Christmas Day at Lambeau Field was almost ruined by the Cleveland Browns as the Green Bay Packers again struggled to finish off an opponent. While the ultimate objective is to get a win — and the Packers have done plenty of that — the victories haven’t been convincing and have left room for doubt to creep in. And once again, the problem is a lack of balance.
Joe Barry’s defense was thriving in the early portions of the season and into the middle part of the schedule. From Week 4 to Week 10, the Packers defense allowed no more than 22 points to any opponent. They had dazzling performances in a shutout against the Seattle Seahawks and even a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, holding them to only 13 points. During this time, the offense was still working to find consistency and recreate the previous season’s successes.
But things have completely turned around in the last five weeks.
The offense is now humming. They have put up 31 or more points in four of the last five games, carving up the Los Angeles Rams, making a mockery of the Chicago Bears, and dominating the Baltimore Ravens’ defense on the road during this stretch.
At the same time, the defense has relapsed. Barry’s group is playing hesitantly and has started to give up one big play after another. The Browns repeatedly exploited that through the air and on the ground. It was the worst the Packers’ run defense has looked all year. Nick Chubb ran for 126 yards at 7.4 yards per carry, and even D’Ernest Johnson managed 58 yards on four touches.
The method to the Packers’ madness remains the same it’s been all season: Pile up close victories thanks to a dominant unit. The only thing that’s changed is which unit is the dominant one.
The offense may have rounded into shape, but they still need to find balance on their side of the ball. Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon racked up a combined 107 yards, collectively averaging five yards per carry. The trouble was, Green Bay once again went away from them at inopportune times. Matt LaFleur said after the game how hard it is to take the ball out of Rodgers’ hand by running.
“Certainly the trust that we have in him (Rodgers), it’s hard not to throw the ball every snap. I try to fight that urge despite some of the calls tonight but, I do think we’re best when there’s a little bit of balance there and you know just try to keep the defense a little bit honest.”
The Packers got the ball back, leading 24-22 with 4:30 to go on the penultimate drive of the game. After a check down to Dillon on first down that went for seven yards, Green Bay returned to the shotgun for the next four plays before punting. The second play of the drive was a run out of the gun that went for six yards and a first down for Dillon. Three passes from the shotgun later, they were forced to punt.
It’s hard to blame LaFleur. When you have Rodgers and Davante Adams, the temptation to pass on every play is real. But they mustn’t completely abandon the run game at times when they need to trust their one-two punch in Jones and Dillon.
Leading by two points with 4:30 to go is usually when teams will try to pound out the ground game and milk the clock. While it’s nice that the Packers don’t shell up and get predictable, they need to find a happy medium. Hindsight is 20/20, of course. It would be a different conversation if those passes had been completed and moved the sticks. This has been a repeat issue for the Packers, though.
In December football, Jones and Dillon should be getting more than 21 combined carries, even with Rodgers and Adams on an all-time vibe. LaFleur may have gone to the gun so often later as an overcorrection to the previous drive when they ran it three times before punting. But they weren’t playing too conservatively in the first place.
The goal was to get to 12-3, and Green Bay achieved that by beating the Browns. But these last two games present the final opportunities for the defense to rediscover its early-season dominance and for the offense to get fully in sync before the dance begins.
