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What a rollercoaster of a season it has been for the Green Bay Packers. After Week 2, power rankings had the team as one of the best handful of teams in the NFL. Then the Packers followed that up with a loss to the Cleveland Browns and a tie against the Dallas Cowboys, in part due to blocked kicks in both of those games. Confidence nationally for Matt LaFleur’s squad plummeted.
On Sunday, Green Bay took care of the Cincinnati Bengals, but the team didn’t even cover the spread — which I’ll only bring up as a benchmark for expectations going into that matchup. So why are the Packers rising quickly up the power rankings again, going into Week 7? Because there isn’t an NFL team grabbing the 2025 season by the horns, at least yet.
As of now, there are only four teams with just one loss on their record, none of which are undefeated: the Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pittsburgh Steelers and Packers. Two months ago, the Colts and Steelers had the third-best odds to win their own division…let alone stand atop the AFC in mid-October.
So while the Packers haven’t looked great since their September 11th win over the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football in Week 2, neither has the rest of the NFL. Because of that, they continue to rise in power rankings, despite Green Bay fans picking apart the team.
With all that being said, let’s check in on where Green Bay stands today in the eyes of national analysts.
Here’s what USA Today’s Nate Davis had to say about the Packers this week:
“If this seems lofty for a team that hadn’t won in a month prior to Sunday, then acknowledged – but it’s also partially a function of other clubs failing the Pack up the board. But there’s no denying the talent present here or the fact that they got much healthier during their bye. And when your best offensive player is upchucking on the field … while racking up 150 total yards and two TDs? Legit.”
I’m not sure how much healthier the Packers got during the bye, considering that Devonte Wyatt and Anthony Belton remain out. You can make the case that the starting offensive line finally played a full game together, but three of their five starters played through injury against the Bengals. Personally, I think Green Bay fans were expecting more progress on the injury front during the bye week. Still, praise for quarterback Jordan Love is pretty consistent for analysts who rank the Packers highly.
Pretty consistently, Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr is the lowest in the media on the Packers. A couple of weeks ago, [Orr had Green Bay ranked as low as 11th...
