Record Number of Penalties Led to Packers’ Foul Loss to Browns

It was the most perfectly imperfect ending to a game imaginable.

On the Cleveland Browns’ game-winning field goal, Keisean Nixon was offside.

The Green Bay Packers didn’t so much lose 13-10 on Sunday as they beat themselves. Repeatedly. On a day in which they continued to shoot themselves in the foot, they wore a yellow cloth as a bandage.

The Packers were penalized 14 times for 75 yards against the Browns. Those are just the accepted ones, so they don’t include Nixon being offside on the game-ending field goal (because it was declined) or Kingsley Enagbare being flagged for holding on a fourth-quarter kickoff return (because Lukas Van Ness also was flagged for holding).

The 14 accepted penalties set a Matt LaFleur-era record, with 12 at Detroit in 2020 being the previous high. It marked only the fourth time in his 103 regular-season games that the Packers were penalized more than 10 times.

Other than 18 penalties in a loss at Chicago in 2010, the Packers hadn’t been penalized that many times in a game since 1987, according to Stathead. The 14 were tied for the most by any team this season.

“One thing that we have to get corrected is, when you have 14 penalties in a game, it’s going to be tough to overcome that,” LaFleur said after the game. “We’ve got to do a much better job of coaching the fundamentals, the details, and then we’ve got to lock in at a higher level in regards to some of the controllable penalties, whether it was false starts or offsides or whatever you have.”

If a journey of a million miles starts with the first step, a journey toward an embarrassing loss in Cleveland was taken 5 yards at a time.

Impressively – OK, that’s not the right word – Green Bay wasn’t guilty of its first penalty until the final play of the first quarter. On third-and-4 with the Packers in the red zone, Jordan Morgan was guilty of a false start. A 5-yard penalty against a defense as good as Cleveland’s might as well be a 15-yard penalty. On third-and-9, Love had pressure in his face and threw incomplete, so the Packers had to settle for a field goal.

On Green Bay’s next drive, the Packers were guilty of three penalties. They overcame a second-and-1 false start by Rasheed Walker by catching the Browns with 12 men on the field on third-and-4. However, with the offense in position for at least a long field goal, Malik Heath was flagged for a false start on first-and-10 and Romeo Doubs was guilty of an illegal block on third-and-15, which knocked the Packers out of field-goal range.

“I feel like we were hurting ourselves more than anything with some of the penalties and the little things,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “I felt like we were putting some good drives together but at the end of the day I feel like we just hurt ourselves a little too much.”

Green Bay was only getting warmed up. On the opening possession of the second half, the Packers had a third-and-1 and a chance for an easy first down to potentially launch a key drive. Instead, Morgan was guilty of a false start, Love was sacked and the Packers punted.

Green Bay’s next possession produced its only touchdown as it overcame a second-and-18 created by Walker’s ineligible-man-downfield penalty, which eliminated a 12-yard gain on a receiver screen.

The stage was set for – pardon the pun – a foul fourth quarter. Green Bay was flagged an incredible 10 times. Ten! In one quarter!

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Ty’Ron Hopper was flagged for illegal formation on a punt.

On the ensuing possession, Micah Parsons was flagged for defensive offside on third-and-20; the Packers got the stop on third-and-15.

Later, Cleveland faced a third-and-9 from Green Bay’s 13. The Packers got the stop but Javon Bullard was busted for having a handful of Cedric Tillman’s jersey, so the Browns got a first-and-goal at the 8. On third-and-goal at the 3, Nixon was called for a suspect pass interference against Jerry Jeudy. That gave the Browns a first-and-goal at the 1. A chop-block penalty on Cleveland meant the Browns had to settle for a field goal.

On the kickoff, Van Ness and Enagbare were guilty of holding, so the Packers had to start at their 18. On third-and-3, Love was intercepted, so the Browns set up shop at the 4. The ball got moved to the 1 on the next play when Williams was flagged for interference. The Browns scored on the next play to make it 10-10.

Through it all, the Packers still had a chance to win. A pass-interference penalty on the Browns helped get the Packers into scoring position. On third-and-10 from Cleveland’s 22, Walker was flagged for a false start. Moments later, Brandon McManus’ 43-yard field-goal attempt was blocked.

The end of the game was bookended by offsides penalties on Parsons, which put the Browns on the other side of midfield to start the drive, and Nixon on the field goal to end the game.

“They didn’t bring me here to jump offsides,” Parsons said. “So, I take more responsibility for this loss than probably anyone in here.”

Added together, the Packers were flagged five times for false starts – they averaged only one per game last season – and twice for offside. Walker was guilty of three penalties and Morgan, Parsons, Nixon and Williams of two apiece.

“It just depends what kind of penalties you’re talking about,” LaFleur said of the need to cut back on the unforced errors. “I think when you talk about pre-snap penalties, that is concentration and focus, being dialed in in the moment. When you talk about post-snap penalties – we had a bunch of holding – that comes down to fundamentals and technique.

“We’ve got to coach it better and we’ve got to be harder on our guys if we see it in practice, because that’s where it all starts. So, ultimately, we’ve got to do a better job across the board.”