Packers vs Panthers is live on Thursday night: what to know
Web StoryWatch this story in 15 seconds →Key takeaways
- The Packers are hosting the Panthers at Lambeau Field right now on Thursday Night Football.
- Green Bay entered at 4-3, while Carolina entered at 3-3 and leading the NFC South.
- The Packers are 4-point favorites, but Carolina beat them at Lambeau last season.
The Packers and Panthers are playing right now. The game is Thursday Night Football in Week 8 of the NFL season. Green Bay hosts the game at Lambeau Field.
Kickoff was at 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, October 29.
The match is being streamed on Prime Video. If you searched for the score or the start time, you found the right game. Both teams need a win for very different reasons.
What happened
Carolina won the coin toss before kickoff. The Panthers chose to kick off first. They will get the ball first in the second half.
The opening kickoff went wrong for Green Bay. Coleman Owen fumbled the kickoff return. Carolina recovered the ball inside the 30-yard line.
That gave the Panthers great field position in the first minute.
The game is still in the first quarter. No final score is decided yet. This article covers what to know while the game is live.
Both teams arrived with bad memories from four days ago. Green Bay had won three games in a row. Then they lost at Detroit on a walk-off field goal.
A walk-off field goal is a kick that wins the game on the last play.
Carolina had won two in a row. Then Tampa Bay blew them out. Panthers quarterback Bryce Young threw two interceptions.
He also lost a fumble. The Panthers had four turnovers in total, according to the Packers' official site.
Why it matters
The records make this game interesting. Carolina is 3-3. That record leads the NFC South division.
Green Bay is 4-3. The Packers sit last in the NFC North despite having a winning record.
Thursday night games have not been kind to Green Bay. The Packers have lost four of their last five Thursday Night Football games, according to the Packers' official site. Their only win was against Washington in Week 2 last year.
Quarterback Jordan Love knows the record is bad. "We've got to be better than we were last time we played a Thursday night game here at home," Love said, according to the Packers' official site.
Carolina is a dangerous guest for a simple reason. The Panthers won at Lambeau Field last year. They beat the Packers 16-13.
Green Bay's red zone play was the problem that day. The red zone is the area close to the goal line. The Packers reached it five times.
They scored only one touchdown.
The other four trips ended badly. There was one fumble. There were two field goals.
There was one failed fourth down. There was also a missed field goal from outside the red zone.
"From that game last year, we've got to be able to score in the red zone," Love said, according to the Packers' official site. Green Bay had seven drives in that game. They never punted once.
Still, they could not finish.
The problem showed up again four days ago. At Detroit, Green Bay entered the red zone four times. Those trips produced only seven points.
Rookie kicker Trey Smack missed two short field goals. The offense also failed on a fourth down inside the 10-yard line.
The ground game is another question. Green Bay has struggled to run the ball all season. Running back Josh Jacobs could help fix that.
Jacobs made his 2026 debut last week against Detroit. He had missed the first six games on the commissioner's exempt list. He rushed for 36 yards on 11 carries.
But he had runs of 8 and 10 yards that showed promise.
"It has to get better," Love said of the running game, according to the Packers' official site. "We've leaned on the passing game."
The matchup favors Green Bay's ground game on paper. Carolina's run defense ranks 32nd, which is last in the league. Tampa Bay ran for 258 yards against the Panthers last week.
Green Bay also played well recently, in their win over the Cowboys.
Head coach Matt LaFleur expects a tough game. "I would expect them fully to rebound and play much better," LaFleur said of Carolina, according to the Packers' official site.
Carolina has one more reason to be confident. Last year, the Panthers also lost badly to Buffalo before visiting Lambeau. Then they beat the Packers anyway.
What happens next
The game is on right now, so watch it live on Prime Video if you can. If you are catching up later, the final score will be everywhere soon.
Before kickoff, the experts leaned toward Green Bay. The Packers were 4-point favorites, according to the Arizona Republic. The moneyline had Green Bay at minus 210.
Carolina was at plus 170. The over-under for total points was 47.5.
ESPN gave the Packers a 64.8 percent chance to win. The Arizona Republic predicted Packers 27, Panthers 23. Dimers predicted Packers 26, Panthers 21.
Sports Illustrated also picked Green Bay to cover the spread.
One model disagreed. Sports Betting Dime predicted the Panthers would win 24.7 to 21. Its formula gave Carolina a real chance in a close game.
A win would mean a lot for Green Bay. It would erase the bad taste of the Detroit loss. It would push the Packers toward the top of the NFC North race.
A loss would drop them to 4-4. That would be a bad record for a team with playoff hopes.
A win would mean even more for Carolina. The Panthers already lead the NFC South at 3-3. Beating Green Bay at Lambeau two years in a row would be a statement.
A statement means it would show the team is serious. A loss would hand the division race back to the field.
Green Bay also made lineup changes for this game. Aaron Banks started at left guard. Laken Tomlinson moved to right guard.
There was no Kevin Zeitler again. John Williams started at center, according to Packers Wire.
The game is still being played. The early fumble gave Carolina a fast start. But four quarters of football are long.
Check back soon for the final score and the full story.
Editor's note: This article was written while the game was in progress. All facts above come from sources published before or during the game. The final score was not decided at the time of writing.
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