2015 Packers Schedule: All of the Things You Don’t Need to Know - Part 2

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Week 9: Green Bay Packers at Carolina Panthers

Sunday, November 8, 2015; 12:00 PM on Fox

Last Meeting at this Venue: W 30-23 September 18, 2011

What You Don’t Need to Know About This Game:

• It’s strange that it feels weird to see the Panthers on the schedule. This will just be the 3rd meeting with Carolina in the last seven seasons. In Carolina’s first 11 seasons, they played Green Bay nine times.

• This will be Cam Newton’s 3rd career start against the Packers. He’s 0-2 with 2 TDs to 4 INTs.

• Jordy Nelson has played the Carolina Panthers just twice. In each game he’s scored a long touchdown. In 2008, he hauled in an 84-yard TD grab and last season he caught a 59-yard scoring strike.

• In 10 of 13 meetings with Panthers, the Packers have scored at least 28 points.

• After 13 seasons of NFC South play, the Panthers finally became the first team to win back-to-back division titles. Of course, being the NFC South, they also became just the second team to win a division with a losing record (7-8-1). As a side note, division winners with losing records now have an all-time Wildcard record of 2-0. Go figure.  

Week 10: Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers

Sunday, November 15, 2015; 12:00 PM on Fox

Last Meeting at this Venue: W 30-20 December 28, 2014

What You Don’t Need to Know About This Game:

• Mike McCarthy is 15-3 against the Lions. Average score: 27-19.

• Matthew Stafford is 1-7 against Aaron Rodgers.

• Detroit had a historically good rushing defense last year. They gave up the 6th fewest yards ever in a 16-game season. Only one running back was able to gain 100 yards rushing in a game against them – that being Eddie Lacy in Green Bay’s 30-20 Week 17 win.

• Last season, the Packers held Calvin Johnson to just 39 and 82 yards respectively in their two matchups with Detroit. In the previous four matchups against Megatron, he had 606 receiving yards and four 100-yard games.

• This is the fun part where we remind everyone that the Lions have lost their last 24 games against the Packers in Wisconsin dating back to 1992.

• Since Detroit last won in Wisconsin, four expansion teams have been formed, four others have moved, 22 teams have changed their uniforms (some multiple times), 25 have built new stadiums, and poor Lions K Jason Hanson played a complete 21-year career without ever winning in the state of Wisconsin.

• And while we’re reopening some wounds, let’s pour a little salt: with Detroit’s loss to Dallas in the Wildcard Playoffs last season, they tied Kansas City for the most consecutive playoff losses in NFL history (8).  

Week 11: Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings

Sunday, November 22, 2015; 12:00 PM on Fox

Last Meeting at this Venue: W 24-21 November 23, 2014

What You Don’t Need to Know About This Game:

• The Packers played at Minnesota in Minneapolis this weekend last year as well.

• Aaron Rodgers Career Stats vs. Vikings: 287/403 (71.2%) for 3,490 yards, 31 TDs – 4 INTs, 119.0 Passer Rating, 10-4 record.

• As if Rodgers needed any help, Eddie Lacy has terrorized the Vikings in his short career. Three of his seven 100-yard games have come against Minnesota and 19% of his 2,317 career regular season rushing yards have been gained against the men in purple (434).

• With their 24-21 win over the Vikings at TCF Bank Stadium last season, the Packers are 12-9 all-time in Minnesota outdoors.

• When Teddy Bridgewater started for the Vikings last November, he became the 17th Vikings quarterback to start against Green Bay since 1992. The Packers have played just four QBs against Minnesota in that time period – Rodgers, Favre, Don Majkowski, and Scott Tolzien.

• Packers DL Mike Daniels has 14.0 career sacks – 5.5 of them are against the Vikings.

Week 12: Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers

Thursday, November 26, 2015; 7:30 PM on NBC

Last Meeting at this Venue: W 55-14 November 9, 2014

What You Don’t Need to Know About This Game:

• Mike McCarthy is 13-6 against the Bears. Average Score: 24-17.

• With a season sweep of the Bears, the Packers will pull into an all-time series tie with Chicago (93-93-6) for the first time since 1933 (when the series was 11-11-4).

• The Packers 55-14 win over Chicago last year was the second largest margin of victory in Lambeau Field history, trailing only the 49-0 spanking of the Bears in 1962.

• To contrast Aaron Rodgers’ greatness at Soldier Field, Jay Cutler is 0-4 all time at Lambeau Field and his 41.1 passer rating is the 6th worst in Lambeau Field history (and the five QBs worse than him have not played a down at Lambeau since 1981).

• This will be the 36th time the Packers have played on Thanksgiving, but only the 2nd time they’ve hosted a game (they defeated the legendary Hammond Pros 19-0 at Bellevue Park in 1923). They are 14-20-1 all time on Thanksgiving Day.

• Brett Favre will have his number retired during this game. It is fitting, as his 60 TD passes against Chicago is the most he threw against any individual team.

• Randall Cobb is 7-0 against the Bears.

• The Packers have not lost a game to Chicago that was televised on any network other than ESPN since Week 1 of the 2006 season.

Week 13: Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions

Thursday, December 3, 2015; 7:25 PM on CBS/NFL Network

Last Meeting at this Venue: L 7-19 September 21, 2014

What You Don’t Need to Know About This Game:

• Aaron Rodgers Career Stats vs. Lions: 229/336 (68.2%) for 2,947 yards, 22 TDs – 5 INTs, 111.0 Passer Rating, 10-2 record.

