GREEN BAY, Wis.— There is a stretch of bricks and concrete in the tunnel at Lambeau Field, light with age, worn from decades of football players walking over them in cleats. The materials were brought over from the previous Packers' venue, City Stadium, and laid in when Lambeau Field was built in 1957. They stretch towards a marker which tells everyone who passes, they are walking over the same bricks as every member of the Packers' 13 championships.

The Panthers won't come over those bricks or out of that tunnel today. The visitors' route at Lambeau is famously a claustrophobic tunnel under the belly of the stadium, winding with sharp corners from the locker room to the field, too tight to allow Derrick Brown and A'Shawn Robinson to walk side by side.

But as the Panthers make their ninth trip to Lambeau overall, and first trip in five years (and first in six years with fans, since the 2020 season was affected by COVID), Dave Canales wants his team of young players to appreciate where they are playing.

"Let's appreciate football history," Canales said Friday of his message to his team. "Let's understand where this league started and the evolution of it."

This won't be the first trip to Lambeau for several guys on the Panthers' team. In fact, the Panthers have been a part of history before in the stadium, playing in the NFC Championship Game in Carolina's second year as a team. The temperature was 3 degrees at kickoff for the 1996 NFC Championship, officially making it the coldest game in which the Panthers have ever played.

Robinson visited once a year for four seasons as a member of the Detroit Lions, then again with the Rams, playing in a classic Frozen Tundra matchup in 2021 (the temperature was 16 degrees at kickoff).

"You feel the history of the NFL," espoused Robinson this week. "You feel everyone that came here before you, that's played there and everything that's happened, that there's a lot of passion and belief there, so it brings that joy. Being in Detroit, used to play there. And it was dope. Growing up as a kid, you hear about Lambeau, the coach, Vince Lombardi, having all that, it's dope."

As a rookie, Tetairoa McMillan is still visiting most NFL stadiums for the first time. But he's been in Lambeau before, giving the historic stadium an extra layer of meaning for the No. 8 overall pick in this April's draft.

"Obviously that's going to be historic right there," said McMillan this week. "I was fortunate, the draft this past year was at that stadium, so I was fortunate enough to be over there. So going back, that's going to be a blessing for sure."

The last time Mike Jackson played at Lambeau, it was a little warmer, considering it was preseason. And with temperatures projected to be high 40 degrees at kickoff today, he still won't get his Frozen Tundra moment—"It ain't going to be that cold. It's going to be like 40s, that's great in Green Bay,"—but those previous trips were enough to make an impact.

"It's Lambeau; when I did go there, I felt the history," shared Jackson. "Like you look up, you see all the greats, and how the stadium is set up, it's not the traditional NFL stadium. It's almost like true old school football, so that's always fun."

With metal bleachers and no ribbon LED boards, there is an "old school football" feel, to Jackson's point. One thing that will definitely be the same, regardless of the stadium, is the trash-talking. Jaycee Horn is expecting that and more from his former college teammate, Keisean Nixon.

"Oh, Nixon, it's gonna be fun," laughed Horn, before recalling the last game between these two teams, when Green Bay traveled to Charlotte for a Christmas Eve matchup in 2023. "Last time we played him in '23, he was like standing up on the sideline talking trash to me the whole game. So it's always fun seeing him and playing against him, and I'm looking forward to it."

Nixon had to trash-talk from the sideline because both guys are corners. They aren't on the field at the same time. But the longtime friends make sure they hear each other all game long.

"He was on the sideline last time we played like, 'We coming at you all day 8,' talking crazy, but that's K9. He a good competitor," continued Horn. "Yeah, probably can't say what I'll be saying to him."

That sort of competitive fire is what Canales wants to see from his guys, taking on the current top team in the NFC. Because while they will take time either before or after kickoff to appreciate the history of all that came before them in this iconic NFL venue, the head coach also wants his team to understand their own place in history.

As he reminds them to "understand where this league started and the evolution of it," he is then telling them to understand "Our part and our contribution to that as well is to push football forward, to play excellent football, great quality football, the way that it's always been played.

"It's a physical game, it's a violent sport, it has been since the beginning, and to make sure that we're playing that type of football that we could be proud of."

Once the game kicks off, the only history that matters, though, is what takes place during those 60 minutes. The mystique, the championship banners, none of it matters. The only thing that matters is how the Carolina Panthers respond to what happens on the field and how they react to the hostile environment.

"That goes for Lambeau Field, but also other places that we get to go play, creating the moment, creating the opportunities so that the guys can understand, in different modes, having a championship mindset is, all of these games matter," said Canales.

"All these games are helping us prepare for what it takes to win late in the season, what it takes to win in the postseason; you got to be able to play in hostile environments, and this is going to be a really loud environment. We treat it like any other road game."

Added Robinson, "It's football at the end of the day. We got to do our job. I was a rookie. Like, I wasn't worried about that. And when I had other rookies that was with me, like, that's not something you need to worry about. You're going to do a job. You're going to win, so history or not, we can take that in after you get a W. That's the goal."