Packer Central

Packers Have ‘Turnaround’ Potential

Every year, several teams qualify for the playoffs after falling short the year prior. The Packers could be in that group in 2023.

Bill Huber

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GREEN BAY, Wis. – In 2021, the Seattle Seahawks finished 7-10 with Russell Wilson at quarterback. Surely, they’d struggled in 2022.

In 2022, the Green Bay Packers finished 8-9 with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. Surely, they’ll struggle in 2023.

Well, perhaps not. The Seahawks with Geno Smith qualified for the playoffs last season. Perhaps the Packers with Jordan Love can do the same in 2023.

That’s the prediction from Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr, who picked the six “turnaround candidates most likely” to reach the playoffs in 2023 after falling short last year.

Green Bay’s success or failure this season will be tied to Love, obviously, but a defense that features eight first-round picks must play like a defense that includes so much supposed top-tier talent.

“If just a handful of their recent picks who are logging significant snaps this year … improve greatly or break out right away,” Orr wrote, “I think their overall talent can stand up adequately against the rest of the NFC North and the (generally weak) conference as a whole.”

If the Packers reach the postseason, it would defy expectations. The Packers are +138 to qualify for the playoffs at FanDuel Sportsbook, an implied probability of about 42 percent. With the 2023 season set to kick off at Chicago on Sept. 10, their over/under win total at FanDuel is 7.5 wins.

“I think we got a great team,” Love said at the end of minicamp on Wednesday. “I think we have a good offense, a young offense. We have a lot of work to keep putting in, keep building together, and I think we have a really good defense. Once we get everybody back and healthy, we’ll be really good.”

While this may indeed be a rebuilding season following the trade of Aaron Rodgers, the Packers exited their offseason brimming with confidence that there’s enough talent in all three phases to return to the playoffs.

“It’s the crutch that everyone wants to lean on outside of the facility, not knowing what’s going on in here,” receiver Christian Watson said. “It’s easy to say, ‘They lost Aaron. It’s going to be a down year’ or whatever.

“I feel like that’s the easy route to take. That’s not our mentality in here. We’re never trying to think of it as a rebuild or whatever people want to say it is. Our goal each and every year is to win the North and make the playoffs and win a Super Bowl. So, regardless of who’s leaving and who’s coming in, that’s the No. 1 goal and I think we’re attacking every single day with that mentality, as well.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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