The Packers Play Thirteen More Games for a Reason
While some fans think the sky is falling, the Packers' season is far from over.
By GregMeinholz
What do you get when your team takes a tough loss to a divisional rival at home early in the season? You get members of the fan base doing their best Chicken Little impression outside the stadium believing the sky is falling. They think this is it, my team isn't going anywhere this year unless a drastic change is made immediately. They think it's over, this team can't get it done, and they look towards the distant future. The problem with this is, in the Packers' case at least this season, it's only week 5, there's a whole lot of ball left to be played.
Sunday's game surely stung. We got Jordan Love back from an injury that on the night it occurred in week 1, many thought there was a good chance that he was done for the season. But that wasn't the case. Instead, after Malik Willis managed to get us wins in the next two games, Jordan Love was set to return against a division rival. Mind you, a division rival that many were shocked had cruised out to a 3-0 start. It was supposed to be Jordan Love making a superhero's return to knock the Vikings back to reality. Instead, Love looked like he maybe wasn't quite as ready as thought and neither was the defense as Minnesota got off to a devastating lead and despite a Packers comeback attempt, the Packers fell to 2-2 while the Vikings continued their rise at 4-0. This loss was hard to swallow given who our opponent was, but it was hardly devastating.
I've heard a lot of crazy talk in the last few days since the Packers' 31-29 loss to the Minnesota Vikings at home. One of my favorite comments is that Malik Willis should be starting over Jordan Love just simply based on that Love is now 0-2 as a starter and Willis is 2-0. This is simply emotions talking without considering the quality of the opponent each Quarterback faced in each game. I seem to remember that it was this time of year last year when the Packers ended up 3-6 at one point and some were throwing around the idea that the Packers will have a top-10, top-5 pick and that they should use it on a quarterback. But it was then that the Packers went on a 6-2 run in the final 8 games of the season earning themselves a playoff birth where they were considered one of the hottest teams in the playoffs before they fell to San Francisco in the Divisional round.
Case and point, there are a lot of ball games left. When at best you could finish 15-2 and at worst you could finish 2-15, your season is far from over. This team has experienced adversity before, and they won't back down from it.
Getting it done
Of course, if the Packers are going to have a surge like they did last season to make sure they don't fall by the wayside and that they do make the playoffs, they'll have to do several things to ensure they don't step on their own feet.
Limiting Penalties:
The Packers are currently fourth in the league for most penalties called against them with 34. They're tied for first in the league in offensive holding calls with 9. Most of those holding calls brought back big plays, and at least one wiped out a touchdown. We need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot by allowing the yellow laundry to fly. Our offensive line is actually off to a pretty good start. But we need to take away those penalties before we can consider them great.
Letting the offensive line pave the way:
Perhaps the most underrated part of the Packers' season so far is how well their offensive line is holding up. They've plowed the streets allowing Packers running backs to amass 698 yards on 130 carries, that's a 5.4-yards per carry average. They also have kept the Quarterbacks pretty clean only allowing six sacks in 4 games. Also, each offensive lineman ranks in the top 10 at their respective position when it comes to total pressures allowed with three in the top 5 according to PFF. This team's success could live and die with the efficiency of the offensive line, so it's important we continue to play-call to their strengths as well as the skill players.
Blitz/Pass Rush:
Despite ranking eighth in the league in sack totals, the Packers' pass rush has not been all that effective. We were told that in the first two games against mobile quarterbacks, the Packers were more focused on containing the QB than rushing. Which is understandable. However, the last two Quarterbacks have not been very mobile. Against Tennessee, the defense sacked Will Levis eight times, Sam Darnold though against Minnesota, only twice, and otherwise he seemed pretty cozy in the pocket most of the game. We were told Jeff Hafley is not shy about blitzing. Well, against a QB like Darnold who can be prone to mistakes if pressured, we did not try at all. Most of that was due to a lack of blitzing. If the chance arrives, the Packers need to take better care to blitz more and they should have their chance to start in week 5.
Kicking:
The Packers have now lost two games that could have been won if field goals attempted earlier in the game were successful. It appears Brayden Narveson isn't the answer the Packers thought he might be as he's now 9/13 on the season. At this point, I wouldn't care if the Packers offered a third-round pick and Brayden Narveson to Dallas for Brandon Aubrey or someone similar. To have a kicker that's only missed once and that was a 50+ yard attempt? Sounds heavenly to me, I'd pay the 3rd round comp. We know we won't get that lucky, but we have to find some solution to this problem before it hurts us yet again like it did last year in the playoffs with Anders Carlson.
Yes, last week's loss was rough, but this team still has the tools to make this a very successful season. The sky is far from falling and a few adjustments here and there and the Packers could be serious contenders in a few months.
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Greg Meinholz is a lifelong devoted Packer fan. A contributor to CheeseheadTV as well as PackersTalk. Follow him on Twitter @gmeinholz and Bluesky @gmeinholz.bsky.social for Packers commentary, random humor, beer endorsements, and occasional Star Wars and Marvel ramblings.
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Comments (9)
ricky
October 02, 2024 at 03:30 pm
What happens at the start of the season is important. Most important is how the team ends the season. Make the playoffs, get hot, and you have a better chance of making the Super Bowl. Look at the Eli Manning Giants, who won two SB's after mediocre seasons. Getting hot at the right time is everything. But when push comes to shove, Love has to play within the offense. In both the SF playoff game and against Minnesota, he threw interceptions at crucial times. However, this is fixable. And it seems he is following the way he played last season, when he had 11 interceptions in the first seven games. Then, he settled down and threw ONE interception the final ten games of the regular season.
