The Green Bay Packers are experiencing a lot of changes leading into the 2023 season. The team hopes that theme will continue by being competitive in a season opener.

The last two years of the Aaron Rodgers era began with embarrassing losses to begin the season. The Packers kicked off the 2021 season by getting thumped by the New Orleans Saints 38-3. In their season opener last year, they were defeated by the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 23-7.

Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst and head coach Matt LaFleur knew something had to change, especially with a roster stocked with young players at key positions. They decided to have every starter play aside from David Bakhtiari, Rashan Gary and Jaire Alexander in an attempt to get the entire team acclimated and ready to work together, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.

“A lot of the discussion after the last couple preseasons with Matt and I have been, ‘OK maybe it’s time to do something different in preseason,’” Gutekunst said, via ESPN. “Then certainly once we started putting the team together and it looked like it did, it was like, ‘OK these guys really do need as many reps as we can get.' I think we probably played them even a little bit more just because of the makeup of our football team.”

The risk of having a starter injured was real. Tight end Tyler Davis indeed suffered a torn ACL, costing the Packers depth on special teams and in their offense. The payoff for getting Jordan Love and other key players more experience together seems to have been worth it, though.

“We’ll see, but I think we’re in a better spot than [we] had been in the past,” Gutekunst said, via ESPN.

The Packers will begin their season with a road matchup against the Chicago Bears, who had themselves a big offseason by revamping the offense around young quarterback Justin Fields and snagging some big-time free agents on the defensive side of the ball. The oldest rivalry in football features two squads rebuilding around young quarterbacks. The game should be competitive as both teams try to find their footing.