Packers Are Broken: Three Overreactions From Loss to Eagles

The Green Bay Packers are broken on offense. Can Matt LaFleur get them fixed?

Here are the weekly Overreactions following the Packers’ 10-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.

1. The Fall of the Offensive Mastermind

Coach Matt LaFleur is considered an offensive mastermind. Laugh all you want in light of what happened the last two weeks, but LaFleur took on a reclamation project named Aaron Rodgers when he was hired in 2019. In his debut season, the Packers reached the NFC Championship Game. In 2020, they led the NFL in scoring and Rodgers won MVP. In 2021, they finished 10th in scoring and Rodgers again won MVP.

The Packers traded Davante Adams before the 2022 draft. They traded Rodgers before the 2023 draft. LaFleur won with Rodgers. He won with Jordan Love. Heck, he won with Malik Willis.

So, it was hard to say what was more startling on Monday night. That the Packers scored seven points against the Eagles. Or that LaFleur walked into his postgame news conference as if he’d just handed out participation trophies and cupcakes rather than victory game balls?

“Unfortunately, there’s absolutely no moral victories in our sport, but I was proud of our guys’ effort. I thought they battled for four quarters,” LaFleur said. That the players didn’t quit, I suppose, is a good thing for LaFleur’s short-term job security.

“We knew it was going to be a four-quarter fistfight,” he continued. “I thought our defense was outstanding and, unfortunately, just too many mistakes offensively to overcome it. I have said this many times: You hold good football teams to 10 points, you should win the football game, in my opinion.”

I know LaFleur’s point but, for the record, he’d never said those words. That’s because the Packers were 15-0 when allowing 10 or fewer points during his tenure. In fact, the Packers were 26-0 when allowing 14 or fewer points in a game.

Green Bay’s offensive performance was, well, offensive. Again. That starts with LaFleur, as he’d be the first to admit.

Sure, Green Bay’s injuries are a factor. The Eagles, on the other hand, were healthy and coming off their bye.

But the defense gave LaFleur’s offense a low bar last week against Carolina. It gave the offense an even lower bar against Philadelphia. Instead of stepping over it, it stumbled face-first into the outhouse.

On Monday night, the game was tied 0-0 at halftime. The Packers had 83 yards – including 20 net passing yards – and zero third-down conversions. The second half was better – it couldn’t have been worse – but they went from stepping in cow manure to horse manure.

In the second half, they gained 181 yards. They went 5-for-8 on third down. However, instead of kicking extra points or field goals, they kept kicking themselves in the shins with their crap-covered cleats.

The first possession of the second half ended on Bo Melton’s fourth-down drop. The second ended when an illegal-formation penalty eliminated a completion to Christian Watson that gained 22 yards to the Eagles’ 13. The third, finally, ended in the end zone. The fourth ended on the doomed fourth-and-1 handoff to Josh Jacobs when the Eagles knew exactly what was coming.

“They called out our play,” Jacobs said. “We ran it like four times (and) they called it out.”

A team should be building in November so it can compete for a championship in December and January. Instead, the Packers’ offense is crumbling.

Defenses are begging the Packers to run the ball, but they do it at only a mediocre level. Defenses are allowing the Packers to settle for underneath passes, but Love was 6-of-10 for 39 yards in the first half.

On the second-to-last drive, the Packers faced third-and-10. Love completed a short pass into the flat to Luke Musgrave. Tucker Kraft would have taken that pass and blasted through three defenders to get the first down. Musgrave went down on first contact and gained 9.