Matt LaFleur reveals fascinating perspective on strange 2026 season and its impact on Packers
The head coach is already thinking about how he can make life easier for his players, and how the schedule will affect the outcome of the season.
The Green Bay Packers will have a unique and weird schedule in 2026. Only 12 of the 17 games are going to be on Sundays, with other matchups on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
If that’s a lot for fans to digest, imagine how the coaching staff is feeling. Matt LaFleur and his assistants will have to adapt and find the best path to make life easier for the players without missing preparation time.
“Every year, the schedule is the challenge,” LaFleur told Packers.com. “Certainly, one of the things that I think factors in each and every year is the health of your football team and how you implement deloading weeks to take a little off the players. The one thing that’s unique about this year, it’s probably the most unique schedule in regards to how many days you have off in between games that we’ve ever experienced.”
Not a true bye week
The Packers won’t have a traditional bye week. With a Wednesday game on Thanksgiving Eve, the Packers are set for a mini-bye, the Los Angeles Rams game, then another mini-bye. With a “Thursday Night Football” scheduled for earlier in the regular season, the Packers will essentially have three mini-byes spread throughout the year.
“It’s a different situation,” LaFleur explained. “We’re not coming off a traditional bye, where you have a full week. It’s gonna be kind of a mini-bye, and then we have another mini-bye, I would say, right after that game. So it’s just one of those things that, with as popular as the NFL has gotten, you just got to get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
The Packers start the season with five of their first nine games on the road, but round it out with four of the last five at home. That’s not necessarily a built-in advantage, though. Playing well in the cold is an identity the Packers will have to build.
“You just got to take it one week at a time,” LaFleur added. “Certainly, I think it’s always important to start the season on a good note, but having four of five at the end of the year, especially with the conditions that you get up there in Green Bay, could be a big advantage for us.”
It’s an unusual schedule for the Packers. But in an NFL wanting to expand even more, that should be the long-term norm moving forward.