GREEN BAY – The Packers' 2024 schedule is here…officially. Here are 10 things to know:
- Yes, Green Bay got a home game after the trip to Brazil.
While Matt LaFleur will have to wait at least one more year for his team to host a regular-season opener at Lambeau Field, the Packers are back in Titletown following their Week 1 showdown with Philadelphia in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
In Week 2, Green Bay will welcome the Indianapolis Colts for a noon CT game on Sept. 15. The Packers have won 11 consecutive home openers at Lambeau Field.
"We're excited. We're excited to have a plan for the season," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said. "The schedule's the schedule. Our mindset is we gotta be our best regardless of when we play, where we play, but we are excited to be able to map out our plan."
It has been six years since Green Bay last played at home in Week 1 and the 10th time in the last 12 seasons that the Packers have started the season as the road team. Green Bay is the only team in the NFL to open the season as the road team each of the last six years (2019-24). Coincidentally, the Eagles are the only other team that hasn't played at their home stadium in Week 1 in the 2020s.
- The schedule is heavy on noon starts early, primetime late.
Six of the Packers' first eight games have noon CT kickoffs, including their first four home contests against Indianapolis, Minnesota (Week 4), Arizona (Week 6) and Houston (Week 7).
"Yeah, our guys better wake up with their piss hot like I've said before. They gotta get ready to go," said LaFleur of the early starts. "I do think the preseason, we'll have an early kick game (against Baltimore on Aug. 24) to get those guys acclimated with that rhythm."
After the opener in Brazil, Green Bay won't play another primetime game until Thanksgiving against Miami at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 28. That contest begins a stretch of four consecutive night games, with the Packers playing in Detroit (7:15 p.m. on Dec. 5), traveling to Seattle (7:20 p.m. on Sun. 15), and hosting New Orleans for Monday Night Football at 7:15 p.m. on Dec. 23.
"That will definitely be a tough four-game stretch," said LaFleur, who doesn't believe he's ever coached a team with four primetime games in a row. "Going into the season, those are four teams that I think project to be very tough football teams. But it is nice to have two of those, at least, at home with San Francisco and then following it up with Miami on Thanksgiving, which is great to have a Thanksgiving night game in Lambeau."
- The Packers play at home on Thanksgiving for just the third time in 101 years.
When Green Bay hosts the Dolphins, it'll mark just the second time the Packers have hosted an opponent on Thanksgiving at Lambeau Field and third time overall in team history.
In 2015, Green Bay placed a request with the NFL to host the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving to commemorate the organization retiring Brett Favre's No. 4 at halftime. Chicago prevailed 17-13 in a rain-soaked affair. It remains the Bears' most recent win in Green Bay, as the Packers have since won the past eight meetings at Lambeau Field.
Green Bay's only other Thanksgiving home game came on Nov. 29, 1923, in a 19-0 victory over the Hammond Pros at Bellevue Park.
The Dolphins matchup marks the 38th time the Packers have played on Thanksgiving and the first time since 1962-63 that they've played on the holiday in back-to-back years after beating Detroit 29-22 in 2023.
- Dolphins game comes in midst of an interesting 12-day stretch.
The Packers will host the San Francisco 49ers at Lambeau Field for a 3:25 p.m. tilt on Nov. 24, four days before hosting the Dolphins on Thanksgiving.
That leads into a unique Thursday-to-Thursday swing for Green Bay, which plays in Detroit in Week 14.
"It'll be the first time in my career we've had back-to-back Thursday night games, so that'll be a new challenge for us," LaFleur said.
- Green Bay's bye comes smack dab in the middle of the season.
The Packers will break in Week 10 with their bye sandwiched between key division games at home against Detroit and at Chicago, the first meeting between Bears' No. 1 pick Caleb Williams and Green Bay.
"I think we're excited about that," LaFleur said. "You're never quite sure when the right time for a bye, although it does seem like it maps out pretty favorably for us."
It's been a mild rarity for Green Bay to get a true midseason break. Over the past 10 years, the Packers had early byes in 2023 (Week 6), 2020 (Week 5), 2018 (Week 7), and 2016 (Week 4), and the NFL's latest byes in 2022 (Week 14) and 2021 (Week 13).
- Lambeau Field plays host to an historic regular-season finale vs. Bears.
There aren't many firsts anymore in the legendary Packers-Bears rivalry, but this year marks the first time Green Bay has hosted Chicago at home in consecutive regular-season finales.
The Packers turned back the Bears, 17-9, in last year's regular-season finale to punch their ticket back to the postseason.
Even if you remove the home qualifier, you have to go all the way back to 1932-33 for the last time the Packers played the Bears in back-to-back regular-season finales (at Chicago, then in Green Bay). It's the first time Green Bay has closed the regular season at home in back-to-back years since 2014-15.
- Packers welcome C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans in Week 7.
Among those early noon games is Green Bay's first meeting with the NFL's reigning offensive rookie of the year.
Playing behind first-time NFL starting quarterbacks, the Packers and Texans were two of the league's most improved teams last season. Stroud, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, threw for 4,108 yards with 23 touchdowns and five INTs.
- Green Bay won't be away from home for long.
The Packers' schedule flips between home and away games regularly, with primetime December matchups against Detroit and Seattle representing the only back-to-back road games on this year's schedule.
- This year's gold package features three NFC North matchups
Since Green Bay plays only one home preseason game this year, the ninth regular-season home game – against Chicago in Week 18 – is part of this year's gold-package rotation.
As usual, the second and fifth home games are part of the gold package (vs. Minnesota on Sept. 29 and vs. Detroit on Nov. 3).
- Green Bay opens the preseason with back-to-back road trips.
The Packers play in Cleveland and Denver before returning to Lambeau Field to host Baltimore. The preseason contests against the Browns and Ravens are both afternoon affairs.
Ahead of the 2024 football season, the Green Bay Packers are offering fans a whole new way to plan unforgettable trips to home and away games with Packers Travel, a BookSeats Experience. A one-stop shop aimed at meeting Packers fans' hospitality and travel needs, Packers Travel, gives fans the freedom of choice on hotel, dates, and discounted rates for custom travel packages. Fans can learn more and build a travel package at https://packers.bookseats.com/.
