Stop worrying about the Packers' record coming out of bye

The narrative isn't overblown, it's just wrong.

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There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the Green Bay Packers coming out of the bye week.

Two high-profile ass-kickings early in the Matt LaFleur era followed by an inglorious playoff exit with the No. 1 overall seed have skewed the narrative surrounding the Packers as they come out of their bye week. While there are worthy criticisms of LaFleur that have survived into the transition from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love, this bye week worry is not one of them.

Let’s start with the obvious ones. In 2019, the San Francisco 49ers stomped Green Bay 37-8. Do you remember if that was the playoff score or the regular season one? No, you probably don’t. And that’s the point. The ‘19 Packers were not on the level with that San Francisco team despite going to the NFC Championship Game. Getting destroyed coming out of the bye had nothing to do with something out of the bye and everything to do with playing a team they weren’t equipped to beat.

It happened again the following season, a 38-10 defeat at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Fast forward once again to the playoffs and what was the halftime score of the NFC Championship Game? It was 21-10 that became 28-10 after the Packers fumbled on the first drive of the second half. Green Bay DC Mike Pettine couldn’t stop Tom Brady and the Bucs in the regular season and the defense couldn’t stop him in the playoffs. It’s not particularly surprising and it has nothing to do with the bye week.

How do we know?