Packers Report Card: Grades From Loss at Lions

The Green Bay Packers have lost five consecutive games, the latest a 15-9 loss at Detroit in which their terrible offense proved even worse than the Lions’ terrible defense.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Right when you think the Green Bay Packers’ season can’t get any worse, they lose to the lowly Detroit Lions.

How bad is Green Bay’s offense? A defense on pace to allow the most points in NFL history allowed just one touchdown and nine points. Aaron Rodgers threw three interceptions, the running game was a nonfactor and several key players suffered injuries.

But, hey, at least the defense showed up and the players tried.

“We could all do a little bit better,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Monday. “We have to in order for us to win games. It’s unfortunate that we’re in this situation, but we are. And so, the focus is on making sure we do everything as best as we can each and every day to make sure that our process is right, because I am a big believer that if you’re doing all the little things from Monday to Saturday, it’s going to translate and lead to a better opportunity to win on Sunday.

“What’s unfortunate is just thinking back to the last couple weeks, I feel like there has been more urgency and intentional practice in everything we’re doing and it’s not leading to the results we want. So, I challenged everybody to dig a little bit deeper and continue to look at yourself and ask yourself, ‘What can I do better?’”

The Packers, individually and as a team, need to do a lot better to prevent this season from continually finding new lows.

Here is this week’s report card.

Passing Offense

Aaron Rodgers remains a spectacular player. He made plenty of “wow” throws. Finally, there was some success pushing the ball down the field and not relying on dinking and dunking and running after the catch. Rodgers made some plays when under pressure, too, a facet of his game that had become a negative. For years, Rodgers has said a quarterback is done when he no longer has his legs. Rodgers no longer is an elite mover in the pocket but he did run for 40 yards on four scrambles.

The inconsistency, however, is killing the team. He threw three interceptions, with two in the red zone and another from just outside the red zone. One was a bit of bad luck. He tried to fit it through the defense, as he’s done numerous times throughout his career, but chucked it off the helmet of linebacker Derrick Barnes. Allen Lazard was open for the score. The second, to left tackle David Bakhtiari, was woefully underthrown. The third was a Brett Favre special, a fastball into double coverage. He underthrew a potential touchdown to Samori Toure and turned down tight end Josiah Deguara for what might have been a touchdown.

The receiver corps is just not very good. Everyone knows that. Sammy Watkins had two drops and, by our tracking, Christian Watson broke the only tackle. With the season going down the drain, it sure would be nice to run Romeo Doubs and Watson out there for 40 or 50 snaps per game and Watkins for zero as a way toward building for the future. But Doubs is out with a high-ankle sprain and Watson just can’t stay healthy.

The pass protection was OK considering the pass-happy nature of things. Zach Tom is a marvel with his play at right guard for Jon Runyan and left tackle for David Bakhtiari. Ultimately, for the sake of the grade, all that matters are the interceptions.

Grade: F.

Rushing Offense

Aaron Rodgers’ scrambles sugarcoat the final totals of 106 yards and a 4.2 average. Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, who were unstoppable against Buffalo, carried the ball 20 times for just 59 yards.

Unlike the Buffalo game, the Lions lined up to stop the run. And they did. “They dared us to throw the football,” coach Matt LaFleur said. Jones, who couldn’t be tackled by the Bills last week, forced only two missed tackles against Detroit. Almost all of his 25 yards came after contact. He played only 30 snaps before exiting with an injured ankle. Dillon didn’t get much running room, either. He also broke two tackles but took a beating due to his never-give-up style. He was stuffed on first- and third-and-goal from the 1.

Grade: F.

Passing Defense

In four previous home games, Lions quarterback Jared Goff had thrown for 1,170 yards with 11 touchdowns and two interceptions, good for a 107.8 rating. The Packers limited Goff to 14-of-26 for just 137 yards and a 78.5 rating.

Jaire Alexander grabbed an interception that might have changed the course of the game had Aaron Rodgers not thrown it right back to the Lions. The most explosive passing attack in the NFL in terms of 25- and 40-yard gains had only two big plays – a 25-yarder to star Amon-Ra St. Brown and a 20-yarder to running back D’Andre Swift in which Quay Walker missed the tackle.

The bad news is Goff’s two touchdown passes were to wide-open tight ends, perhaps against Quay Walker and Darnell Savage, but they were so open that who knows, really. Less than a week after trading T.J. Hockenson, the Lions threw as many touchdown passes to tight ends as the Packers have all season. In desperate need of a stop, Krys Barnes’ helmet-to-helmet hit allowed the Lions to move the chains on second-and-20.

Losing Eric Stokes to ankle/knee injuries isn’t ideal. He has not taken that Year 2 jump after an impressive rookie season but he’s still a talented player with a lot of promise. That said, maybe there’s some upside to the injury with Rasul Douglas moving from the slot, where he’s struggled, to corner, where he intercepted five passes last year. Douglas and Alexander were tremendous. The coverage from the linebackers was not.

The pass rush, which brought the heat at Buffalo last week, was feeble. Rashan Gary had a team-high three pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, before tearing his ACL. Without Gary, Preston Smith and Kenny Clark will need to be a lot more productive than they were vs. Detroit. Smith’s pressure on fourth-and-3 did give the Packers a last-gasp drive.

Grade: C.

Rushing Defense

Green Bay’s run defense, horrendous for most of the season, really stepped up. Jamaal Williams needed 24 carries to gain his 81 yards. Removing Jared Goff’s 1-yard loss to end the game, the Lions gained 118 yards on 30 attempts – a 3.9-yard average. The tackling was excellent, with just two misses vs. the run.

The good: Quay Walker stuffed Williams for minus-2 on third-and-1 to give the Packers a shot. The bad: Kenny Clark was in on seven tackles vs. the run but four were 5-plus yards downfield and none were for less than 2.

Grade: B-minus.

Special Teams

By Football Outsiders’ metrics, the Lions had one of the best special teams in the NFL and the Packers one of the worst. So, based on that, it was a good day at the office. Keisean Nixon’s only kickoff return went 33 yards. Amari Rodgers’ only punt return was for 10 yards to the Lions’ 48. Mason Crosby made an easy field goal.

Pat O’Donnell punted one time, a 31-yarder to the 13 for his 17th inside-the-20 punt of the season. Ideally, you’d like to do a bit better – like Detroit’s Jack Fox did when he pinned Green Bay at the 1. Jaire Alexander’s roughing-the-kicker penalty meant the Lions could go for two and an 8-0 lead. He’s new to that role.

Grade: C.

Coaching

In theory, you could give Joe Barry an A or B for his defense, Rich Bisaccia a C for his special teams and Matt LaFleur an F for the offense, average them together and get a C. You can’t do that, though, not after losing to the one-win Lions.

Detroit’s defense was the worst in the NFL by more than five points per game. And yet that group held the mighty Aaron Rodgers to nine points. Of course, how much of that was Matt LaFleur’s game plan and play-calling and how much of it was Rodgers’ turnovers taking points off the board?

The lack of progress on offense is mind-boggling. It’s no better now than the first day of training camp. How much of the problems are because of Rodgers and/or the lack of a field-tilting receiver vs. how much falls on LaFleur, offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich and passing-game coordinator/receivers coach Jason Vrable? The only way to get those answers would be to share a 12-pack of Spotted Cow with general manager Brian Gutekunst and a bottle of wine with LaFleur and compare notes. They’ve got my number and I've got the beverages.

Grade: D-minus.