GREEN BAY, Wis. — It’s been a long time since Dale Clark attended an NFL game.
“I think the last NFL game I went to see was the Kansas City Chiefs playing the Raiders in the LA Coliseum back in the 80s,” he said.
That changed Sunday, when the Des Moines, Iowa, resident and his wife — Penny — watched the Green Bay Packers beat the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs at Lambeau Field.
The Packers are now 6-6 after hitting a few snags along the way earlier in the season.
“It seems like the boys are starting to catch their stride and starting to actually come together as a team, which is really good for us. Last night was an amazing game,” Clark said shortly before going on a Lambeau Field stadium tour. “We did a lot of stuff that’s out of the norm compared to what we’ve been doing all season so far. We seemed to fall apart, up until now, at like 11 and goal. We seemed to come apart and throw interceptions and not do real well. Last night, that wasn’t the case. Last night, we did a really good job.”
Many said that fan excitement — and confidence — is growing in the young team after big wins against the Detroit Lions and the Chiefs. That’s a long way from the weeks-long slump the team faced earlier in the season.
Benjamin Johnson, a Packers fan who lives in suburban Minneapolis, said he now has a positive outlook on the rest of the season.
“We were down in the dumps. It looked pretty bad for a while then to just have the offense kind of start clicking and the defense showing up and playing games,” he said. “Jordan Love seems to have some confidence and time to let things develop and see his reads, then he’s nailing balls. He’s making laser precision throws. He’s doing really well.”
Johnson said he’s confident in what this team can do in the coming weeks. Playoffs are a possibility, which was unthinkable just a few weeks ago.
“Our next five games are very winnable. We’ve got the Vikings … I want to beat them. We’ve got to play the Bears — that’s winnable in my mind,” he said. “The Buccaneers, I think we can win. Giants, I think we can win. So at least three more.”
Clark said he thinks this team can be contenders, but they need to be consistent. With the team seeming to gain momentum, he said it’s an exciting time to be a fan.
“Super exciting, especially since a lot of my friends are Chiefs fans,” he said. “There was a little of rivalry going on last night between us and them and it was a really good time.”