Packers’ Offense Failed to Clear Lowest Bar Imaginable Against Browns

The Green Bay Packers lost to the Cleveland Browns.

Let that sink in for a moment.

The Browns were 0-2 this season after going 3-14 last season. They are starting a 40-year-old quarterback who hasn’t been a full-time starter since 2017. The Browns, their offense so inept, were in the process of getting booed off the field on several occasions.

And then the Packers, rather than delivering the knockout punch, hit themselves right in the privates.

Green Bay led 10-0 through three quarters. At the time, it felt like it might as well have been 100-0. For the third consecutive game, it entered the fourth quarter having not allowed a touchdown. Having smothered Pro Bowl quarterbacks Jared Goff and Jayden Daniels to start the season, they were doing it again against overmatched Joe Flacco.

But then Green Bay’s run defense forgot how to tackle. Quinshon Judkins ran for 14 yards. Then he ran for 38 yards. Harold Fannin broke three tackles for a 13-yard catch. Green Bay escaped with allowing only a field goal, which made it 10-3 with 3:38 remaining.

This is when championship teams deliver the knockout. Sure, “the other team gets paid, too.” The Browns have the No. 1 offense in the NFL. Green Bay’s offensive line was down two starters.

Who cares?

Jordan Love is supposed to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Josh Jacobs is supposed to be one of the best running backs in the NFL. Matt LaFleur is supposed to be one of the best coaches in the NFL.

Pick up a couple of first downs, run out the clock and get the hell out of Cleveland with a 3-0 record.

Instead, Love, who was closing in on becoming the franchise’s first quarterback since the 1970 merger to go 10 consecutive regular-season games without an interception, made the type of mind-numbing throw he just hasn’t eradicated from his game. On third-and-3, Love – making the 36th start of his career – threw the ball right to safety Grant Delpit.

LaFleur blamed the play call.

“They were playing man coverage, and the guy, Delpit, did a hell of a job,” LaFleur said. “He passed off Tuck(er Kraft) to the inside backer and he fell off in the window. That’s a bad play call. We shouldn’t have called that play. That’s on me.”

Maybe that was LaFleur falling on the sword.

“I didn’t even see him,” Love said.

“Obviously,” he added, “I’m trying to get it out, but it’s one of those, you’ve got to be able to see him falling off. He did a great job of making a play, I didn’t see him, but it’s something I’ve seen before. I’ve got to find a way to see him.”

Delpit returned the interception to the 4 and Judkins bounced off the pile and into the end zone to tie the score at 10 with 3:01 remaining.

Fine. Great teams find a way to win and bad teams find a way to lose.

Savion Williams returned the ensuing kickoff to the 40, pass interference on a deep ball to Romeo Doubs moved the ball to the other 40 and Kraft took a 0-yard pass upfield for 18 yards to the 22 at the 2-minute warning.

Order had been restored and the Packers were going to win.

Until the Packers found a way to lose.

It almost happened on first down, when Jacobs got the ball punched out by linebacker Devin Bush but was ruled to have recovered the ball.

Finally, with two time-burning runs sandwiched around a false start, the Packers sent out the field-goal unit.

The special teams are coordinated by Rich Bisaccia, who was given a bundle of money to fix the Packers’ perennially terrible kicking units after they were eliminated from the 2021 playoffs partially because of a blocked punt. The kicker is Brandon McManus, who was re-signed before free agency after solving the team’s kicking calamity. The long snapper is Matt Orzech, who signed a contract extension during training camp. The holder is Daniel Whelan, who signed a contract extension before Week 1.

The left guard on the play, former first-round pick Jordan Morgan, was pushed backward and gave up the block to Shelby Harris.

The Packers, who played like Super Bowl contenders in the first two games, failed to run out the final three-and-a-half minutes to clinch the win, then failed to finish off a drive to win the game. The Browns, losers of 18 of their previous 21 games, executed a perfect 21-second drill to win the game.

“To be in a position to win the game at the end of the game, and to have the script totally flip on you with the block and them getting into field-goal range, it’s tough,” LaFleur said.

On Wednesday, Rasheed Walker said the Packers could go undefeated. Instead, they couldn’t beat the lowly Browns.

That’s not meant to pile on Walker. Teams that are going to do big things should think big things. Walker was right. So what if he had the audacity to say it? These Packers are capable of doing big things, but they’re going to have to work to accomplish them, because they’re not so good that they can just walk off the bus and have opponents bow at their feet.

“It depends what we do with it afterwards,” McManus said. “Losing’s tough. I think everyone hates losing more than they love winning, and we’ll see how we respond from it. I know these guys in this locker room and, hopefully, we attack it.”

The attack must start with LaFleur and Love. The offense they put on the field on Sunday was terrible. The running game stinks. The pass protection was terrible. The discipline was nonexistent. Green Bay’s defense was great, but a team will only go as far as the quarterback will take it. Because of the defense’s dominance, the bar was set low on offense. Score 13 points and don’t mess things up.

LaFleur and Love tripped over the bar and face-planted.

“Adversity’s going to strike at some point in the season and it struck today,” Love said. “It feels like a very tough loss and one of those games that we let them get it at the end. We had it. We’ve just got to find ways to finish.”