Packerbob1@
October 03, 2024 at 10:43 am
The lack of emphasis by the Packers in the beginning of the season is very concerning and has hurt them often. Having to play all starters through the final games just to get into playoffs and play extra postseason games brings on more chances injuries or just a bad game. Love chose to sit out a week and Green Bay decided to not play him in preason. Because of that he was off against the Eagles which helped to cause him to have to try a late game comeback and he panicked and made a poor play at the end of the game which got him hurt. While his errors can be fixed, the fact is that his last three games have not been good and his decisions while trying to come from behind have not been good. Last season he threw bad picks against Denver, Las Vegas and San Fransisco. And now this game against the Vikings. While this can be fixed, I'm not seeing evidence that it will be fixed. I hope it will and soon.
Leatherhead
October 02, 2024 at 03:49 pm
Amen, Brother Meinholz
The first four games is going to be a lot of finding out what works, and what doesn't. It's a chance to get your timing down under game conditions. 18 teams have two or more wins right now. Jacksonville hasn't won a game, everybody else is still in the mix.
What happens the next four weeks is going to tell us a lot more about the team. We travel to LA, to play a weak defense. Then we come home and play AZ, which also has a weak defense, then we stay at home for a week and play Houston, which has shown a below average defense, and then we go to Jacksonville, currently 0-4 . Every else aside, we should score 30+ on all of these guys as our offense gets into mid-season form.
By the end of the month, we could quite possibly be 6-2, with one of the top scoring offenses in the league. The only thing that has slowed down this offense is our own errors: Turnovers, penalties, dropped passes. None of these next four defenses is going to be able to hold us under 30.
And all that will happen in the first half of the season, with 9 more games remaining. Key players in the league will get hurt and miss time. Right now, it looks to me like the best teams in the NFC, in no particular order, would include SF and Seattle, Washington, New Orleans, Tampa, Detroit and Minnesota. That would leave GB, Philadelphia, and Dallas on the outside looking in. We'll see what I think in 4 weeks.
Coldworld
October 02, 2024 at 04:30 pm
Yes and no. Yes, we’ve only played 4 games of 17, but it looks very like this will be a very tight division. Moreover, the reasons for losing can expire or they can fester until they break a team. Mo Drayton’s STs being an example of festering.
I firmly believe that this team has not yet played to its potential. The offense has been penalty and drop ridden and the red zone conversion rate has been dire. It’s very close. It’s just not firing. The obvious festering problem may be kicker. Many argued that was the case last year. It’s hard to say it might not be a bigger issue this year at this point. Then there is the red zone. Without Jones, the panacea last year, we’ve yet to see a new one emerge. Doubs was the other main plank, if that doesn’t resurface then The struggle is going to be harder.
On D we have a number of rookies and both a new coach and system. Hafley had a tactical howler on Sunday. In the other hand he has adjusted from one game to another and in game. That’s a plus, but he’s clearly got a much steeper learning curve than I’d hoped for. Meanwhile, we aren’t getting the seemingly most promising contributors out there, such as Williams and Cooper. If we don’t, they won’t have a chance to be better by the playoffs. The change was always going to take time to bed in as the mindset changed. Hopefully players can adapt. Perhaps Walker started to last week, but the DL is simply not clicking at present.
Slaton had a good game on Sunday, but none of the rest of the interior have yet really except Wyatt who is now injured. Outside, Enagbare has had one good game and that’s largely it. Is this simply adaptation pains, a system fault or what? The lack of rush against even moderate lines could be a festering sore or it could simply be a question of adaptation. We won’t beat good teams unless the front 7 improve.
You don’t want to be playing h your best football in September, but you also can’t throw away games and particularly divisional ones very often. We should have beaten the Eagles but for the offense, we could well have beaten the Vikings but for the D. Yes, there’s time to overcome that, but only if we prove its rust or adaptation pains and go on a concerted tear. This isn’t going to be an easy division to qualify from, let alone win, as it appears at the moment.
stockholder
October 02, 2024 at 05:53 pm
Of course it's far from over.
But the fact is; the vikings are undefeated.
The lions are not only playing great.
But are the favorites to win the DIV.
We were lucky to get in the playoffs.
This team is going in the wrong direction.
Give me 4 quarters of football.
cdoemel
October 02, 2024 at 10:46 pm
This team is going in exactly the right direction. Led by a talented GM, a smart HC and a QB who knows his teams potential. You can be a perennial pessimist like stockholder, or you can see the talent on this young team and be excited for their growth.
egbertsouse
October 03, 2024 at 09:30 am
What growth is that, exactly? This team looks like it did the first half of last year. They beat the bottom feeders but lose ugly to good teams. Gary and Clark are underperforming. Jaire and Watson are injured already. Love is exciting but erratic. Their kicker stinks. They don't look good against the run. This isn't growth, it's Groundhog Day.
Boneman
October 03, 2024 at 09:15 am
C'mon man! Give the Narv Dog a chance, he's just a rook! A third round pick??? That's an over reaction panic move. What if he doesn't miss another kick the rest of the season? Deep breaths everyone. This offense is ready to explode and the defense is still rounding into shape with a new DC. The bones of this team are solid and I'm still predicting 12 or 13 wins. GPG!
Since'61
October 03, 2024 at 10:48 am
The Packers are 2-2 after 4 games. It's way too early to give up on this team. The next 4 games are winnable if the Packers can just stop beating themselves.
Minimize the penalties and the dropped passes. Generate some consistency from the pass rush and the Packers will look and feel like a much better team. Kicker remains a big issue but it looks like we need to take it one kick at a time.
The only game the Packers need to win is the next one. One game at a time, one series and one play at a time. Go Pack Go! Thanks, Since '61