Last week, the title of this column was “All Wins are Good Wins.” We were coming out of a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals that didn’t exactly inspire confidence in the team among a portion of the fanbase, but my point was that we’ve already seen countless examples this season of teams struggling to win games they “should” win. Every win should be considered valuable.

Well, this past weekend, the Green Bay Packers traveled to Arizona and defeated the Cardinals after trailing the vast majority of the game and having quite a few difficulties in all phases of the game. But in the end, they were victorious, improving their record to 4-1-1, giving them the best record in the conference.

There were certainly some understandable frustrations with the team. The offense managed to put up only six points in the first half, and that includes relying on an untested kicker to boot a franchise-record 61 yarder. Matt LaFleur seemed unwilling to take the cap off his offense, and the offense itself struggled to gain traction. The special teams was doing Packer special teams things. There were far too many mistakes. 

But let’s look at the game from another lens as well. The Packers have, in recent years, struggled with trips out west. Here, they had a long trip that included a five-hour delay on the tarmac before they even took off, which almost certainly took them out of their typical routine. They have multiple key players out with injury or playing with injury. They were playing a team that, while on a losing streak, has played everyone close and lost those four games by a combined nine points. 

Despite all these factors and a first half full of miscues, the Packers rallied to a hard-fought victory on the backs of great late play by Jordan Love and Micah Parsons. 

The Parsons explosion was especially important. With three sacks on the day and numerous other pressures, Parsons looked every bit the part of a franchise-altering player. He was the most valuable player on the field on Sunday; there’s a pretty decent chance the Packers do not win that game without him. 

Right now, the only team that looks consistently strong is one that nobody would have ever predicted to be in this position before the season started: the Indianapolis Colts. Every other upper-tier team in the league has had some pretty “yikes” moments throughout the season so far. 

Here are the facts:

• The Packers are 4-1-1
• Their wins include dominant performances over two preseason contenders, as well as nail-biters against lesser competition
• Their loss was inexcusably bad and their tie created more room for doubt in their defense
• They have the best record in the NFC at this point of the season (for whatever that’s worth)
• Their quarterback has only turned the ball over twice after having done so multiple times more frequently in the first halves of the 2023 and 2024 seasons
• Their defense has been good more often than it has not
• Their offense has been good more often than it has not
• There is still plenty of room for improvement across the board

All of these things are true about the Packers in this moment. The team will continue to grow and improve throughout the season (or at least, one would hope), and it’s really not until after Thanksgiving that you can start to say with any certainty who or what a team is–and even then, it’s not always the case. 

There were a lot of “sky is falling” takes on my social media throughout the game, but I think it’s important to gain some perspective. At the moment, nobody’s running away with the league. The Packers are in as good a position as anyone else, and until we get proof otherwise, they’re capable of beating anyone at any time. 

Wisconsin Beer of the Week

I’ve been really vibing with the fall flavors in beer lately; Oktoberfests, brown ales, pumpkin beers, barrel aged scotch ales. Here’s one that features some fall flavors with a bit more fruit and sourness.

Young Blood Beer Company based out of Madison has been featured in this space a number of times. They’re known for their ridiculous beer names (usually pop culture references) and their fruited sours. This particular beer, Umami or Ooo-Daddy, is an apple pie inspired sour with apple, graham cracker, cinnamon, and vanilla umami. It’s got a very pleasant sour apple flavor that is right at home with fall, and comes in at a hefty nine percent ABV. This came as a surprise to me, because it goes down very, very smoothly and feels fairly light. 

It’s not a beer for everyone; there are certainly traditionalists who cannot do the fruit or the sour stuff. But if you’re interested in trying something new, it’s certainly one I’d recommend for the season. 

Young Blood’s distribution tends to cover the majority of Wisconsin, so you should be able to find it (or other beers by them) at your local liquor store. I picked mine up at Woodman’s!

Okay, let’s talk about the other guy

I’ve generally tried to avoid using this column to talk about Aaron Rodgers since he left the team except for when it was clearly relevant to other things happening with the team or in a historical context. In fact, I think I’ve barely mentioned him at all so far this season. 

But now, the Packers will see Rodgers as an opponent for the first time since he left the team after the 2022 season, and, quite understandably, there’s a lot of focus on that particular storyline heading into this game.

Frankly, to me, this isn’t a “Favre playing the Packers with the Vikings” story. I don’t even necessarily see it as THE story of the game; I’m more interested in how the Packers are continuing to evolve as a team that ostensibly has championship aspirations this season. But sure, there’s definitely some intrigue in watching Rodgers play AGAINST the green and gold, even if the game isn’t at Lambeau Field (what a shame, too). 

Rodgers has played pretty well so far this season in helping the Steelers to a 4-2 start. He’s got a 68.6 completion percentage, putting him over his career average. He’s got 14 touchdowns, putting him on pace to throw 39 this season. He’s also got five interceptions, so he’s on pace for 14 of those. His yards per attempt is the best it’s been since his 2021 MVP season, and his 105 rating is well over his ratings for his last two complete seasons he’s played. 

So yes, Rodgers is playing the best football he’s played since leaving Green Bay. Part of that is the coaching and the stability of the franchise. Part of that is the players he’s got to throw to. I mean, it’s hard not to see leaving the Jets as a massive upgrade. 

Clearly Rodgers is not yet “washed,” as the kids would say. He may turn 42 in December, but he’s still capable of playing at a pretty high level, even if he’s no longer the top 5 player he was perennially for the majority of his career.

