Three Reasons To Worry About 2024 Packers

A season filled with high expectations is almost here. After being one of the NFL’s big surprises in 2023, here’s why the Packers could be big disappointments in 2024.

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) runs through a ball-security drill during training camp. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will kick off a season filled with Super Bowl aspirations on Friday night in Brazil against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Last year, the Packers surged into the playoffs and routed the Cowboys in the wild-card round. They won 10 games because of a young and blossoming offense and despite a defense that was second-to-last in interceptions and couldn’t stop the run.

The late-season success of Jordan Love made the Packers one of the biggest surprises of 2023 and fueled expectations for 2024.

High hopes? Nope.

Here’s why the Packers could be among the NFL’s biggest disappointments this season.

1. Josh Jacobs and the Running Game

Entering Week 16 of last season, the Packers were 6-8. After three consecutive wins against the Chargers, Lions and Chiefs – the last two of those games proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that they could hang with any team in the league – the Packers fell flat on their face by losing back-to-back games to the Giants and Buccaneers.

Green Bay, however, rebounded with three consecutive must-win victories to streak into the playoffs, then crushed Dallas.

Jordan Love was magnificent in those games, but that four-game winning streak corresponded with Aaron Jones’ full integration into the lineup. Finally healthy, Jones rushed for 127 yards against the Panthers, 120 yards against the Vikings and 111 yards against the Bears to get into the playoffs and 118 yards against the Cowboys.

Love threw a combined 10 touchdowns and zero interceptions during the winning streak. With Jones running wild, Love posted a near-perfect 155.4 passer rating on play-action passes in those four games.

That’s a lot of words to get to Jacobs, the new No. 1 back.

The 2022 rushing champion had a dismal 2023. Of 49 running backs with at least 100 carries, Jacobs ranked 42nd in yards per carry and 46th in yards after contact per carry. He went from 90 forced missed tackles in 340 rushes in 2022 to 28 in 233 rushes in 2023.

Jacobs had a good training camp. He’s motivated to show the world he remains a premier back. With Love and his abundance of weapons, Jacobs should have opportunities to attack defenses not necessarily designed to stop him. The line is better, too.

“Being a running back, obviously (having) guys you have to respect on the outside, it makes my job easier because I’m not facing heavier boxes all the time,” he said this week. “It also makes my job easier because any given play these guys can create a big play. It makes it a lot harder to defend.

“When you have a special quarterback like Jordan and the way that he plays and the throws that he’s able to make, I think it all goes hand-in-hand with everything. I’m just excited. Honestly, I’m excited to see these guys work. I’m excited to see the dawg. I’m excited to see the intensity when the game comes. When we get hit, how do we respond? Things like that, that’s what I’m excited to see.”

But what if Jacobs is unable to take advantage of those light boxes? What if he’s been worn down by the 1,500 touches in five seasons with the Raiders? Can Love be the big-time play-action passer he was last season without a running game to keep defenses honest?

2. Jeff Hafley

For more than a decade, the most popular person in Green Bay has been the starting quarterback. The second-most popular person has been the new defensive coordinator.

Everyone loves Jeff Hafley. His scheme is great. The way he’s letting the defensive front attack is great. The way he’s letting the defensive backs attack is great.

But, as Mike Tyson famously said, everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the face.

Hafley might be a great defensive coordinator. He might be the missing piece to the Packers’ championship puzzle. He might be the right person to maximize a defensive roster that is filled with first-round picks and highly paid veterans.

But who knows?

Hafley has no track record. His defenses at Boston College ranged from mediocre to terrible, but college football is a sport split between the haves and the have-nots. Jimmys and Joes beat X’s and O’s, as the saying goes.

From Kenny Clark to Jaire Alexander, the players seem to love what Hafley has brought to the party. Now, he’s got to prove he can put together a winning game plan, come up with winning adjustments and put his best players in position to win games.

When he’s punched in the face, he’s got to punch back. Harder.

“I talk to the players, and I mean this,” Hafley said last week. “We’re going to work really hard up until the time that we kick off and my sheets are going to be in front of me and I’m going to let it rip, and we’re going to call it and we’re going to play fast and we’re going to play physical.

“I’m not going to hesitate on the call. We’re going to get it in quickly to Quay (Walker) so they can look out and see what the offense is coming out in and we can go line up and play. I trust the players. I trust the staff and I just got to go call it and they got to go play and execute and I cannot wait for that to happen.”

3. Special Teams

General manager Brian Gutekunst stuck with kicker Anders Carlson through thick and thin last year. Finally, the ice got too thin and the Packers tasted the icy waters of playoff elimination.

Carlson missed a field goal in a two-point loss to Denver. He missed an extra point at Pittsburgh, which forced the Packers to go for a desperation touchdown that could have sent the game to overtime. He missed a field goal in a two-point loss to the Giants. Finally, he missed a field goal in a three-point loss at San Francisco in the playoffs.

“We needed to get better,” Gutekunst said at the end of training camp after jettisoning Carlson and his veteran challenger, Greg Joseph.

After churning through five kickers during camp, Gutekunst chose Door No. 6 and Brayden Narveson, a rookie with a big leg and a lot of potential. Then again, Carlson has a big leg and a lot of potential, too. He’s still unemployed.

“I’m very confident in this team and what we can accomplish so I want to make sure we give this team every opportunity to win,” Gutekunst said.

Meanwhile, there’s an expectation that Keisean Nixon will thrive with the new kickoff rules. That could be true, but the Packers finished 29th in Rick Gosselin’s special-teams rankings in 2023. That marked the seventh time in the last decade that the Packers finished 26th or worse. Rich Bisaccia’s units were guilty of a league-worst 19 penalties.

Of course, past failures don’t portend future disasters. However, after year after year of sustained failure, it’s critical that Bisaccia’s special teams don’t stand in the way of the march to New Orleans.

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— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 5, 2024

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