The Green Bay Packers' 2026 schedule has been released, featuring a claymation style video. Key takeaways highlight a forgiving early schedule ahead of Parsons' return.
The Green Bay Packers' 2026 schedule has officially been released, with the help of a claymation style video put out by the Packers social team.
We now know the dates, times and other logistics to go along with the opponents the Packers were known to be facing since last season ended.
Here are five key takeaways from Green Bayās schedule for the upcoming season:
The reports are that Micah Parsons is a candidate to go on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list to start the season, which would knock him out for at least the first four weeks as he recovers from an ACL tear suffered in December.
It is always preferable to have limited meaningful games early in the season, such as division/conference rivals, as teams are still figuring themselves out and kicking off the rust at that stage, but the result counts all the same and could be crucial come the end of the year.
With Parsons (as well as Tucker Kraft) working their way back from serious knee injuries, it was even more important for the Packers to have a favorable early-season schedule, and the NFL delivered.
Green Bay does open on the road against the division rival Vikings and with three of their first four games on the road, but none of their first four opponents (Vikings, Jets, Falcons, Buccaneers) have an over/under for wins of higher than 8.5, and the average is 7.5.
The key takeaways include a forgiving early schedule and important matchups leading up to Parsons' return.
The Packers' 2026 schedule was officially released recently, accompanied by a claymation style video.
The specific opponents for the Packers in the 2026 season were known since last season ended, with the full schedule now available.
The forgiving early schedule is seen as a strategic advantage as the team prepares for key players' returns.
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Compare that to the Packersā over/under of 9.5, and they would be favored to win each game on a neutral site.
Parsons should hopefully be ready to roll by the time the four-week waiting period is up, and it is likely no coincidence the NFL gave Green Bay a soft start, before ramping up the difficulty from Week 5 onwards, with consecutive games versus the Bears, Cowboys, Lions, Panthers and Patriots.
The Packers have nine home games and eight road games in 2026, and with three of the four away trips coming in the first month, that means they will play eight of their final 13 contests at Lambeau Field.
In the last five games of the season, four are at home, with the only road game a short trip to Chicago to play the Bears. Of those final four home games, all taking place in December or January, three of the opponents (Miami, Houston, Detroit) are warm weather or dome teams.
Whatever Green Bay is fighting for down the stretch, they will be well placed to get it done in front of their home crowd.
The Packersā bye comes in Week 11, which is pretty well placed for a team expecting their campaign to extend into the postseason in late January, and is much better than the Week 5 bye they were handed in 2025.
Since they play on Wednesday, Nov. 25 ā the night before Thanksgiving ā against the Rams in Week 12, they will not get the customary two weeks of rest and will also have to fly out to the west coast for that road contest.
That means they only get nine days off between their home game against Minnesota in Week 10 and the game against LA in Week 12. It is more of a āmini-byeā, but the good news is they get two more of those before the end of the regular season.
After playing the Rams, they do not play again until Sunday, Dec. 6, meaning they will have played just one game in 20 days between Week 10 and Week 13.
Green Bay travels to Chicago on Christmas Day for an NFC North showdown and will then get eight days of rest before their next game against the Texans at Lambeau on Monday, Jan. 4.
For a team who has championship aspirations, being relatively fresh entering the playoffs could be a huge boost.
Per Arif Hasan of Wide Left Football, the Packers have been shortchanged as far as rest advantage over their opponents throughout the season, with a total differential of minus two rest days.
This ranks them 20th in the NFL, so it is not a huge disadvantage by any means, especially compared to teams like the Chargers and Eagles, who are expected to be contenders and have rest differentials of -24 and -15 days respectively.
But it is the worst differential among the NFC North teams, with the Lions at +1, the Vikings at +4.5, and the Bears at +15, which is the biggest rest advantage in the entire league across the season.
While the Packers do not have a rest advantage over their opponents, they do have one of the easier travel schedules in the NFL in 2026.
According to Bill Speros of Bookies.com, Green Bay will travel 12,673 miles this season, which ranks 28th in the NFL. That is more than Chicago (ranked 30th), but less than the Vikings (25th) and the Lions (15th).
In terms of other potential NFC contenders, the 49ers will travel a whopping 38,105 miles, which is the most in the league, shortly followed by their division rivals the Rams at 34,847 miles. The Cowboys rank fourth with 27,980 miles.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: 5 takeaways from Packers schedule: Soft landing before Parsons return