Cheese Curds, 5/11: Young Packers roster will get its first regular season test in Chicago

This offseason has been a tumultuous one between fans of the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears. Both teams had, by most accounts, excellent classes in the 2023 NFL Draft. Chicago even drafted a player with their first pick who had frequently been connected to the Packers: offensive tackle Darnell Wright.

The two teams face quarterback questions as well, with Jordan Love taking over in Green Bay and the Bears looking for more from Justin Fields as a passer. With that in mind, perhaps it’s fitting that the two teams will apparently bookend the 2023 regular season against one another, starting with a week one matchup at Soldier Field.

The Packers’ entire 2023 schedule leaked early this morning, and we have full coverage of it here. But one of the more interesting facets of the schedule is the matchups with the Bears in week one to kick off the season and again in week 18 to close it out. In particular, that opening-week game should be an interesting barometer for these two franchises, and one that could be a springboard for the winning team to jump out to a good start.

The league’s full schedule is set to be released at 7 PM Central tonight, but at least Packers fans can start making some plans early on today.

As Love era dawns, Packers eager to prove themselves | Packers.com
Their first chance to do so will come at Soldier Field in week one.

2023 NFL Schedule release: Bills-Jets in MNF opener; Raiders-Chiefs on Christmas Day | NFL.com
Here are some of the big games that have been released already for other teams around the NFL.

Tom Clements’ return as Packers QB coach ‘exciting’ for Jordan Love | Packers Wire
Love spoke on Wednesday and is optimistic about his development under Clements, who helped shepherd Aaron Rodgers early on his career as well. Hopefully the focus on footwork that Love and Clements worked on last summer will serve him well moving forward.

Packers' Kenny Clark says leadership, run defense areas of focus | Packersnews.com
Clark acknowledged that young linemen TJ Slaton and Devonte Wyatt need to "take huge steps," as the two will likely be called upon as starters around Clark when the team puts three interior players on the field.

Kicking Coach Knows Challenge Ahead for Anders Carlson To Replace Mason Crosby - Sports Illustrated
Carlson's leg strength is one of the reasons the Packers -- and Rich Bisaccia in particular -- were interested in him. That will surely be a necessity in the cold weather. Meanwhile, Carlson's kicking coach says he has seen marked improvement in Carlson in the period between the end of the 2022 season and the draft.

Police searching for someone yelling "help" find goat instead | wltx.com
"I think that's a person," one of the officers says as the other begins running to the source of the call. Spoiler: it was not.