Why The 2025 Green Bay Packers Could Be The Franchise’s Best Team Since 1996

The 1996 Green Bay Packers had the NFL’s No. 1 scoring offense and scoring defense.

No one has accomplished that rare feat since.

Don’t be surprised if the 2025 Packers make a run at that remarkable achievement.

Yes, Green Bay has played just two games. But the Packers have thoroughly dominated two of the NFL’s elite teams — Detroit and Washington — and seem poised for a run at greatness.

“I learned that we have a really good team,” Packers running back Josh Jacobs said after the Packers dismantled the Commanders, 27-18, on Thursday and improved to 2-0. “But I think that we can really be elite and real special if we lock in and just on the small details, we definitely could go where we want go.”

Those 1996 Packers — led by league MVP Brett Favre, and fellow Hall of Famers Reggie White and LeRoy Butler — were sensational on both sides of the ball. Green Bay appears every bit as dominant on both offense and defense today, but its special teams aren’t up to snuff.

Here’s a look at why these 2025 Packers could be every bit as good offensively and defensively as that 1996 team.

DEFENSE

Green Bay allowed just 210 points in 1996, an average of 13.1 points per game. The 2025 Packers have allowed 15.5 points in their first two games against a pair of high-powered offenses.

Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons has been everything, and more, that Green Bay could have hoped after trading for him on Aug. 28. Parsons has 1.5 sacks, but that doesn’t begin to tell the entire story.

He also has 11 pressures, including eight against Washington, as well as four quarterback hits. Parsons is the Packers’ best pass rusher since Reggie White, and the constant double teams he draws has freed things up for the rest of the defensive line.

To date, defensive end Rashan Gary has 2.5 sacks, tackle Devonte Wyatt has 2.0, and seven different Packers have at least 0.5 sacks.

Right now, that group compares favorably to the 1996 defensive line of White, Sean Jones, Santana Dotson and Gilbert Brown.

“Whenever Micah’s on the field, it’s really pick your poison,” Gary said of Parsons. “We just have to stay consistent and just keep proving ourselves through the season. But having a guy like that definitely makes a lot of things easier.”

The 1996 Packers had a Hall of Fame safety in LeRoy Butler, who had a career season that year with 6.5 sacks and five interceptions. Xavier McKinney, who leads Green Bay’s current secondary, isn’t quite at Butler’s level, but he’s close.

Today’s corners, Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine and Nate Hobbs, rival the 1996 group of Craig Newsome, Doug Evans and Tyrone Williams. Safety Eugene Robinson, who teamed with Butler, was a superior to what Evan Williams is today.

Green Bay’s best linebacker in 1996 was the extremely talented, but sometimes volatile Wayne Simmons. Second-year man Edgerrin Cooper is quickly becoming one of the best linebackers in football today.

One week after playing a huge role in taking away Detroit star running back Jahmyr Gibbs in Week 1, Cooper had 10 tackles, two quarterback hits and 0.5 sacks against Washington.

“The guy’s a beast,” Gary said of Cooper. “Just a beast.”

The same could be said for this Green Bay defense.

“We don’t give a (expletive) who we play, when, where, why, how,” Hobbs said. “You’re playing a bunch of dogs on defense. We’re dogs that swarm and … we just don’t give a (expletive) who you are.”

OFFENSE

Green Bay averaged 28.5 points per game in 1996, while the 2025 Packers are averaging 27.0 points per contest. Green Bay finished fifth in passing offense and 11^th in rushing offense in 1996.

Brett Favre, arguably the best player in franchise history, was at the peak of his powers in 1996. Favre, who turned 27 during the 1996 season, threw 39 touchdowns, 13 interceptions and won his second straight MVP award that year.

Jordan Love, who will also turn 27 in November, isn’t at Favre’s level. But Love is a darkhorse MVP candidate and appears poised to become one of the top five quarterbacks in football this year.

“He’s right where we need him to be,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said of Love. “I think he’s very, very comfortable with where he is as a leader on this football, and we’re going to need him.”

Green Bay had perhaps the NFL’s best group of pass catchers when the 1996 season began. Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman formed an elite wide receiver duo, while Keith Jackson and Mark Chmura were the NFL’s top tight end tandem. When Brooks went down with an ACL tear in Week 7, the Packers signed Andre Rison four weeks later and didn’t miss a beat.

Green Bay’s receiving group isn’t as gifted today. But the Packers are deep at wideout and could have another terrific tight end duo in emerging star Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave.

“(Kraft) comes in and puts that work in,” Love said of Kraft. “In practice every day, he’s making those big-time plays and he’s very consistent right now. I don’t think it’s a secret for him to go out there and ball like he does.”

While Dorsey Levens was an emerging star in 1996, current standout Josh Jacobs is better than any running back on that team from 29 years ago. And the Packers’ offensive line today is superior to that 1996 group.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Desmond Howard led the NFL in punt return yardage (870), punt return average (15.1) and punt return touchdowns (three) back in 1996. It was the postseason, though, where Howard really caught America’s attention.

First, on a muddy field in the NFC Divisional game against San Francisco, Howard brought a punt back 71 yards for a touchdown, and later returned a punt 46 yards to the 49ers’ 7-yard line to set up another TD.

Howard then had 244 all-purpose yards in Super Bowl XXXI — highlighted by a 99-yard touchdown return — which earned him MVP honors.

Green Bay’s current special teams continue to be sloppy and mistake prone and pale in comparison to the 1996 group.

OVERALL

The 1996 Packers dominated the league from start to finish. Green Bay began that year 3-0 and 8-1, then won their final eight games and finished 16-3 overall.

The 2025 Packers have all the pieces to be Green Bay’s best team since 1996.

Yes, the Packers won the Super Bowl in 2010, but that group was 8-6 at one point before heating up late and rolling off six straight wins to end the year. The 2011 team was 15-1 in the regular season, but struggled all year on defense.

The 2014 team bordered on elite, before melting down in the second half of the NFC Championship Game and losing to Seattle, 28-22, in overtime. The 2020 Packers were the NFC’s No. 1 seed, but flopped in the conference title game and fell to visiting Tampa Bay, 31-26.

These Packers have all the ingredients to dominate the way that 1996 team. And by the time Super Bowl LX rolls around in Feb., 2026, they could challenge what that remarkable Green Bay team did nearly three decades ago.