Green Bay Packers preview 2023: Over or Under 7.5 wins? Chances to claim NFC North title?

It’s NFL team preview time, and today we’re looking at the Green Bay Packers. Each Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from July 25 through Sept. 8, we will take an in-depth look at each team in the NFL with a 7- to 10-minute video going through impactful additions and departures, last year’s rankings and strength of schedule in 2023.

Bet.NOLA.com analyst Jim Derry will then make a prediction on the team’s record this season and where they will finish in their respective division, along with the over/under win total, as posted by our partners at Caesars Sportsbook.

These stories are a brief summary of the accompanied preview videos – powered by the Dattitude Podcast (which will review each division every Friday until the season begins). The schedule for when each team will run is listed below with a link to each story and video that already has run.

GREEN BAY PACKERS

Coach: Matt LaFleur (5th season)

2022 record: 8-9, 3rd in NFC North; did not make playoffs.

Last season in a nutshell: A five-game losing streak will kill any team, and even Aaron Rodgers and the almighty Packers could overcome not only that but a stretch of losing seven of eight to drop to 4-8.

Despite making it interesting in the end with a chance to finish on a five-game win streak and sneak in, they lost to Detroit, 20-16, and that was it for the Hall of Famer’s 18 seasons on the frozen tundra.

There were some positives, for sure, especially on offense. Rookie receivers Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs showed a glimpse of what the future could look like as they combined for more than 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns.

On the ground, Aaron Jones had arguably his most effective season, as he rushed for a career-high 1,121 yards and had seven overall touchdowns. His cohort, AJ Dillon, was nearly as important with just shy of 1,000 yards of total offense and seven scores.

The offensive line went through some injury issues, including left tackle David Bakhtiari, who missed seven games last season after missing all but one in 2021. In fact, he hasn’t played a full season since 2019, and there’s no question the team will need him to be healthy this year.

The defense was a mixed bag, doing a nice job against the pass, but struggling against the run as they allowed more than 150 yards on the ground in a whopping eight games, including an absurd 363 against Philadelphia on a Sunday night after Thanksgiving.

2023 bye week: 6

2023 Draft: 1 (13 overall) DL Lukas Van Ness, Iowa; 2 (42) TE Luke Musgrave, Oregon State; 2 (50) WR Jayden Reed, Michigan State; 3 (78) TE Tucker Kraft, South Dakota State; 4 (116) Colby Wooden, Auburn; 5 (149) QB Sean Clifford, Penn State; 5 (159) WR Dantayvion Wicks, Virginia; 6 (179) DT Karl Brooks, Bowling Green; 6 (207) K Anders Brooks, Auburn; 7 (232) DB Carrington Valentine, Kentucky; 7 (235) RB Lew Nichols, Central Michigan; 7 (242) DB Anthony Johnson, Iowa State; 7 (256) WR Grant Dubose, Charlotte.

Free-agent signings: LS Matthew Orzech (from LA Rams), 3 years, $3.68M; S Tarvarius Moore (cut); S Jonathan Owens (from Houston), 1 year, $1.01M.

What needs to go right: A hot start against the easiest part (of a fairly easy) schedule is a must to not only get their young new starting quarterback (Jordan Love) confidence, but to prove to the rest of the NFC they aren’t going anywhere.

Despite playing their first two games on the road, they come against Chicago and Atlanta, who finished a combined 10-24 last season, before hosting New Orleans and then a huge one at home vs. Detroit on a Thursday night. (The Lions haven’t won at Lambeau before November since 1987.)

They also need Jones and Dillon to continue their solid work, and if they can combine to score 16 to 20 touchdowns, that would be a huge boost. Meanwhile, Love needs to quickly build a rapport with Watson, Doubs and rookie tight end Luke Musgrave, whom the Packers drafted in the second round.

This is Coach Matt LaFleur’s chance to shine out of the shadow of Aaron Rodgers, and you can bet your sweet bippee he has been looking forward to this. In reality, losing Rodgers obviously is huge, but other than that, (we get how big a deal that is) this team is not that much different than the one that went 13-4 two seasons ago.

And with Love following the same path Rodgers followed from 2005-07 in waiting for Brett Favre to depart, we’ll see if Love can carve out success anything near what his two predecessors were able to do.

Key moments in video:

0:00 Green Bay Packers preview

1:05 We’ve heard this Jordan Love story before

2:37 What has this team lost?

3:45 Receiving corps should be fine

5:22 Defensive strength is up front

6:15 Dissecting an easier schedule

8:25 Prediction time, best bets