The 2013 NFL schedule was released Thursday night and it included three Sunday night games and a Monday night game for the Green Bay Packers.
You can view the entire Packers 2013 schedule here. You can view the entire NFL 2013 schedule here.
Here’s everything else you need to know about the Packers 2013 schedule (or at least everything I could think of and lift from other people on Twitter):
- The Packers once again open the season against the 49ers, this time on the road. We’ll find out right away if Dom Capers has learned how to stop Colin Kaepernick and the read-option.
- Need an excuse to eat turkey for breakfast? The Packers play the Lions at 11:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving. I say stuff your face with food early, watch the game, then eat leftovers for dinner.
- Let’s hope the Packers injury luck is better than last season. Green Bay’s bye comes in week four. That’s early.
- We’ll find out a lot about the Packers right away. Their first three games are against 2012 playoff teams (@49ers, vs. Redskins and @Bengals).
- After those first three games, the Packers get a bye, play a non-playoff team (the Lions, who are barely an NFL team, let alone a playoff team) and get right back into the grind with a week six matchup against the Super Bowl champion Ravens.
- Plenty of variety in kickoff times. The Packers have seven noon games, four night games, four 3:25 p.m. games and 11:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving.
- The Packers play three night games in 22 days (Oct. 27 @Vikings, Nov. 4 vs. Bears and Nov. 17 @Giants).
- There are no back-to-back road games for the Packers.
- Greg Jennings will return to Lambeau Field wearing a Vikings uniform in week 12 on Nov. 24.
- The last three games could be brutal for the Packers: @Cowboys, vs. Steelers and @Bears.
- The last seven Super Bowl champions played the NFC East. The Packers play the NFC East this season. Hmmmm….
- Based on the schedule, it sounds like Packers training camp will open on Friday, July 26.
- My wife and I are supposed to have our first child on Oct. 5. It looks like we may have to induce labor during the bye week to ensure that we don’t miss any Packers games.
Final Thoughts
Well, there you have it. Now you can plan your fall and winter schedules around Packers games.
The Packers 2013 schedule definitely isn’t easy. Then again, it’s way too early to definitively say who is going to be good and who will stink.
But with seven games against playoff teams from a season ago, along with the Bears, Steelers and Cowboys on the schedule, I think it’s safe to say that the Packers have a tough slate in 2013.
Let us know what you think of the schedule in the comments. Do you see any losses anywhere on the schedule? Do you like it when the Packers play on Thanksgiving? Would you rather play the 49ers later in the season? Which team that was bad in 2012 might give the Packers trouble in 2013? Who wants to text me play-by-play if my wife goes into labor during a game?
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Adam Czech is a a freelance sports reporter living in the Twin Cities and a proud supporter of American corn farmers. When not working, Adam is usually writing about, thinking about or worrying about the Packers. Follow Adam on Twitter. Twitter .
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One thing I just realized… Though the bye week is early, the Packers will have a mini-bye after the Tahnksgiving game. It’s not quite the same, but it’s better than nothing.
Aside from the week 4 bye, I like this schedule. It has great balance, its tough and we get to see the Packers against the best. We get to test ourselves against the 49ers, Giants and Ravens – no hiding here. We get to go into Dallas and spank them at home and we get to watch Atlanta shiver at Lambeau. GO Packers!
One more tidbit that is interesting: GB plays both IN Dallas and against Pittsburgh in the REGULAR SEASON. The last time GB won in each scenario was on December 24th. (Dallas, Dec 24, 1989; Pitt, Dec 24, 1995).
I will say that I don’t see the last 3 as being brutal. Pittsburgh isn’t the same Steelers of old. That’s because they got, well, old. Ben is good QB but GB has stayed steady while they have declined and it’s in GB. Should be a W, barring injury.
Unless Cutler all of a sudden sheds his kryptonite for the Pack, Jay will be Jay, even in Chicago. When was the last time the Bears finished strong?
In Dallas is the Packers franchise version of kryptonite. As I mentioned, haven’t won there in regular season since ’89. But that was then, this is now. GB hasn’t played in Dallas in the reg. season since ’07 and A LOT has changed in Green Bay since then. I needn’t go through the biggest of those changes, which is why I think GB gets that 2-decade long monkey off their backs. Adam, in honor of your love for WWE: FINALLY. ..the Pack. . has come BACK to. . .Dallas! It doesn’t MATTER when they last won there, jabrone!
I could see the Lions surprising people, but with the Bears retooling, the only way the Packers don’t win the division is if ARod misses time with injury. That’s their ticket to the playoffs and that’s all I care about.
(but probably 11-5 or 10-6)
where on earth are you seeing 10 wins on this schedule?
this is an average team that for the most part only beats bad and other average teams and loses (horrifically) to good ones.
cleveland is the only below average team on the schedule.
So you’re seeing 1-15, Cow?
Do you think the Packers will ever manage to advance the ball past midfield this season?
6-10 actually.
Cow, your glass of milk is clearly half-empty.
This is a returning Packer team that, over the last two years with very similar personnel, beats just about everyone but the Giants and Niners. I don’t see the Giants and Niners on the Packer schedule more than once each.
If the Packers don’t go at least 4-2 within the division, something’s wrong. That means they only have to play a little better than .500 outside the division to get to 10 wins. That’s doable here assuming the league’s highest paid player doesn’t get killed.
Isn’t the NFC North consistantly one of the best divisions in football. Three years ago the North sent the Pack and the Bears to the playoffs, two years ago it was the Pack and the Lions, Last year it was the Pack and the Queens. Just winning this division should say you are a good team.
Wonderful perspective.
Not to be a weasel, but with three divisions and three wild cards, on the average shouldn’t all the divisions be dropping two teams into the playoffs? Maybe it says more about which divisions are weak rather than which are strong…
DELETE! DELETE!
