The Green Bay Packers are entering an absolutely vital stretch of games, and their 2025 season is absolutely on the line.

If they make it out of this NFC North gauntlet looking like winners, the division will be theirs for the taking for the first time since 2021. They would have also, undoubtedly, restored their standing as one of the top Super Bowl contenders in the NFC.

If the Packers wind up on another losing streak during this stretch, though, their 2025 season could end in disaster. We're talking about the type of disaster where head coach Matt LaFleur may be handed a pink slip when all is said and done.

The Packers are 6-3-1 and yes, they're second in the NFC North behind the Chicago Bears, and they've beaten the reigning back-to-back division champion, the Detroit Lions, handily in Week 1.

That was a long time ago, though, and a lot of football has been played. After that Week 1 win, the Packers looked like the best team in the league. It has been an up-and-down roller coaster ever since.

"It's been a weird schedule for us, playing Week 1 [in] a division game and now I don't even know what week it is," quarterback Jordan Love said, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.

What week it is, specifically, doesn't matter as much as the importance of this overall stretch of games, though.

The Packers play the Minnesota Vikings in Week 12, they'll have a quick turnaround to play the Lions on Thanksgiving in Detroit in Week 13, and then they'll have a Week 14 contest against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field -- which was just flexed to primetime. 

Even taking away the fact that the Pack won just one game against NFC North opponents last season, this stretch is hugely important. Throw in that fact, and it's not an overstatement to say that these next three games will be instrumental in determining the Packers' very identity. 

They used to be the kings of the NFC North. Now they're having to scratch and claw their way back onto that throne.

"It's super important," safety Xavier McKinney said of this three-game stretch. "Last year we went 1-5. That's not where we want to be as a team in this division. And so I think this year we want to provide a new outlook on what type of team that we are, and we don't want to repeat that same stuff we did last year. So I think this is an important game. I think all division games are important, so we've taken it very seriously.

"We know that we have a tough stretch. These last however many games that we have, the majority of them are division games. So we know that we've got to be focused and locked in."

McKinney has a great understanding of what these next three weeks of football really mean.

Who are the Green Bay Packers, really?

We'll know everything we need to know about this team, good or bad, by mid-December.