<
        >

          NFL Nation

          Home early, gone late for Green Bay Packers' 2019 schedule

          Aaron Rodgers and the Packers will need a fast start because four of the final six are on the road. Dylan Buell/Getty Images
          • Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff WriterApr 18, 2019, 12:36 AM
            Close
              Rob Demovsky is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Green Bay Packers. He has covered the Packers since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2013. Demovsky is a two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the NSSA. You can follow him on Twitter at @RobDemovsky.
            Follow on X

          GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The NFL has released its 2019 regular-season schedule. Here's a look at what's in store for the Green Bay Packers.

          Game-by-game prediction

          Packers reporter Rob Demovsky is predicting a 9-7 finish:

          Sept. 5 (Thursday): at Chicago, Loss

          Sept. 15: vs. Minnesota, Win

          Sept. 22: vs. Denver, Win

          Sept. 26 (Thursday): vs. Philadelphia, Loss

          Oct. 6: at Dallas, Loss

          Oct. 14 (Monday): vs. Detroit, Win

          Oct. 20: vs. Oakland, Win

          Oct. 27 (Sunday night): at Kansas City, Loss

          Nov. 3: at L.A. Chargers, Loss

          Nov. 10: vs. Carolina, Win

          Nov. 17: Bye

          Nov. 24: at San Francisco, Loss

          Dec. 1: at N.Y. Giants, Win

          Dec. 8: vs. Washington, Win

          Dec. 15: vs. Chicago, Win

          Dec. 23 (Monday): at Minnesota, Loss

          Dec. 29: at Detroit, Win

          Strength of schedule: T-14, .504

          Breakdown

          There are two ways to look at an early stretch that’s laden with home games: It offers first-year coach Matt LaFleur the chance to get off to a good start, or, given that many new coaches start out slowly, it’s going to be tough to recover and finish strong with all those road games at the end. Either way, it’s the first time since the strike year of 1987 that the Packers have as many as five home games among their first seven. That year, it was actually six of their first eight in the state of Wisconsin followed by a brutal stretch of five of the final seven on the road (they won just two of those final seven). Despite two consecutive non-playoff seasons, the league still considers the Packers a draw with five prime-time games, including two Thursday night games (at the Bears and home against the Eagles), two Monday Night Football appearances (home against the Lions and at the Vikings) and a Sunday night game (at the Chiefs).

          Not-so-frozen tundra

          Golf courses will be still be open when the Packers play their third-to-last home game against the Panthers on Nov. 10. After that, they will play just twice more at Lambeau Field, meaning the cold-weather advantage they typically have is all but nullified. And one of those December home games is against another cold-weather team, the Bears. It’s a similar setup to the 2017 season, when they played just three home games after Nov. 19. And it’s far different from 2011, when they played half of their home games from Nov. 20 on. It’s also the first time since 2004 that the Packers have closed the season with consecutive road games.

          West Coast, East Coast

          Last season, the Packers played road games at the Los Angeles Rams and at the New England Patriots in back-to-back weeks. They lost both of them. They have another West Coast/East Coast trip this season: at the San Francisco 49ers on Nov. 24 and at the New York Giants on Dec. 1. They actually have three games on the coasts within a month, including the Nov. 3 game at the Los Angeles Chargers.