Nate Davis of USA Today sees the Green Bay Packers finishing 7-10 and missing the postseason in the first year of the Jordan Love era in 2023.
In his annual league-wide predictions released Monday, Davis picked the Packers, Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings to all finish at 7-10 behind the Detroit Lions, the predicted division winner at 11-6.
Here’s Davis’ blurb on the Packers in 2023:
Coming off an 8-9 season with departed legend Aaron Rodgers, all eyes are on new QB1 Jordan Love, who has one unremarkable start in four NFL seasons. He’ll face the unavoidable pressure of extending a three-decade heritage of quarterbacking excellence behind Rodgers and his predecessor, Brett Favre. Both had strong maiden seasons as the starter, though neither took the Pack to the playoffs. Remains to be seen how much leeway Love gets at a time when young passers don’t tend to get a lot of slack. It would help if Green Bay proves it’s a much better running and defensive team than was displayed in 2022. Might not help that Love and Co. will only play at Lambeau Field three times prior to November.
Aaron Rodgers’ Packers finished 6-10 during his first season as a starter, so 7-10 is certainly within the range of possibility for Love’s Packers in 2023.
This year’s team is probably talented enough overall to win 10 or 11 games and capture the NFC North but also inexperienced enough at key positions (especially on offense) and unproven enough on defense to only win five or six games. The margins in the NFL are so small, and the Packers may need to use the 2023 season to learn how to win again under Love.
What about Rodgers in New York? Davis sees the Jets finishing second in the AFC East but also winning the AFC title game. He also has the Lions getting to the NFC title game but losing. His Super Bowl result? Eagles over Jets. We’ll see. Last year, Davis predicted the Packers would beat the Bills in the Super Bowl.
The Packers finishing with only seven wins and Rodgers taking the Jets all the way to the Super Bowl would make for a long 2023 season in Green Bay.
