Yesterday afternoon, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the NFL would explore an idea of potentially a 17th game in the NFL season. The competition committee has a full right to explore this idea then it would require a vote this offseason. The 17th game would be an AFC vs. NFC matchup, and they would decide the matchup based on the records of the team. This is interesting on a variety of levels. It’s likely the NFL things they can own Labor Day weekend and steal it away from college football. And they can likely shave off a preseason game replacing it with the revenue of a 17th game. If this happens, what does that look like for the Green Bay Packers? Well, it makes the schedule a bit harder, to say the least.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, regarding a 17th game in 2021, “We did not take any votes with respect to committing to do it.” The league did approve the scheduling formula if it happens, though. “It obviously comes into play with respect to future media arrangements."

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 16, 2020

This is pure speculation on my behalf, but here’s how I think they would do it. Let’s start with 2020 then we’ll get to 2021 and 2022. This year, Green Bay played the AFC South. Last season the Packers played the AFC West, and next year, they’ll play the AFC North. Due to all of that, their opponent would have been the New England Patriots. This is probably still a primetime or late afternoon game for the networks even without Tom Brady. Using this same logic, they play the AFC North next season with the AFC East upcoming in 2022. This means Green Bay will play Kansas City… Fun!

Conspiracy Chuck would wonder if the league knows this would be the matchup, and they could get Aaron Rodgers vs. Patrick Mahomes in 2021, so, they’re like full steam ahead! I have no proof of this obviously. Where would the game be played? NFL has said they’ll split it up. How I would personally do it is play in the location opposite of the previous game if possible. The league has said they’re going to balance it out with AFC and NFC having equal home games that week. Is it possible to ‘flip’ from the last time the teams played? Let’s look at the NFC North.

Hypothetical 17th Game matchups: NFC North vs AFC West
Kansas City at Green Bay
Minnesota at Las Vegas
Denver at Chicago
Detroit at Los Angeles

So for the NFC North vs. AFC West matchups, they actually work out perfectly. Is this the case for all divisions? Unsure. It is probably something I’ll look into today instead of working because this is the stuff that gets my sports nerd brain going.

If this does happen and Green Bay wins the Super Bowl, we’ll see you Thursday of Labor Day weekend with Rodgers versus Mahomes.

Charlie.