Packers Get a Clean Slate as They Head to Seattle

Time to make some new, and better, memories there

GREEN BAY – Sunday night will mark the first time the Packers under Head Coach Matt LaFleur will play at Seattle.

That sounds like as good an opportunity as any to declare a clean slate for Green Bay in the Emerald City. It’s time for this franchise to make some new, and better, memories there.

The ones the Packers have from the last regime are among the lowlights, the kind everyone would rather forget but can’t.

Since Green Bay’s last win in Seattle – which came in Aaron Rodgers’ first season as starting QB in 2008 against Seahawks QB … anyone? … Charlie Frye, as the two teams combined for a whopping 10 wins that year – the Packers have endured …

- The Fail Mary in 2012,
- A beatdown to open 2014 as the Seahawks began defense of their Super Bowl title,
- A meltdown to blow the NFC title game at the end of that season, which ranks amongst the top three worst losses in franchise history,
- And a disheartening three-point loss on a Thursday night in 2018 just 2½ weeks before Mike McCarthy’s run as head coach came to an end.

This column won’t be about rehashing any of those defeats, though it was funny to hear Packers QB Jordan Love remember that his 13-year-old self posted something on Instagram, since deleted, after watching the Fail Mary.

But it is about the chance to truly turn the page in a place that obviously hasn’t been kind.

As mentioned, LaFleur’s Packers have never played there, and only two players on the current roster – Kenny Clark and Jaire Alexander – have ever played there with Green Bay. Clark was in his third year and Alexander a rookie for the 2018 visit in which both were defensive starters.

But that’s it. Any other veterans who have played in Seattle, such as kicker Brandon McManus, running back Josh Jacobs, linebacker Eric Wilson or cornerback Keisean Nixon, did so with other teams.

So it really is time to start a new chapter, and all the better with the Packers (9-4) in the thick of the wild-card chase and the Seahawks (8-5) looking to hold onto first place in the NFC West.

Heck, this could even be a playoff preview, with the Packers possibly flying right back there a month from now with far more at stake.

“It should be an electric environment,” LaFleur said. “It’s going to be a playoff-type atmosphere.”

But no need to jump ahead. The Packers have plenty to deal with Sunday night against a Seahawks team that has won four straight, intercepted five passes (including two pick-sixes) during their winning streak, and is motivated as all get-out with the L.A. Rams right on their heels in that division race.

“Shoot, the last four weeks, since they’ve gotten off their bye, I think they’re one of the top units in the league,” LaFleur said of Seattle’s defense. “It’s going to be a really good challenge for us and test to see where we’re at, see how we handle some of the elements, some of the things that are out of our control.”

Put another way, it can serve as an important playoff tune-up for the Packers in a loud, raucous road venue. With Green Bay effectively out of contention in the NFC North and just a win or two from securing a wild-card spot, its postseason path will be on the road against hostile crowds.

Which makes Seattle’s Lumen Field, as well as Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium in two weeks, places that will prepare them as well as any for what it will take to win when everything’s on the line.

“I mean, there’s still a lot of ball left, and we’ve got to handle our own business and take care of business, so we’re focused on this game, period,” LaFleur said. “But I do think every opportunity for you to go on the road … can harden you and make you better.”

So that’s where the focus lies, as the longtime QB matchup of Rodgers vs. Russell Wilson has given way to Love vs. Geno Smith.

The noise will still be there, but the bad memories won’t, not with these Packers anyway. They’re out to make their own history in Seattle.