The road was always going to be tough. The Green Bay Packers entered this season with one of the hardest schedules in the league. Fast forward 6 games and the team has actually positioned themselves fairly well despite some early stumbles.
But the margin for error will shrink considerably over the second half of the season.
A few weeks ago, our own Justis Mosqueda analyzed the Packers remaining schedule, showing that ESPN’s Football Power Index projected Green Bay to face the league’s second-toughest
remaining slate after Week 4. A more recentremaining strength-of-schedule ranking placed the Packers third-hardest entering Week 7.
The grade begins to steepen Sunday against the Detroit Lions, who offer Green Bay a valuable test. Although their defense has been exposed a number of times this year, the Lions are a solid, well-coached team with a lot of firepower on offense. A division win on the road would give the Packers a meaningful result in the playoff chase, while a loss would likely further expose what still needs fixing.
And the schedule doesn’t get easier from there. With opponents like the Patriots, Vikings, and Bills still on tap, we’ll have plenty of opportunity to see if we think this Packers team can be an NFC contender — however flawed we might know them to be.
The upside is that a challenging schedule can help harden the team against those flaws before a potential postseason run. While the offensive line is the obvious Chekhov’s gun this year, the broader picture emerging in the NFC is messy, with lots of room for spicy teams that get hot at the right time.
That’s my best case scenario for this year’s Packers, at least right now. We should know more by Sunday night.
NFL standings by remaining strength of schedule: Packers face difficult road aheadA 4-2 start is solid, of course, but things are about to get a lot tougher for the Green & Gold, as they have the seventh-toughest remaining strength of schedule (SOS) over the final 12 weeks of the season.
ICYMI: The Packers’ easy portion of the schedule is overMoving forward, Green Bay Packers’ schedule is much tougher than the first four weeks of the 2026 season
LISTEN: Jordan Love is playing out of his mindOn this week’s UnPack Podcast, the guys marvel at Jordan Love, who continues to ball out despite playing with a porous offensive line and impotent run game.
Can Josh Jacobs save Packers feeble run game?The running game, obviously, has been terrible. Here’s a closer look at how the “monster” will help turn things around.
Will Kevin Zeitler make his Packers debut Sunday?The Green Bay Packers have a gamer waiting in the wings, ready for Sunday’s matchup against the Detroit Lions.
Packers discussion in the feed
Justis Mosqueda performs another public service, this time breaking down every running snap from the Packers recent win over the Dallas Cowboys. Oh boy, this could get ugly.
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