• I get the sense that the NFL really wanted Detroit hosting Green Bay on Thanksgiving again this year, but the Packers reportedly requested the Bears at Lambeau on Thanksgiving night to make the Favre ceremony extra special. Weird scheduling. This is the first time since 2007 that the Packers played back-to-back weeks on a Thursday (they beat Detroit on Thanksgiving, then fell to Dallas in Dallas the following week in the Aaron Rodgers sub game).

• When Detroit defeated the Packers at Ford Field last season, it marked the first time in Mike McCarthy’s tenure that he lost to the Lions in back-to-back seasons. Overall, McCarthy has a 15-3 record against DEE-troit (his pronunciation).

• In Detroit’s 19-7 win over Green Bay last season, they held the Packers to just 223 offensive yards. It is was the lowest output for an Aaron Rodgers-led team since his inaugural starting season in 2008.

• Matthew Stafford has thrown at least one interception in every game he’s ever played against the Packers at Ford Field.

• The only other time the Packers and Lions have played on a non-Thanksgiving Thursday was in 1998 when the Lions beat Green Bay 27-20 in the Silverdome.

Week 14: Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers

Sunday, December 13, 2015; 3:25 PM on Fox

Last Meeting at this Venue: W 26-21 January 11, 2015

What You Don’t Need to Know About This Game:

• Green Bay is 8-1 all-time against Dallas at Lambeau Field. The only loss came in 2008 when Tony Romo led the Cowboys past Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in Rodgers’ third career start. For reference, that game was in Week 3. Game time temperature: 64.

• The Packers current four-game winning streak over Big D is their longest since the 1960s, when Green Bay won the first six ever meetings between the two clubs.

• Despite the Cowboys’ total domination of Green Bay in the 90s, the Packers have a 13-12 head-to-head record against Dallas.

• In recent years, much of the preseason focus for Packers fans has been on avenging a prior seasons’ postseason loss. This year, they have to face one of the teams who is looking for revenge on them for those reasons. Luckily, the Packers are 21-6-1 all-time against teams they defeated the prior year in the playoffs.

• Jason Garrett is much better as a coach than he was as a player, but he’s had more trouble with Green Bay since retiring to the sidelines. He was 2-0 as a starter against the Packers as a quarterback, but 0-2 as head coach.

Week 15: Green Bay Packers at Oakland Raiders

Sunday, December 20, 2015; 3:05 PM on Fox

Last Meeting at this Venue: W 41-7 December 22, 2003

What You Don’t Need to Know About This Game:

• Much like their AFC West counterpart San Diego, the Raiders have struggled greatly against the Packers in recent decades. After defeating the Packers in Week 1 of the 1987 season, they have lost their last six meetings with Green Bay.

• This will be the Packers first trip to the Black Hole since the “Brett Favre Dad Game” in 2003, when Favre famously threw for 399 yards and four TDs to lead the Packers to a 41-7 victory just one day after his father’s death.

• Just like the Kansas City game, this game has not occurred in this venue in 12 years. Again, I am not sure why the Raiders came to Green Bay in 2011 instead of hosting the Packers in 2011 and travelling to Green Bay this year. Here is something I DO know about scheduling: imagine its 27 years ago and your favorite team just finished in 5th place…

Week 16: Green Bay Packers at Arizona Cardinals

Sunday, December 27, 2015; 3:25 PM on Fox

Last Meeting at this Venue: L 45-51 OT January 10, 2010

What You Don’t Need to Know About This Game:

• It’s hard to believe it’s already been five years since the famed playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals. While that’s the last time the Packers have played there in any capacity, the last regular season game in Arizona was a 33-7 Packers rout of the Cards just seven days before that fateful playoff game.

• Mike McCarthy’s Packers have played the Cardinals four times. Never once have they scored fewer than 31 points.

• The Cardinals’ defense was quite an anomaly last season. Despite allowing the 9th most yards, they held opponents to the 5th fewest points.

Week 17: Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers

Sunday, January 3, 2016; 12:00 PM on Fox

Last Meeting at this Venue: W 42-10 October 2, 2014

What You Don’t Need to Know About This Game:

• Mike McCarthy is 14-4-1 against the Vikings. Average score: 29-19.

• The Packers trounced the Vikings 42-10 at Lambeau Field in 2014. It was the 4th highest margin of victory in the series’ history. It was surpassed by Packers wins in 2011 (45-7, +38) and 2007 (34-0) and a Vikings 42-7 win (+35) in 1986.

• While the Packers/Bears all-time series record gets tighter, the Packers/Vikings series continues to get out of hand. When Mike McCarthy became the Packers’ head coach following the 2005 season, the Packers all-time record against Minnesota was 44-45-1. Now, it’s 58-49-2.

• The Vikings have not won at Lambeau Field in their last six games there (0-5-1 record). That’s their longest Lambeau Field losing streak in franchise history

• Mike McCarthy’s Packers are 8-1 in regular season finales. His only loss was in 2012 at the hands of these Vikings in the Metrodome (37-34). The Packers have been an impressive 37-15-2 in regular season finales since 1960.

Fun fact: if all of the ‘Last Meeting at this Venue’ games repeat themselves, the Packers will go 12-4, which seems like a pretty solid prediction for this team. Well I’m spent, but I hope you found some of this at least slightly interesting. Next week, Green and Gold Forever will be back with a podcast to review the schedule and preview the draft.

Thanks for reading.

-Eric