Packers won’t allow fans at games to start season

The Green Bay Packers will not allow fans at Lambeau Field for a bit.

No fans will be allowed to attend the Green Bay Packers‘ first two home games this season.

While reduced capacity is expected to be the norm at the 30 stadiums NFL teams call home, the Packers won’t consider having fans in attendance until after their Week 5 bye. This means if you were planning on watching the Packers host the division rival Detroit Lions for their home opener in Week 2 or the Atlanta Falcons in Week 4 on Monday Night Football in person, that’s too bad.

Though we can’t blame the Packers for choosing safety over finances, this is a tough blow for them in the early part of their season. Keep in mind their two other games before the Week 5 bye are at the division rival Minnesota Vikings in Week 1 and at the NFC South favorite New Orleans Saints in Week 3. Green Bay needs to beat the Lions and Falcons at home, now without fans.

Could the Green Bay Packers start the season out in a dreaded 0-4 hole?

0-4 might be a major overreaction here, but the Packers have the potential to get off to a very slow start. Minnesota is a major division rival, it’s at the Vikings’ place and losing on the road at U.S. Bank Stadium wouldn’t be unheard of fir the Packers. Dropping a road game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to the New Orleans Saints feels more like a scheduled loss than a win.

However, we can’t expect the Lions and the Falcons to be as bad as they were a season ago. If Matthew Stafford is healthy for Detroit, the Lions will be about a .500 team. That’s what they were before he had to miss the second half of the season and the team cratered. Atlanta finished the year on a 6-2 run. With Dan Quinn’s job on the line, don’t for a second count out the Falcons.

Taking the crowd out of it makes the field of play a tad more manageable for the Lions and the Falcons to pull off road upsets. Detroit may rarely win in Lambeau, but Atlanta did hand the Packers their first home playoff loss of the Super Bowl era way back in 2002 when Michael Vick was the star quarterback.

Green Bay’s next home game would be on Nov. 1 vs. the Vikings. The Packers play six of their final 10 games of the season at home. With those dates being after Halloween, that might bode well for the Packers to go on a run late in the year and catch fire when it’s freezing outside. However, there is no reason to believe Green Bay is going 13-3 again, especially with a first-place schedule.

Packers fans will have to wait until Nov. 1 before they can think about heading to Lambeau Field.