The first Saturday of every month, Packers President and CEO Ed Policy will write about a topic of interest to Packers fans and the organization and then answer fan questions. Fans are encouraged to email Ed with their name and hometown at: [email protected].
It is hard to believe that it is 2026 and the end of the regular season is upon us. It feels like just yesterday we were starting training camp and our guys were riding bikes across the street. Now we sit at 9-6-1 with a divisional matchup to go, and a playoff spot solidified.
Adversity is the norm in the National Football League, and I am extremely proud of how our team has handled many challenges. Last season we struggled within our division and this year we improved to 4-1. We’ve persevered through a litany of injuries and a very challenging schedule and placed ourselves in a position to compete for our ultimate goal, a Super Bowl championship.
Tomorrow, we will play our regular-season finale and then prepare for a playoff run. Given we won’t host any more games at Lambeau this season, I want to take a moment to thank our fans who have brought the energy throughout our regular season. You showed up both at home and on the road to support our guys. It has been an incredible season both in Green Bay and across the entire NFL. More people are tuning in than ever before, and quite frankly, the product on TV is better than we’ve ever seen, which is reflected in record-setting ratings. Games are closer than ever as Aaron from Allouez mentions in his question.
Happy New Year! Thanks for everything during this season, and if you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading Policy’s Perspective throughout the season. Now let’s get to your questions.
Thank you for keeping up this column. Probably wrong area to ask this but could you hint our team historian to a little story on “Yooper” influences on the team? Yoopers are us folks from northern Michigan (over the bridge). Mostly Packer fans up here, some Lions fans more toward east side. I was born and raised in Ishpeming and have lived in Escanaba for 50 years. Some topics I thought of (my spelling probably misses in a few cases): Matt LaFleur was quarterbacks assistant for head coach Bernie Anderson (also from Ishpeming) at NMU in Marquette; Gene Ronzani, head coach from Iron Mountain; Steve Mariucci, assistant coach from both Iron Mountain (born/raised) and NMU (player quarterback Div. III national champs); Rollie Dotsch, assistant and was at NMU; Packers’ first road game, against Ishpeming.
Thanks for the question, Dave. There’s a lot to unpack there, and I could indulge you with the history of how the U.P. was wrongfully annexed from Wisconsin to Michigan to resolve a dispute between Ohio and Michigan over incorrect maps in the mid-1800s, but I’ll stick to football. As you’ve mentioned, we have numerous deep ties with the U.P. going way back to our beginnings in 1919. While those teams that we played up there in years past obviously no longer exist, the ties to the U.P. have continued from Mooch to Coach Ronzani in the early 1950s. Some other Packers with U.P. ties whom fans may remember are assistant coaches Burt Gustafson (1971-74, 1977-78; from Marquette) and Frank Novak (2000-04; quarterback at Northen Michigan, coach at Iron Mountain High School and Northern Michigan), as well as punter Dick Deschaine (1955-57, from Menominee). It might not be within my authority, but despite being Michiganders in name, we are proud to call the majority of Yoopers Packers fans.
Sam from Dallas, TX (born in Madison, WI)
Mr. Policy, hope you are staying warm and well! A common source of grumbling I see from fans (and perhaps players as well) is that the bye weeks are often too early or too late in a season. Wouldn’t a better solution be to do two weeks in the middle of the season where NFC teams all take a rest while the AFC teams play and then the next week swap? In the next year, you could swap which conference has their bye week first. These could be called “divisional weeks” and have everyone play an inter-division rivalry game! Curious to hear your thoughts on this. The networks would have to be willing to share the games but could be a lot of fun! Have a great one and Go Pack Go!
Thanks for your question, Sam. This is an interesting topic. As you probably know, this year we had a bye in Week 5, which is the earliest you can have a bye. Byes fall between Week 5 and Week 14 with no byes on Thanksgiving week. Bye weeks were actually first introduced in 1960 when an odd number of teams forced one team to sit out each week. As the league grew, bye weeks came and went but were never as standardized as they are now. In 1990, the modern bye week schedule was first introduced. In fact, in 1993 the league briefly experimented with two bye weeks per team! While your idea of two structured byes in the middle of the season is an interesting one, a Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night schedule with only eight games would present some challenges from a TV-viewership standpoint. Then again it would give some fans who frequently tune into NFC games a chance to watch their AFC counterparts one weekend. I will say I have been through plenty of seasons where an early bye seemed inconvenient at best, but once we got there, I was glad it was the bye week.
Ed, last month you said this is one of your favorite times of the year and I appreciated your take on Thanksgiving dinner. Give me your top Christmas movies!
Thanks, Matt. Admittedly not a ton of time for movies this time of year but if I happen to have a free evening here is what me and the boys are throwing on.
- “It’s a Wonderful Life” – A timeless classic, need I say more? George Bailey encapsulates the Packers spirit, putting his community first!
- “Home Alone” – Every year I struggle with the concept of someone actually forgetting their kid at home. Seems like a stretch, but a good watch every year, ya filthy animals.
- “Christmas Vacation” – I have to admit I take on a Clark Griswold-esque alter ego every December much to my family’s chagrin.
- “A Christmas Story” – Hits close to home. I nearly shot my eye out with a BB gun as a kid.
- “A Christmas Carol” – But the book is better than the movie.
Honorable Mention: “Die Hard” –Yes, it is a Christmas movie. Yippee Ki‐Yay.
Ed, the one perk of the Packers playing Saturday last week was that I got to spend much of Sunday completing my honey-do list with the games on in the background. Unfortunately for me, and my wife, the games were so good I somehow ended up on the couch with a beer in hand watching the Bills/Eagles Game and then the Bears (boo)/49ers game (boo again, respectfully though given your dad’s career). That being said, it feels like there have been so many great games this year. I know nutjobs on Twitter say the NFL is scripted, but doesn’t it feel like there have been a ton of great games this year?
Aaron, appreciate the question and hope your to-do list around the house got done eventually. Games this year have been better than ever before. As I mentioned in my intro, the product on TV and the ratings speak for themselves. But there have been a record number of close games this season. Nearly 70% of all games have been decided by one score or less. Additionally, 57 games this season have been decided by a score in the closing minutes of regulation or overtime. So, you aren’t imagining it, the games are closer than ever before, and this is why the NFL is consistently the most popular program to watch on TV. Forty-eight of the top 50 most-watched programs on TV since the season started are NFL games. In fact, I’m proud to share that of the top 10 most-watched NFL games this year, two of them are Packers games, and our Thanksgiving game was the second most-watched NFL regular-season game ever. If games keep being as close and interesting as they are right now, it might be best to get that list of chores done on Friday night or Saturday morning.
Hi Ed, as a longtime football fan and shareholder, there’s something I’ve always wanted to know. Who decides which uniforms are worn for each game and how is that decided upon? With the recent change to wearing white socks on the road instead of green, it’s something I’m very interested in. Is it the equipment staff? Game ops? Players?
Thanks for your very observant question, Josh. Each season once our schedule for the year is released, we send the NFL our uniform choices for home games. Then for away games our uniforms are dictated by the jersey choice of the home team. Obviously for throwbacks or other alternate uniforms, different accessories change accordingly. Regarding your question about socks, we noticed that there were inconsistencies across our away uniforms. This resulted in varying degrees of white showing on the green socks which unintentionally didn’t look uniform. With player input this year we decided to try white socks on the road while maintaining our green socks at home. In the spirit of keeping uniforms well, uniform, we are giving white socks a try this year.
