Defenseless Again, Packers Beat Panthers Despite Joe Barry’s Defense

The Green Bay Packers beat the Carolina Panthers, no thanks to a defense that made another quarterback look like a Hall of Famer.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Every Sunday is Christmas for quarterbacks blessed with going against the Green Bay Packers, for whom defensive coordinator Joe Barry is the gift that keeps on giving.

One week after the Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield, by passer rating, had the best performance ever against a Packers defense, Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young, the struggling No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, had by far the best game of his career.

Young was 23-of-36 passing for 312 yards. He threw two touchdown passes, wasn’t close to being intercepted, averaged 8.67 yards per attempt and fashioned a 110.0 passer rating. The Panthers, who entered the game ranked 29th in scoring, set season highs in points and yards.

For Young:

- The yardage total wasn’t just a career high – he never had a game of even 250 yards – it broke a streak of seven consecutive games without reaching 200 yards.

- Young had 199 yards in the second half alone. That’s more than he had in any full game since Oct. 29 against Houston.

- The passer rating was the best of his career, beating his NFL-worst 72.2 rating by almost 40 points.

- The touchdowns were his first since Nov. 19, breaking a four-game streak without one.

- The yards per attempt was about 3.3 yards better than his NFL-worst 5.35.

That the Packers won 33-30 was practically an afterthought. It wasn’t that Carolina didn’t score enough points. It’s that it ran out of seconds.

Sure, Green Bay remains alive and kicking in the NFC playoff race but, really, what are their chances of beating Justin Jefferson and the Vikings next week, even with quarterback Kirk Cousins out with a torn Achilles?

What are their chances of beating Justin Fields in the finale, with the Bears having won three in a row?

And, as if needs to be asked, what are their chances of beating Brock Purdy, Dak Prescott or Jalen Hurts in a wild-card playoff game?

Packers coach Matt LaFleur, who elected to not fire Barry after last week’s loss to Tampa Bay, deflected the criticism away from his embattled coordinator.

“That was definitely frustrating but it wasn’t just on the defense,” LaFleur said. “Offensively, you’ve got to give them a breather, especially if we’re bleeding a little bit defensively. We’ve got to find a way to put together a scoring drive. We’ve got to find a way to get some first downs to allow those guys to recover, recoup.”

The Packers seemed to be in complete control with their 23-10 halftime lead. The defense forced a three-and-out to start the game, which allowed Jordan Love and the offense to strike first. In fact, it was 13-3 after the first play of the second quarter.

With Green Bay leading 16-10, Kingsley Enagbare and Isaiah McDuffied teamed up to drop Chuba Hubbard on fourth-and-2 from Green Bay’s 38. That stop allowed the Packers to tack on another touchdown to lead by 13 with the ball coming out of halftime.

But Young got rolling and Barry couldn’t find an answer. The Panthers scored touchdowns on three of their next four possessions to tie the game 30-30.

“Yeah, it is,” a worry that Carolina’s feeble offense was able to rally, cornerback Jaire Alexander said. “Honestly. But we’ve just got to play the call that’s called.”

Alexander, back after missing the last six games with a shoulder injury, said it was a “pretty good game plan.” If the plan was fine, the execution of it was terrible against perhaps the worst offense in the NFL.

The Panthers:

- Had gone eight consecutive games without reaching 20 points; they scored 20 in the second half alone.

- Had gone back-to-back games without a touchdown; they scored back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth quarter to turn a 30-16 deficit into a 30-30 tie.

- Had scored 15 points the last two games combined.

“Momentum’s a crazy phenomenon and I think they got the momentum in the second half and they were rolling really in every phase,” LaFleur said.

If not for Love leading the game-winning drive and the Panthers running out of time to respond, Barry might have seen his defense victimized by a third consecutive Player-of-the-Week performance, with Young following in the footsteps of Mayfield and the Giants’ Tommy DeVito.

But the Packers won, thanks in no part to a coordinator who’s seen his defense shredded like the wrapping paper covering the gifts under a Christmas tree.

“We’ve just got to keep fighting,” said outside linebacker Preston Smith, who had 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits. “It comes down to these next two games, but we have to focus on each game at a time. It’s time to focus on the next game, which is the Vikings. We’re going into their house.

“We’ve just got to go out there and start strong and finish strong. It’s hard to win on the road and we’ve got to go out there into Minnesota and we’ve got to give our all and make sure we make the plays that come to us.”

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