Packers Week 2 FanPulse shows only slight improvement after win over Bears

The Green Bay Packers played a tremendous game last Thursday night in the opener, at least in a couple phases. The defense was magnificent against Mitchell Trubisky and a lackluster Chicago Bears offense, while the special teams showed marked improvement in the first game since moving on from Ron Zook as coordinator.

However, the offense struggled mightily, likely due to a combination of factors. The Bears’ excellent defense certainly played a significant part in that, and their success on early downs prevented Matt LaFleur and the Packers from getting to everything they had in their game plan. However, communication issues were present as well, and the whole operation seemed to be choppy rather than running smoothly.

The first game and first snaps of a new quarterback-head coach pairing can have that effect, but it was perhaps more pronounced than Packers fans expected. So while the defense looks like a strength after one game, there is hesitation on the part of the fan base to fully buy into this team as a contender. Those feelings bear out in this week’s FanPulse surveys.

After coming into week one with 61% of Packers fans feeling confident in the direction of the team, that number did increase following the win. However, the bump was only seven points, moving up to 68% after week one. Interestingly, that still trails the 71% number at the start of the preseason.

Here’s a look at the trend from the end of the 2018 season to today:

Meanwhile, Chicago Bears fans saw their confidence fall off a figurative cliff following the game. Coming into week one, readers of Windy City Gridiron reported a whopping 97 percent confidence rate. After the loss that number is down to 56 percent, a drop of 41 points.

The fan base of the Packers’ next opponent, the Minnesota Vikings, are meanwhile riding high following a dominating victory in week one. The Vikings beat the Atlanta Falcons 28-12 and owned the game from the beginning, and Daily Norseman readers reported a 17-point jump from 69 percent to 86 percent confidence. Hopefully the Packers will be able to deliver a blow to the excitement of fans in purple and gold on Sunday at Lambeau Field similar to the drop seen in Bears’ fans numbers this week.