Acme Packing Company
Ahead of the Week 1 games, the The Athletic has released their results for their annual Hope-O-Meter, a poll that gauges the optimism of fanbases heading into the season. The Green Bay Packers were ranked right in the middle at 15, with 75.4% of fans feeling optimistic about the team this year. They came in between the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals. The Packers had the lowest optimism ranking in the NFC North. The Detroit Lions were the highest in 5th followed by the Minnesota Vikings (11th) and Chicago Bears (12th). The Denver Broncos led the NFL in optimism rankings with 98.7% of Broncos fans feeling optimistic about their team’s chances. The Indianapolis Colts came in last with just 7% of their fans feeling good about the team, which honestly seems oddly high.
It’s important to note that the survey was open August 21-28 and 99.7% of survey responses came in before Micah Parsons was traded to the Packers on August 28. With that context in mind, it’s safe to assume the Packers would have jumped up a bit after that news broke. The Dallas Cowboys probably would have also fallen a bit, although they were already ranked 30th with only 13% of fans feeling optimistic, many citing owner and GM Jerry Jones as a major source of their pessimism.
The Athletic shared a handful of survey responses for each team’s ranking, and all three optimistic Packers responses cited a healthy Jordan Love with two specifically mentioning rookie WR Matthew Golden being a great addition. The lone pessimistic survey shared was summed up in four words: “Still don’t love Love!”
That being said, 15th still seems wildly low for a young team coming off of an 11-6 playoff season in a wide open NFC, especially when they’re surrounded by teams in that ranking that didn’t make the playoffs such as the Patriots, Cardinals, Jaguars, and Seahawks. However, it does speak to the high expectations of the fanbase and their impatience in the team returning to the Super Bowl. That same sense of urgency led the team to give up two first-round picks and veteran DT Kenny Clark in the trade for Micah Parsons. While some fans will never be satisfied, trading for Parsons feels like the most unified the fanbase has been in a long time (in a positive way, at least). One would think that’d move the optimism needle a little, right?
So, let’s hear it from you, Packers fans…are you optimistic about the 2025 Green Bay Packers?
