The Green Bay Packers head into the desert to face a massive test against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7. On the surface, this is a game the Packers should easily win, and therein lies some of the trickery that could befuddle the Packers when preparing for this game.

The Cardinals are 2-4, fourth in the NFC West and on a four-game losing skid. Both star quarterback Kyler Murray and star wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. are on the injury report and head coach Jonathan Gannon's team seems to be on the verge of collapse.

Things could get really bad really quickly for the Cardinals, which means the Packers are heading into the desert to take on a team that's going to be playing in desperation mode.

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur believes his team has to be able to match that intensity.

“I think our guys understand that,” LaFleur said, according to Ryan Wood of Packers News. “We haven’t won on the road either. So we’ve got to do a good job of preparing and getting ready to play our best ball. I don’t think we’ve played a complete game up to date. We’ve had moments in each phase that have been really good, but to do it collectively for four quarters, I don’t think we’ve really done that. And we’re going to need to do that against a really strong football team.”

LaFLeur is right. The Packers haven't played a complete game yet, and that has led to some consternation amongst the fanbase. This is an organization that has Super Bowl standards and the fans have followed lockstep with those. That's why the first two games of the season, massive wins over the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders, were met with so much hype, while the last three have led to nervous breakdowns.

Heck, that includes a win over the Cincinnati Bengals. This is a fanbase that can't even enjoy its wins right now. The argument can be made that after years and years of Hall of Fame quarterback play and high expectations this is a fanbase that's a bit spoiled, but that standard is not a bad thing.

Legendary head coach Vince Lombardi, himself, set the standard.

“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” - Vince Lombardi 

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Lost in that quote about winning is an important note about doing things right, and there have been multiple instances this season of this team not playing winning football. That, obviously, showed up in the loss to the Cleveland Browns and the tie to the Dallas Cowboys, but there were several concerning takeaways even in the win against the Bengals.

Jordan Love's terrible interception. The total lack of a pass-rush. Clock management. 

Those are things that may not matter much in October, but they'll absolutely come back to bite a team with Super Bowl aspirations in the playoffs if they're not cleaned up in the regular season.

The other thing we've seen this team constantly struggle with in the LaFleur era is matching another team's intensity, so taking on a desperate Cardinals team will be a big moment for the Packers.

It's a test, and one they need to pass.

“They’re playing well,” LaFleur said of the Cardinals. “I think you can’t get too lost in win-loss record. I mean, this is a team that’s lost four games in a row by 9 points. I think I read something that that’s unprecedented. This is a good football team, and we better be ready to play.”