The Green Bay Packers take on the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 6 of the 2025 NFL season

We're back. The longest bye week ever (at least it felt like it) is done, and the Green Bay Packers once again have the opportunity to prove that they're one of the best teams in the NFL.

Long gone are the talks of an undefeated season or legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, and we should all be thankful for that. That's not to say that this team doesn't have the talent to win a Super Bowl, because it does, but they need to focus on the here and now. After the blazing 2-0 start, the Packers were clearly reading their own press clippings.

The loss to the Cleveland Browns followed by the 40-40 tie to the Dallas Cowboys certainly knocked this team's ego down a peg or two, but perhaps that was needed in order for us to see who these Packers really are.

Here are three thoughts ahead of this Week 6 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Green Bay Packers face a must-win game against the Cincinnati Bengals

Is it silly to be talking about a must-win game in Week 6? Frankly, for this team and considering the way things have gone over the first four games of the season, no it's not.

If the Packers are true Super Bowl contenders, they will blow Cincy out of the water.

This is a Bengals team with no rudder ever since Joe Burrow went out with a turf toe injury. If a newly-traded for Joe Flacco turns out to be that rudder and helps the Bengals beat the Packers, than this was never a Super Bowl team to begin with. 

A 40-year old Joe Flacco can't beat these Packers twice in the same season.

Jordan Love needs to continue his stellar play

One of the biggest things that was lost in the disappointment of the tie to the Cowboys was the fact that Jordan Love had a tremendous game. People are talking about Dak Prescott as an early-season MVP candidate, and he deserves that adulation, and Love went shot-for-shot with him a few weeks ago.

Love completed 31-of-43 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. So far this season, Love has completed 69.4% of his passes for 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns compared to just one interception. His passer rating of 113.0 and QBR of 66.4 are both the best of his career so far.

The Bengals are a bottom three NFL defense, giving up 391.2 yards per game. Love should feast.

The Packers' defense needs a bounce-back game 

This is a defensive unit that has elite pieces on every level. Micah Parsons is a superstar who needs to start wrecking games, Edgerrin Cooper is one of the best young linebackers in the NFL, and Xavier McKinney is an All-Pro safety.

Throw in Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, Quay Walker, Keisean Nixon and Evan Williams and you quickly realize that this defense is stacked. Even with Devonte Wyatt out with a knee injury right now, this is a defense that has the pieces to be the best in the NFL.

They looked like it through the first three weeks, but giving up 40 to Prescott and the Cowboys was a huge black eye on their early-season effort.

Yes, Cincinnati has arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL in Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins is great, but there's no world in which this Bengals squad should be able to score more than 10 points if Green Bay's defense is really legit.