I can’t believe I just wrote that. My baseball must be winning over my football right now…and this is true of neither.
You willing to put your money where your mouth is, cow?
I’m more than happy to put money on the Packers winning at least 9 games (since you’ve said they’ll win 8 at most.)
Let me know how much you’re willing to stake and we’ll call it a deal.
im not into gambling.
i suck at it.
i’d really like to know how many w’s you think they’re looking at.
Read the title of Chad’s article, cow. It’s right there for all to read. Sheesh!
Adan’s article. Sorry about that.
My iPad made the auto-correct type, Adam. Not me. 😀
Typo! Agh!!!
I’m waiting until at least after the draft before I even start thinking about what their record could potentially be.
you think rookies are going to help fill all the holes?
wishful thinking that a couple first year players will fix…
OT
OC
TE
RB
DT
DE
OLB
ILB
S
Congrats on your upcoming first child, Adam.
The good news is that the Bearlys have a hard schedule also and the queens and kitty’s aren’t to far behind . If the Pack takes care of business in the division, like they have the last couple of years, and go 6-0 or 5-1, they could win the division with a 10-6 or maybe even a nine-seven record.
Thanks Dan!
What is the over under on Jennings being healthy for his return to Green Bay?
The first two games (if RG3 is healthy) will tell us a whole lot about how much MM got out of his Texas A&M meeting. If they come out of the 1st quarter 2-2 and not play awful defense against SF and Washington, I think they’ll have a very good year. 11-5 minimum.
Your title is depressing but true. Every year in the last 3 years has felt like this was gonna be it but last season they didn’t even get that close.
However, if Nick Perry develops into even half the player that Clay Matthews is, and with Desmond Bishop returning, that defense is poised to turn around IMO. And we haven’t even seen our new players from the draft yet. 13-3 or 14-2 is not far fetched.
How is 10-6 or 11-5 depressing?
Also, the Packers won the Super Bowl three years ago. That season probably felt like it was “it” because it actually was “it.”
Me personally I’ve been looking forward to seeing the Packers go 16-0 because I keep think that they’re more than capable of accomplishing that. Arguably, it’s the only thing that’s even more impressive than winning the Super Bowl because it’s so rare in the NFL.
Each year I just keep hoping that it’s the Packers that end up being the one and only team that accomplish the perfect 19-0 record because absolutely nobody has done that yet.
“and with Desmond Bishop returning”
he won’t play 16 games.
the playmaking bishop is gone.
the new version will be about 70% of what the old one was.
that was a career threatening injury.
From what I’v read he’s already made a full recovery. Besides, even a 70% Bishop is a lot better than a 100% A.J. Hawk.
Brutal schedule. Every year the league screws with the Packers but this year is the worst. Their road schedule is especially brutal with games at Dallas, SF and Cinn, While the Pack can whip Dallas at home they always seem to lay an egg against Dallas on the road. With the exception of a win over Dallas in 1989 when they were 1-15, the Packers haven’t won a road game against Dallas since Lombardi did it in the 1966.
Looking at the Packers schedule sure is a crappy way to start the weekend. The league hates the Packers because they are the only publicly owned team. The rest of the teams are owned by greedy slime balls like Jerry Jones
I don’t know if cow42 is a Packers fan, I assume he is. What I don’t get is because he doesn’t see this as much more than a average team, he gets blasted. I love this site and have leaned quite a bit, even when I thought I knew more. The Packers have a lot of “if’s” on this team to be 11-5. Either that or the last two drafts really need to step up and produce. As it sits now Thompson has hit on 2 choices in last two years, Hayward and Cobb. That’s pretty bad for a draft and develop team who refuses to sign a free agent to fill a hole.
bingo.
Yes, guys now have to step up. Welcome to the reality of the NFL since 1992.
The Packers had to deal with a LOT of injuries last year. It sapped their overall potency they had displayed the previous three years. And they STILL were a terrible call in Seattle away from being 12-4. What can people surmise will happen when that potency that was on IR last year comes back? And, again yes, some guys who have been waiting and training need to step up, but that’s the nature of it.
Last, it’s not easy for teams to drop a bundle on other teams’ free agents WHEN IT HAS THE LUXURY TO SIGN TOP SHELF HOME GROWN PLAYERS that they drafted and retained.
In the end, some people are simply too spoiled or are simply trolls.
if last year’s team would have played this year’s schedule they would not have been 11-5.
last year’s schedule was pathetic.
don’t use last year to predict the upcoming season.
it comes down to difference makers.
the Packers have 3.
Rodgers
Matthews
Cobb
that’s not enough.
tt’s gotta get better talent on this team.
Tolkien… What scares cow42 and I is the way the Packers were beat by teams like the Giants and 49ers. They were destroyed in each game. The Packers played teams like the Jags, Cardinals, Titans, Rams, and Lions twice. I’m sorry but they should have been 11-5 playing that schedule. They played the 2nd easiest schedule in the NFL last season. I hope the Packers come out and play great. The players from the last 2 or 3 drafts start to really develop. This I team has had about a 60% turnover from even 3 years ago. This will be the season where we find out if Thompsons penny pinching has been the right thing to do. Great teams play the schedule their handed. Lets hope the Packers are a great team. I’m sure as hell hoping!
There it is, that TROLL word. Why, because we don’t agree? I think I speak for cow42 and at least for myself, I hope I’m dead wrong. I hope that the O-line that Ted has put together doesn’t give up 51 sacks. I hope the leading rusher has more than 450 yards for the year. I hope Ted actually puts together a defensive line again. I hope that we have a better option than AJ Hawk. What you failed to mention is after 8 drafts that’s the running game, offensive and defensive lines, Ted has built! YIKES!!!!!