Packers Lose at Vikings: Three Reasons to Panic
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers lost their season-opening game 23-7 at the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. The outcome itself wasn’t a surprise. In a game of matchups, the Packers were playing uphill without David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins to block Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter. What was a surprise is how the Packers played in specific phases.
Here are three reasons to pound the panic button after a second consecutive dismal Week 1 performance.
1. Putrid Perimeter Performances on Offense
Green Bay’s receivers caught 12 passes for 120 yards and no touchdowns. For sake of comparison, former Packers star Davante Adams caught 10 passes for 141 yards and one touchdown in his Raiders debut.
Among the receivers, other than Christian Watson’s 25-yarder in garbage time, fellow rookie Romeo Doubs had the only explosive play of the day with a key 23-yard catch in the fourth quarter. The longest of Sammy Watkins’ three catches went for 9 yards. The longest of Randall Cobb’s two catches went for 8 yards.
“We’ve got to be able to throw the ball outside the numbers,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “A lot of the plan this game seemed to be inside-the-numbers stuff, so Sammy didn’t have a lot of opportunities. We’ve got to find a way to get him the ball because he’s been playing great, he’s been practicing great. We’ll get him involved, I’m not worried about that. But, like I said, there’s too many mental mistakes, missed some throws, can’t turn the ball over. We had chances to be right in the game with that last drive being a game-winning field goal and not a fourth down down 16.”
Obviously, Watson’s drop of a 75-yard touchdown on the first offensive snap stands out like a sore thumb. But the Packers need more. Everyone knows it. The burning question since Adams was traded in February was how the Packers would move the ball through the air. Clearly, when the offensive tackles return, there will be more time for plays to develop down the field. And the return of Allen Lazard, the team’s most trusted receiver, will help, too.
2. Everything on Defense
The players on the Packers’ defense talked the talk throughout training camp. They also knew they had to walk the walk.
“We’ve still got the regular season to hold that up,” outside linebacker Rashan Gary said last month. “Man, we’ve got talent everywhere. Talent everywhere. Green Bay as an organization, we’re doing great putting pieces on the defense, drafting guys. You see the potential. Go back to our standard and understanding what it means to be a Green Bay Packer. Past postseasons, we ended how we didn’t want it to end. We’ve got to turn it up on the defense. Defense wins championships. That’s our mind-set.”
That defense laid an egg on Sunday, though. Green Bay gave up 23 points – a manageable number – with only six points in the second half. But this is not what anybody expected. Kirk Cousins certainly was more comfortable in the pocket than Rodgers, resulting in six completions for 20-plus yards. Dalvin Cook and his sidekick, Alexander Mattison, averaged 4.5 yards per carry. There were no answers for Justin Jefferson and no game-changing plays.
The defensive line and outside linebackers, a group that coordinator Joe Barry called “pretty special” on Thursday, didn’t provide much of an impact. A secondary that safety Darnell Savage called “stacked” gave up 184 yards and two touchdowns to Jefferson. Jefferson is a great player but most of that production was taking-candy-from-a-baby easy. Cornerback Eric Stokes, in particular, had a rough day at the office, no different than last year at Minnesota.
The offense’s struggles are to be expected. The defense’s struggles were a colossal disappointment given the talent and experience on that side of the ball. Great defenses are able to rise to the occasion to win games. The Packers were a long way from that standard on Sunday.
3. Coaching and Game Plan
Let’s cut out the excuse-making. Would the Packers have played better had coach Matt LaFleur used his starters in the preseason? Maybe, but the Vikings – with a new coaching staff and schemes – didn’t play their starters in the preseason, either. And who cares about unscouted looks? The Packers, with a new offensive coordinator and a defense filled with talent, had all offseason to come up with their own unscouted looks.
The offense was terrible. To be sure, coming up with a winning game plan is a lot easier with Bakhtiari and Jenkins in the lineup to take care of Smith and Hunter. Nonetheless, LaFleur got the ball to Jones just eight times. Eight! He is the team’s best playmaker. Even in limited chances, he had two of the team’s five 20-yard plays.
The defense, frankly, was terrible, too. I get it, you can’t play man-to-man with Jaire Alexander on Jefferson on every snap. But what about the key downs? Two of Jefferson’s five 20-yard plays came on third down and he had a 5-yard touchdown on fourth down. Sink or swim with your best players in the big moments. Put Alexander on Jefferson, count on Eric Stokes and Rasul Douglas to take care of Adam Thielen and K.J. Osborn, and send an extra rusher or two on occasion.
“Obviously, wasn’t very good and that starts with me,” LaFleur said in his opening remarks. “We definitely have to have a better plan for our team and get our guys better prepared. Certainly, give the Minnesota Vikings a ton of credit. They came ready to play. They obviously had a great plan.
“We knew going into this game that stopping their lead dogs, really offensively and defensively, were going to be an important part of it. We didn’t get that done. Jefferson has almost 200 yards receiving and two touchdowns and I think they had four sacks. So, didn’t stop their big-time playmakers and allowed them to make big-time plays and, if you do that, you’re not going to win very many games in this league.”
