The Green Bay Packers’ offense is a well-oiled machine.
Until it’s time to score points. Then the rust and corrosion grinds everything to a halt.
- The Packers have 13 giveaways, 10th-most in the NFL and second-most among teams projected to reach the NFL playoffs.
- Jordan Love has thrown 10 interceptions, tied for the most in the NFL.
- The Packers have been penalized 37 times on offense, sixth-most in the NFL. That includes 19 pre-snap penalties (ninth-most) and 15 for offensive holding (eighth-most). This year’s team already is guilty of more false starts (15) and holds (14) than the 2021 team for the entire season.
- The Packers have dropped 23 passes, third-most in the league, according to SportRadar.
Is there an easy solution for all the self-inflicted carnage?
“Obviously not, because it would be corrected by now,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur told The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman for his monthly interview on Milwaukee radio station 97.3 The Game.
Turnovers, penalties and drops, along with below-average production in the red zone and on third down, have conspired to make Green Bay’s offense as inefficient as a gas-guzzling V-8 engine.
LaFleur said he spent his bye week taking a “deep dive” into Green Bay’s turnovers. Love has thrown at least one interception in all seven of his starts. After throwing 10 interceptions in the first nine games last year but just one in the final eight, Love has regressed with the 10 interceptions in merely six-and-a-half games this year.
“He’s competing. He’s a competitor,” LaFleur said when pressed on the topic last Monday, a day after Love’s pick-six just before halftime essentially sunk the Packers’ hopes against the Detroit Lions. “I think every situation’s a learning experience. Unfortunately, that was a bad one and, hopefully, we’ll be better for it next game versus the Bears.”
Bad decisions, bad mechanics and bad pass protection all are factors that must be solved if the Packers are going to get to the playoffs in the crowded NFC.
“You try to dissect each one of those and why does it happen,” LaFleur said. When pressured, Love must be more willing to check it down or throw it away – or even take a sack – rather than throwing one up for grabs.
Love’s interceptions aren’t the only problems afflicting the passing game. Green Bay has dropped almost as many passes this season as last season (29), according to SportRadar.
Their team total of 23 drops is as many as the combined total of the Philadelphia Eagles (three), Detroit Lions (five) and Minnesota Vikings (eight), who have handed Green Bay its only defeats, and the Chicago Bears (seven), who Green Bay will visit on Sunday.
Receivers Dontayvion Wicks (seven) and Jayden Reed (six) have been the main culprits.
“Drops are going to happen,” LaFleur told Schneidman. “It’s why are they continuing to happen? Are we doing everything in our power [to address this issue]?”
While Green Bay has made far too many mistakes on offense, it still ranks ninth in points and took a 6-3 record into the bye. It will need to clean up its act to reach the postseason, though, with Christian McCaffrey and the 49ers lurking just one game behind in the race for the final spot in the NFC playoffs.
“I think our guys are working hard,” LaFleur said last week. “I think there’s a lot of room for improvement, which is exciting to me. The fact that we’ve been able to win six games in various ways, I think that is a credit to our guys. I do think we’ve got a resilient group. I never felt like even down 24-3 [against Detroit], I didn’t feel like there was any quit in our team. I thought our team kept battling.
“I thought defensively we had some good moments there at the end of the game – we had consecutive three-and-outs – so I thought there was a lot to like. It’s just, when we watch the tape, there were a lot of missed opportunities, as well. And I don’t know how else to put it that way. But I think that’s also encouraging in the fact that we’ve been able to find ways to win games and we’re not playing our best ball – obviously.”
