It has been a whirlwind week — a whirlwind season, for that matter — for the Green Bay Packers’ defense. On Sunday, Joe Barry put forth his most brazen act yet by aiding Bryce Young in his first 300-yard passing game, in which he also added a pair of touchdown passes. Young’s bid for a 19-second game-tying drive came up short by just a fraction of a second, saving Green Bay’s season.
For fans and media alike, the relief had only a fraction of the lifespan that the outrage did. Barry managed to trend near the top of social media throughout a day on which 20 teams took the field as the cheeseheads continued to clamor for his removal as defensive coordinator.
On Sunday, the Packers are heading to Minnesota for a primetime divisional showdown. The winner will stand a solid chance at making the postseason. But it will likely be the final nail in the coffin for the loser. It’s been clear that Barry’s scheme simply is not the best use of his personnel, who, on paper, should be in the top half of the league. The fact that the defense has been such a glaring liability in Jordan Love’s first year at the helm is far from ideal for a team whose rebuild appears to be ahead of schedule, at least on offense.
Barry’s soft zone coverages that border on “prevent” packages are one of the loudest criticisms of his philosophy. They reared their ugly head in Tommy DeVito’s game-winning drive a couple of weeks ago, a loss that looms large given the current situation. While that was a scenario where there was at least an argument for prevent defense, that hasn’t been the case for many third-and-shorts that people have highlighted on social media.
On Sunday, the Vikings will start rookie fifth-rounder Jaren Hall. It will be only his second career start, but his mobility and youth strongly indicate that he will operate an option-heavy, quick-game take on Kevin O’Connell’s play-action offense.
In New York, DeVito fried Barry’s defense with quick passes to take advantage of soft coverage and by using his legs. It’s hard to imagine that O’Connell and Minnesota’s brass didn’t decide to start Hall for that reason. Given that we can expect him to attack Barry similarly, he must shift his attention and manpower to the point of attack.
Preventing big plays is a driving force behind much of what he has been calling. While that initiative has largely succeeded, the defense has not. The Packers are well-aware that Minnesota’s star receiver and best-overall player Justin Jefferson can make those big plays. They saw it firsthand the last time they pulled up to U.S. Bank Stadium. Obviously, being Jaire Alexander-less won’t help, but they still have to force Hall to make those plays by taking away the easy options.
Sending rookie seventh-rounders into battle with Jefferson is precarious, to say the least, especially given how unreliable nearly every single safety has been this year. But, at the very least, the interior cover guys will not have to deal with T.J. Hockenson, who will miss the remainder of the season after tearing his ACL and MCL last week.
Carrington Valentine, Eric Stokes, and Corey Ballentine will play on the outside. The Packers have suspended Jaire Alexander for one game because he went out to midfield as a team captain, even though they didn’t designate him as one. Being that stringent at a crucial juncture is certainly a choice, one that borders on masochistic, given how Alexander performed against Jefferson this time last year. But it’s also not overly shocking for a traditionalist organization like Green Bay. It will be interesting to see if this story goes any further, given that traditionalist stance and the star corner’s flamboyant personality. They have signed him through 2026.
It often feels like Green Bay’s defense is the same story each year. They can’t stop the run, have soft coverage, and generally underperform relative to their collective talent and preseason expectations. The need for a new vision, philosophy, and energy has never been more apparent than it is now. Nearly every voice on Twitter will agree that the Packers must hire a new coordinator who brings those things.
But Barry has an opportunity to make significant adjustments and give Love a chance to earn his team a playoff spot. If one of the league’s top receivers beats you, you live with it. If Hall marches down the field via seven-yard handoffs to Ty Chandler and 11-yard slants to K.J. Osborn, you’re not playing to win.
It would be bold for Barry to think he can slow Jefferson down anyway, given what he’s working with on the outside. That makes taking away Hall’s easy options the best chance at a bounce-back performance. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. As far as that’s concerned, Joe Barry’s season has been insane. Still, I’d love to be proven wrong on Sunday night.
