Ten Key Takeaways from the Green Bay Packers 2024 Schedule

The NFL released their 2024 schedule on Wednesday night and the Green Bay Packers will have some very exciting games coming up in 2024. That includes the first ever NFL regular season game in Brazil. This season, the Packers will be facing teams from the AFC South and the NFC West along with other key matchups. The release of the schedule allows Packers fans to look forward to the 2024 season and make plans to attend the game(s) they want to see both at home and on the road. Here are 10 takeaways from the Packers 2024 schedule:

Ten Takeaways from the Packers 2024 Schedule, Number One: The Packers Open with an Historic Game

The NFL had already announced the Packers will open the season in Brazil against the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday, September 6. This will be the first NFL regular-season game played in South America. The game will be broadcast on the streaming service Peacock and will start at 7:15 PM CT.

Because the Eagles are also expected to be contenders in the NFC, this game could have significant tie-breaking implications when the season ends.

This is the sixth consecutive year the Packers have not opened the season at Lambeau Field. However, because the Packers are one of the most popular NFL teams in Brazil, there may be more Packers fans in attendance than Eagles fans for what is technically a “road” game.

The last time the Packers opened the season at home was 2018. In that game, Aaron Rodgers led them to a dramatic 24-23 comeback win over the Bears on Sunday Night Football.

Number Two: The Packers Will Play at Home After Their Trip to Brazil

The Packers were expected to play at home after their long trip to Sao Paulo and that is going to happen. Green Bay will have an extra two days to prepare for their Week 2 home game against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, September 15.

Hopefully, this allows the players to be back in their routines after the unusual road trip to start the season.

Ten Takeaways from the Packers 2024 Schedule, Number Three: The Packers Will Host a Thanksgiving Day Game for the 3^rd Time Ever

The Packers will be playing on Thanksgiving for the second straight season for the first time since 1963. However, they won’t be facing either the Lions or the Cowboys, the traditional Thanksgiving hosts.

Instead, the Pack will host the Miami Dolphins on Thanksgiving evening at 7:20 PM CT.

The only previous times the Packers hosted a Thanksgiving game came in 2015. That night, they retired number four in honor of Brett Favre at halftime before losing to the Bears. In 1923 when the Packers blanked the Hammond Pros 19-0.

The Packers all-time record on Thanksgiving is 15-20-2.

Number Four: The Packers Will Be on National TV Six Times

The NFL clearly views the Packers and Jordan Love as an attractive team to put on nationally televised games. In addition to the season opener in Brazil and the Thanksgiving evening game against the Dolphins, the Pack will host the Lions on Thursday night football on December 5th. That will be followed by an appearance on Sunday Night Football against the Seahawks in Seattle on December 15^th. The week after that, the Packers host the Saints on Monday Night Football.

That gives the Packers five prime time games. With flex scheduling, they could be added to a prime-time game one more time.

Ten Takeaways from the Packers 2024 Schedule, Number Five: The Bye Week Is Right in the Middle of the Season

The Packers bye week this year comes in Week 10 of an 18-week regular season or right in the middle of the year. That corresponds to the weekend of November 10^th.

Matt LaFleur’s team will have a week off before they travel to Chicago to face the Bears on November 17^th. The Bears are hosting the Patriots while the Pack has the week off so that should give Green Bay an edge heading into that game.

Number Six: The Packers Play Back-to-Back Thursday Games

The Packers will host the Dolphins on Thanksgiving and then visit the Lions the following Thursday night. That gives the Pack a rare situation where they are playing consecutive games on Thursdays which will be anything but routine for the players.

“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 admitted.

Ten Takeaways from the Packers 2024 Schedule, Number Seven: The Toughest Stretch Comes Late in the Season

The Packers toughest stretch on paper, at least, is easy to identify. In Week 12, the Packers host the defending NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers at Lambeau Field on Sunday afternoon. Four days later, they host Miami on Thanksgiving evening. Then the following Thursday, they travel to Detroit to face the Lions who won the NFC North last season.

That’s three consecutive games against playoff teams from a year ago and a real challenge as the season heads into the home stretch.

Number Eight: There’s Only One Two-Game Road Trip

The Packers have nine home games and eight road games this year. The league alternates seasons with the extra home game and the extra road game. That will continue as long as they play an odd number of games on the schedule.

There is only one instance all season where they play back-to-back road games and that comes in Weeks 14 and 15 when they visit the Lions and the Seahawks on consecutive weeks.

The only consecutive home games this season come in Weeks six and seven when the Cardinals and Texans visit Lambeau Field.

Ten Takeaways from the Packers 2024 Schedule, Number Nine: The Packers Have Three Late Season Home Games Against Warm Weather Opponents

The Packers always prefer to face dome teams or warm weather teams at Lambeau late in the season. The Frozen Tundra does give the team an extra home field advantage over those teams in theory.

Green Bay will have a few games against warm-weather or dome teams on the Frozen Tundra in November and December. That usually gives the team an advantage. The 49ers visit Lambeau Field on November 24^th, the Dolphins arrive on November 28^th and the Saints arrive December 23^rd. Both the Saints and Dolphins games are also at night, which means the weather should be even colder.

As for snow? It’s a little too early to make that prediction.

Number Ten: The Preseason Schedule Has Also Been Released

The Packers three preseason games were also announced. Because they have nine home games during the regular season, Green Bay will have two road games and only one home game in the preseason.

On August 10^th, the visit the Browns at 3:25 CT to open the preseason.

On August 18^th, the Pack travel to Denver to face the Broncos at 7 PM CT.

Then on August 24^th, Green Bay closes out the preseason with a noon CT home game against the Baltimore Ravens.