As for what is most intriguing about his first matchup with the Packers, there’s really not all that much. It’s been three years since he left, and most of the team now only knows Jordan Love as the team’s quarterback and leader. Even a guy like Romeo Doubs, who did catch passes from Rodgers, has had three times as much football with Love. Most of the team’s most important players were either playing elsewhere or not in the league yet when Rodgers last carried the G.

The question becomes, then, exactly how much is Rodgers going to be able to give the Steelers when it comes to Matt LaFleur’s offense? Sure, Rodgers and LaFleur know each other well, but the offense has had to understandably shift quite a bit in the transition from Rodgers to Love. While there are many of the same concepts, Rodgers and Love are different players with different strengths, and the composition of the offense also influences the different game plans and concepts the Packers are likely to throw out.

The defense is a completely different animal from the last time Rodgers saw it up close, so there’s not really a whole lot of insight he’ll have there–at least no more than he’d have with any other opponent that you’d only see once every few years.

With the game being played in Pittsburgh, a team that is not at all a rival of the Packers, the atmosphere will be absolutely nothing like it would in Green Bay, or like it was when the Packers played Favre for the first time. So while there might be a lot of cameras on Rodgers and a lot of storylines played out in the media, we’re unlikely to see much of that translate into the actual atmosphere of the game. For the vast majority of these guys, it’s really just another football game. And that’s even true for most of the home fans.

All this is a long way of saying yes, there is SOME intrigue in the Rodgers/Packers matchup, but I certainly don’t expect a whole lot in the way of a unique game atmosphere. Rodgers will likely come out with a chip on his shoulder. There will almost certainly be respectful interactions between Rodgers and Love and Rodgers and LaFleur. But don’t expect any melodrama.

If anything, it’s one last time for Packer fans to see Rodgers up close before he hangs it up for good.

The elusive takeaway makes an appearance

The Packers have been one of the league’s worst teams this year when it comes to taking the ball away from its opponents. However, a takeaway finally manifested itself on Sunday, and it may have been a key difference maker in the game.

In the second half, the Cardinals appeared to be driving, and Evan Williams had just given up a critical pass interference penalty. Suddenly, though, Rashan Gary managed to force a fumble that was recovered by none other than Williams. The Packers got the ball with good field position, and their fortunes began to turn.

In a game that ended up being separated by a single score, it’s hard to overstate the impact that one turnover could have. The Cardinals appeared to be picking up offensive momentum and could have taken that drive down to the endzone. 

This is a defense that managed to take the ball away quite frequently at the start of last season. Remember that insane streak of interceptions by Xavier McKinney? Yeah, he’s only got one this season on what was essentially an arm punt.

The Packers are going to have to find ways to continue to create those takeaways on defense, because it takes the pressure off the rest of the defense, and also helps to shorten the field for the offense. Takeaways tend to come in bunches; once a team starts playing with the confidence that they will create those takeaways, you start to see them happening more frequently. 

Around the NFC North

As always, it’s time to go around the NFC North. 

• The CHICAGO BEARS have won four games in a row for the first time since 2018 (the season Mitch Trubisky took them to the playoffs and they lost on the “double doink”), and suddenly there’s a lot more positivity in Chicago. Has Ben Johnson really transformed the Bears into NOT a laughingstock? Well, it’s still too early to say, but they certainly have a favorable schedule the next few weeks (Baltimore, Cincinnati, NY Giants). There’s a legitimate chance this team could get up to a seven-game winning streak. Wouldn’t that be something? I still don’t see the Bears as a playoff team, but stranger things have happened.

• The DETROIT LIONS responded to their loss against Kansas City with a convincing victory against the Buccaneers, who had been starting to get a lot of attention as an upstart team with an MVP contender quarterback (with a great story to boot). The Bucs never really managed to threaten the Lions at Ford Field, and this once again has the look of a team that’s going to be a tough out by the time January football arrives.

• The MINNESOTA VIKINGS had a tough outing against the defending champion Eagles, and have alternated wins and losses the entire season so far. History then would indicate they’re on track for a victory against the Chargers, but this is a road game against a pretty solid Charger team. With the Bears having really picked it up this season, the Vikings need as many wins as they can get to keep pace in a crowded NFC North. However, their next two games (at Chargers, at Detroit) are going to be tough. There’s a chance the Vikings are going to be struggling for their lives before Thanksgiving.

Mr. Backes’s “This or That”

Every day I put a different “this or that” poll up on my whiteboard and have students leave tallies throughout the day. I then compile this information and post it here for laughs.

Here’s what we’ve seen over the last week (only had a couple days of school due to a short fall break after conferences):

• Fridays off defeated Mondays off
• Bernie the Brewer and Bango the Buck TIED... which is ridiculous to me, because all Bernie does is go down a slide!

Week 8 NFL Picks

It’ll be a long week of hype, but the Packers are simply a better team than the Steelers. While playing on the road in primetime is tough, especially in a place like Pittsburgh, the Packers will get the win and prevent Aaron Rodgers from becoming the fifth player to defeat all 32 teams.

Other games:

CHARGERS over Vikings

FALCONS over Dolphins

RAVENS over Bears

BENGALS over Jets

BILLS over Panthers

TEXANS over 49ers

PATRIOTS over Browns

EAGLES over Giants

BUCS over Saints

COLTS over Titans

COWBOYS over Broncos

PACKERS over Steelers

CHIEFS over Commanders