Ready for prime time — again: More marquee games in 2024 for Packers (2024)

GREEN BAY — If the Green Bay Packers’ 2024 season schedule proves anything, it’s that the NFL’s television partners have no doubts that the historic franchise will continue to bring lots of eyeballs to their broadcast and streaming platforms — and that they don’t think quarterback Jordan Love’s second-half hot streak was some sort of fluke.

Already set to open the season on a Friday night — on September 6 against the Philadelphia Eagles in Sao Paulo, Brazil — the remainder of the Packers’ schedule became public Wednesday evening with the NFL’s annual release party, and it features plenty more prime-time exposure, and all of it crammed into a four-week stretch:

A December 23 matchup with the New Orleans Saints at Lambeau on “Monday Night Football;”

All told, the Packers’ 17-game schedule — comprised of nine home games, seven true road games and that neutral-site matchup in Brazil with the Eagles, who will technically be the home team at Corinthians Arena — includes five prime-time matchups, three games in the late-afternoon window and eight noon Central time starts.

“We’re excited. We’re excited to have a plan for the season,” coach Matt LaFleur told the Packers’ team website. “The schedule’s the schedule. Our mindset is we’ve got to be our best regardless of when we play, where we play. But we are excited to be able to map out our plan.”

This marks the 11th consecutive year that the Packers were given at least five prime-time games when the schedule was initially released. The NFL increased the maximum number of prime-time games per team to six after expanding to a 17-game schedule.

While some games are subject to flexible scheduling, the only game that isn’t at least tentatively set at this point is the regular-season finale against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field on the weekend of January 4-5.

The bye week arrives on November 10, after nine games.

The Packers’ three preseason games are August 10 at Cleveland, August 18 at Denver and August 24 at home against Baltimore.

In the days leading up to last year’s schedule release, there was reason to wonder whether the Packers’ transition to Love from four-time NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who’d been traded to the New York Jets a few weeks earlier, would lower the Packers’ profile.

Instead, although the league did hedge its prime-time bets on the 2023 Packers by making three of their five night games late-season matchups that could be flexed out of prime time if the season went south, Love and his young teammates more than rose to the occasion during the second half of the year.

The Packers went 7-3 over their final 10 games, and Love finished with a Rodgers-esque flourish, completing 70.3% of his passes for 2,150 yards with 18 touchdowns and just one interception (112.7 passer rating) over the final eight regular-season games.

“I think he’s a guy that is coming in (to the 2024 season) with a lot of confidence,” LaFleur said last week. “I see him pushing himself each and every day in terms of just his ability to lead the guys. He does a great job.”

Love was even better in the Packers’ NFC wild card win on the road over the Dallas Cowboys (76.2% for 272 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions for a 157.2 rating) before the team’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC divisional round.

“Just to see how much he’s grown over the last year has been awesome,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said last week. “(It’s) fun to just be around him, watch him grow as a leader, as a player and really take those big steps that he did last year to get us where we went.

“I’m expecting more of the same.”

Love heads into his second year as the starter facing a slate that includes only seven games against teams that made the playoffs last season — two against the Lions, who lost in the NFC Championship Game; a Nov. 24 home matchup with the 49ers, who lost Super Bowl LVIII to the Kansas City Chiefs; that Thanksgiving night matchup with the Dolphins, who lost their first-round playoff game on the road to the Chiefs; an Oct. 13 home game against the Los Angeles Rams, who lost to the Lions in their first-round playoff matchup; an Oct. 20 home matchup with the Houston Texans, the reigning AFC South champs; and the opener against the Eagles, who lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC wild card round.

After that nearly 11,000-mile round trip to and from Brazil, the Packers will play host to the Indianapolis Colts in a Week 2 matchup for the home opener at Lambeau Field on Sunday, Sept. 15. The Packers wanted the league to give them a Week 2 home game after the Brazil odyssey to avoid back-to-back road trips.

The matchup with the Dolphins means the Packers will play on Thanksgiving for the second straight year after beating the Lions 29-22 at Ford Field in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated.

“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.

The Thanksgiving game will be the first at Lambeau Field since 2015, when the Packers lost to the Bears, 17-13.

The Packers’ only other Thanksgiving home game was on Nov. 29, 1923 — a 19-0 victory over the Hammond Pros at old City Stadium.

Asked about playing four straight prime-time games, LaFleur told Packers.com, “That definitely will be a tough four-game stretch. 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 nine regular-season home games, fans who hold the “Gold” season-ticket package, a vestige of the days when the Packers played part of their home schedule in Milwaukee, will receive three games this season — all against NFC North opponents.

“Gold” package ticketholders will see the Packers host the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 29, the Lions on Nov. 3 and the Bears in the finale.

The Packers head into 2024 not only with Love having come on late in the year but with a bevy of young talent on offense and a defense aiming for better results under new coordinator Jeff Hafley, hired in February after Joe Barry was fired following the season.

“It’s not about the scheme right now. It’s about the players,” Hafley said last week. “It’s our job to maximize their ability. Now that we see what we have, we’ve got to make sure we do that.

“This team is driven right now. That’s not saying we’re going to do this or we’re going to do that down the road, but you’ve got a chance. You come in and you’re doing what these players are doing every day, you’ve got a chance. So, I’m fired up about that.”