Cheesehead
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- Mar 19, 2019
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There's no such thing as any team's season being defined, good or bad, by early November. But if the Packers can emerge from this road-weary stretch in decent shape, they'll be set up potentially for a strong finish.
Over the final eight games of the regular season, the Packers will have no more back-to-back road trips, and they'll have a bye in there as well to rest up and get healthy.
"My mindset is wherever they tell us to play, whenever they tell us to play, we'll be ready to play," LaFleur said.
That simplified, focused approach has helped LaFleur in each of his first two seasons as head coach as he navigated similar road-heavy runs. While the Packers took their lumps during them, they also came out the other side stronger and playing better.
In 2019, from Weeks 8-13, the Packers played four road games in a span of five contests, with their bye week mixed in. They lost two of the road games (at Chargers, at 49ers), but a win at the N.Y. Giants to conclude the constant travel started a five-game winning streak to end the regular season and snag a playoff bye.
Then last year, coming off their early bye into Weeks 6-11, the Packers played four on the road in a span of six games. They started and ended it with losses (at Buccaneers, at Colts) and also dropped a home game to the Vikings in between, accounting for all three regular-season defeats on the year.
But again, a winning streak to finish the regular season followed, this time a six-gamer that clinched the NFC's No. 1 playoff seed.
The upcoming 2021 stretch of four somewhat rapid-fire road games looks like the toughest yet. Two years ago, the bye in the middle helped get through it, health- and rest-wise. Last year, it was four on the road in six weeks, not four in five.