GREEN BAY, Wis. — If you’re skeptical about the Green Bay Packers this season, you’re not alone.I am, too.The Packers have tremendous talent and can be a legitimate Super Bowl contender. The likes of quarterback Jordan Love, tight end Tucker Kraft, edge rusher Micah Parsons and safety Xavier McKinney are among the league’s best at their positions.They have what should be great wide receiver and linebacker rooms, specifically at the top of those depth charts with Edgerrin Cooper, Zaire Franklin, Christian Watson, Jayden Reed and Matthew Golden. They have promise on both the offensive and defensive lines. They have enticing young players at running back in MarShawn Lloyd and cornerback in rookie second-rounder Brandon Cisse.Can the Packers claim their first NFC North title since 2021?Matt SchneidmanFor me, though, there are far too many questions about the 2026 Packers to feel confident they can be any different than what they’ve been the last three seasons: a good team, not a great one, that makes the playoffs but exits quickly.At quarterback, can Tyrod Taylor provide the same jolt Malik Willis did if Love misses time? The answer is probably no.Major questions loom over Josh Jacobs as the running back awaits a possible NFL suspension resulting from a battery incident in May. He pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charges. Can Lloyd be a worthwhile No. 1 back in Jacobs’ absence and handle a big workload after playing one game in his first two years? Are Chris Brooks and Kaleb Johnson good enough to keep that room afloat in a by-committee approach?You feel pretty good about the wide receiver and tight end rooms, but the offensive line is in a precarious position days from the season opener. Is Jordan Morgan any good at left tackle? Can Aaron Banks and Zach Bako-Bewele keep their knees healthy? How will Jacob Monk play at a new starting spot?On the edge, Lukas Van Ness will finally need to show why he was a first-round pick and others must pick up the slack if Parsons misses the first five games.At cornerback, will Keisean Nixon play like he did in the first half of last season (good) or the second (not good)? It remains to be seen whether Cisse is the de facto No. 1 corner because he’s that good or because the guys behind him are so underwhelming.Oh, and it wouldn’t be a series of Packers questions without one about special teams. Will the third time be the charm for a rookie kicker in the post-Mason Crosby era? Trey Smack was perfect in preseason games, but the pressure turns up when the real games start.How about the head coach who signed an extension after a third consecutive No. 7 seed? Matt LaFleur needs to rally the troops to finish games stronger, hold onto big leads and finally get over the hump.The Packers don’t need positive answers to all those questions to contend for a title. Heck, they were 9-3-1, atop the division and holding the NFC’s No. 2 seed entering Week 15 last season. They had been without Kraft, perhaps the league’s best tight end, for five weeks. Jacobs was playing hurt, Watson and Reed missed extended stretches with injuries, Van Ness was injured, Rashan Gary was fading and Nixon wasn’t the same player as in the season’s first half. It was only after that day in Denver, when Parsons tore his ACL, Bako-Bewele partially tore his patellar tendon and Watson went to the hospital to rule out dislocated ribs (he ended up playing the next game), that Green Bay’s season crumbled.The Packers just can’t have that avalanche hit them again, and they need guys such as Morgan and Van Ness to turn those question marks into exclamation points.Just because I’m skeptical doesn’t mean I’m out on the Packers. That’s hardly the case. My skepticism could morph into optimism by 6:30 p.m. CT on Sunday in Minneapolis, and maybe that’s a me problem for being too reactionary to a Week 1 game.Van Ness might have two sacks, Morgan might keep his quarterback spotless, Lloyd might run 15 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns and Nixon might limit Justin Jefferson to five catches for 58 yards. I just can’t say with authority yet that I think all those things will happen to make me feel differently about this team in the long run. Not based on what I’ve seen in past seasons and certainly not based on what I’ve seen in makeshift football on Ray Nitschke Field this summer. And even if they do happen, I’ll probably return to Earth by Monday morning and say I need to see the same for a couple more weeks to truly believe in the Packers’ future prospects.It certainly helps that the Packers get their best player back in Week 5 or 6 — at least that’s what it seems right now — but they have to get there with their head above water. Doing so will require several of those aforementioned guys to perhaps exceed expectations against an albeit underwhelming schedule to start the season. The Packers visit the Minnesota Vikings and New York Jets before hosting the Atlanta Falcons, visiting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and hosting the Chicago Bears in Week 5.Let’s say Parsons returns against his old team in Week 6. If the Packers go 5-0 or 4-1 before he returns, brilliant. If they go 3-2, fine. If they go 2-3, not a disaster, but there are probably other issues that need fixing, even with Parsons back to make a playoff push. If they stumble into Week 6 at 1-4 or 0-5, sound the alarm.This is my eighth season covering the Packers, and except for the lead-up to Love’s first season starting, I can’t remember another in LaFleur’s tenure with this much uncertainty. That season featured a new starting quarterback and the league’s youngest team, with few expectations to go far. That’s how you were supposed to feel then.This season features a roster constructed to go all in. There’s no house money anymore. They’re still relatively young, but that’s not an excuse with this much big-game experience. It’s win now or continue to disappoint. The Packers haven’t gone this long without an NFC North title since the division became its current form in 2002. They haven’t reached the Super Bowl in more than 15 years. Who knows what the stipulations in LaFleur’s new contract are regarding team success as it relates to his job security, but there’s still pressure to perform for everyone inside 1265 Lombardi Ave., even if there’s no hot-seat talk for the head coach.Watching this team regularly, I’m not sure it can deliver under pressure and answer all those questions affirmatively. I have to see it to believe it.