Well, we learned one thing about the Green Bay Packers on Sunday: They are in no danger of peaking too early. There are so many things to clean up that I’m not sure a bye week will give them enough time.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: There were a million penalties. There were a million drops. There was a “You gotta be kidding me” pick-six.
Sunday was an opportunity to plant their flag in the NFC North race, on their field, in their kind of weather. Instead, they wilted and proved that the stage was too big, the lights too bright.
Is it too late to figure things out? Of course not. But when the same problems manifest themselves week after week, you begin to wonder if things will ever change.
The Packers are second in the league in pre-snap penalties. The most egregious one came in the Detroit Lions’ red zone when Jared Goff got T.J. Slaton to bite on a hard count. The Lions were prepared to kick a rare field goal on fourth-and-goal. But Green Bay’s latest mistake persuaded Detroit to go for it, and Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown hooked up on a picture-perfect touchdown.
That was a microcosm of Green Bay’s day. They shot themselves in the foot so many times they wouldn’t have beaten a Lions team coached by Wayne Fontes.
We can go back to the first play of the game. A great return by Keisean Nixon sets the Pack up at the 40. Oh, wait, he grabbed a Lions player’s facemask after the play because he thought he got hit late. Back to the 25 we go.
It’s this kind of undisciplined behavior that will doom a season — death by a thousand paper cuts. Of course, there were also a few stab wounds. Most notably, Jordan Love’s horrendous decision in the final minute of the first half turned a one-score game into a 17-3 hole in the blink of an eye.
Love wins points for playing with a groin injury and giving it his all, but these game-changing mistakes must stop. He’s still only 25 starts into his career, but he’s beginning to get a reputation – and not a good one.
It wasn’t all negative. The defense had a pretty good day despite Detroit’s two-headed running attack combining for 170 yards of offense. Overall, Green Bay held the Lions to 17 points on offense (half of their season average) and just 4.7 yards per play and 3.9 yards per rush. That should be enough to keep you in the game, but the offense couldn’t hold up its end of the bargain.
The receivers were credited with six more drops, and it only seemed like they all fell from the hands of Dontayvion Wicks. The drive-killing penalties continue to haunt the Pack, even though Halloween is in the rearview mirror. The Pack missed center Josh Myers‘ steadying influence and reliable snaps. Elgton Jenkins needs more practice reps as the backup center, especially when conditions are not ideal.
They also wasted another strong day by Josh Jacobs. He averaged seven yards per carry but basically disappeared from the game script once the lead grew to double digits. Jayden Reed made a couple of spectacular catches.
Setting aside the penalties, the reconfigured offensive line held up pretty well, allowing no sacks. But the offense was just one for four in the red zone, and when you can’t score when it’s first-and-10 from the 11, you’ve got no shot against a team like the Lions.
All hope is not lost. Last season, the Pack was 3-6 at this point and searching for answers. They’ve flipped to 6-3 this year, yet they’re still searching for answers. The bye week will allow everyone to reset and heal. Hopefully, they’ll have Myers, Jaire Alexander, and Evan Williams back for their first showdown against the Chicago Bears, along with a much healthier Love.
And hopefully, they’ll figure out that penalties, drops, and jaw-dropping pick-sixes are not a recipe for a second-half surge like we saw last season. The talent is unquestionably there to compete in the NFC, but they showed us on Sunday that they have a way to compete with the Lions – mainly between the ears.
