steelers (tied for 10th) in Pittsburgh in Week 10. We’ll go with the Steelers having the toughest defense of any Packers opponent in 2023, if only because they tied for the most interceptions in the NFL last season with 20 and the Packers have a new starting quarterback. Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick might be licking his chops before that one.

Predicted record: 10-7

We can’t know yet whether Love will be the next long-term quarterback in Green Bay, but I don’t think he’ll drag the Packers down in 2023, at the very least. Green Bay has a favorable schedule on paper, talent and experience on the offensive line and at running back, promising young players at wide receiver and tight end, and a defense stocked with first-round picks that can’t underachieve as much as it did last season, right? There’s no reason that can’t equate to 10 wins and a playoff berth, barring injuries.

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Predicted NFC North finish: 2nd

I’ll go Vikings, Packers, Lions and Bears, in that order. You can make a case the first two teams will be worse, with the Vikings regressing to the mean after all those close wins and the Packers falling while trotting out a new starter, and that the last two teams will be better because of what they’ve done this offseason. I’ll go slightly against the grain here and say the division stays true to recent form and that the Packers earn a wild-card berth.

(Photo: Jasen Vinlove / USA Today)

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