For Packers, Time for Excuses Is Over

To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. You can’t beat yourself, which is how the Packers portrayed their Week 4 loss to the Vikings.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love throws the ball away under pressure from the Vikings' Andrew Van Ginkel in Week 4. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are 0-4 against their top competition.

It’s time to put up or shut up, starting on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.

The Packers lost 31-29 to the Vikings in Week 4. Of course, the game wasn’t really that close. It was 28-0 at halftime.

“I just remember that whole game, we just beat ourselves up,” tight end Tucker Kraft recalled on Friday.

The Vikings scored four touchdowns on their first five possessions while the Packers failed to score on their first six drives with two turnovers.

“The first half, when you go back and look at that game, it just makes you sick to your stomach at the lack of execution, the penalties, just the bad ball that we had on those first few drives,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said.

“Then you watch the second half and we come back and all that, you know that, obviously, we have the talent and we can make plays. But when you play good defenses, if you don’t execute and you give them free yards with penalties and all kinds of stuff like that, it’s going to be a long day. We’ve got to make sure we’re on our stuff when we go there on Sunday.”

In the Packers’ minds, they’re undefeated this season.

No team has beaten the Packers; only the Packers have beat the Packers.

Which is fine if it’s true. It’s empty words if the reality is that they’re a good team but not good enough to beat a really good team.

The first game against the Vikings was nothing short of a disaster.

The Vikings got the ball to start the game and cut through the Packers like a hot knife through cheese, including a third-and-14 conversion before the first of Sam Darnold’s three touchdown passes.

With Jordan Love back in the lineup after missing two games with a knee injury, the offense got into scoring position on its opening drive, but a first-down pass gained 1 yard, a second-down run gained 1 yard, a false start moved the offense back 5 yards and Brayden Narveson hit his 37-yard field goal off the upright.

The Vikings stormed right down the field for another touchdown. Three defensive penalties, including defensive pass interference on third-and-2, set up Darnold’s second touchdown that made it 14-0.

Three plays later, Love was intercepted. Moments later and just 18 minutes into the game, it was 21-0.

“I think overall it wasn’t our best game,” Love said. “Obviously to start, too many turnovers and we just got in a hole early. We were trying and fighting the rest of the second half to climb our way out of that hole. It’s never easy when you’re down 21-0, so we just got off to a slow start, put ourselves in a hole.

“I liked the way we finished; we did some good things in the second half. Just not good enough, unfortunately.”

Love’s touchdown pass to Jayden Reed late in the first half, which cut the margin to 28-7, lit a fire under the team and woke the fans from their slumber.

The Packers pulled within 28-22 with about 10 minutes remaining. The Vikings added a key field goal, and the Packers proceeded to turn over the ball on two of their next four plays – an ill-advised deep-shot interception by Love and a fumble by Kraft.

The Packers scored a too-little, too-late touchdown to account for the final score.

“We went out there each drive and we’d put a drive together and then we would just shoot ourselves in the foot,” Kraft said. “We didn’t have great security with the ball, myself included, fumbled on a critical drive. We were marching, we’re going to go down and we’re going to score, we’re going to win the game.”

Actually, the Packers weren’t marching and a touchdown wasn’t going to win the game. But his larger point is true.

Love threw for 389 yards and the Packers outgained the Vikings 465-374, but they had four giveaways and were minus-3 in turnovers.

“As the season progresses,” Kraft continued, “you have to find one play at a time, where can I eliminate the bad? Where can I take any drawback from my game out and replace it with something more positive?

“We’ve had a lot of season so far, a lot of games, a lot of reps to reflect. Now it’s all about just seizing that opportunity this Sunday.”

Really, the Packers’ only truly quality win came at Seattle a couple weeks ago. Their only wins over projected playoff teams came against the Rams (without receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, who is fifth in yards per game) and Texans (without receiver Nico Collins, who is third in yards per game, and four defensive starters).

To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. You can’t almost beat the best.

The time for excuses is over if the Packers want to be considered a legitimate Super Bowl contender next month.

No, the Packers won’t be eliminated from Super Bowl consideration if they lose on Sunday. But it would be one heck of a blow to the team psyche to go 0-5 against the NFC’s three best teams.

The Packers will have to play their best game of the season to beat the Vikings. The self-inflicted mistakes they blamed for losses to the Eagles, Vikings, Lions and Lions again can’t be repeated.

Given how they played during the second half at Detroit and the last two weeks, they are capable of getting it done.

“You can take a lot from it in terms of this is a very opportunistic team,” coach Matt LaFleur said of the first matchup. “They do a great job of creating takeaways. What did we have, four turnovers?

“You cannot do that and allow them to get out in front of you. It’s a high-potent offense. Shoot, they’re very explosive. It’s going to be imperative that we come out of the gates and we start fast, especially going into a hostile environment. This is one of the toughest places to play. It’s one of the most fun places to play. There’s going to be a lot of energy in that stadium, no doubt about it, and I think both teams will be energized to play this game.”

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From a seeding perspective, this is a huge game for the #Packers.https://t.co/J0kRuIhiv5

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) December 27, 2024

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