The Morning After: Good, Not Great

The Green Bay Packers are a good team.

11 wins? Good.

Making the playoffs? Good.

The problem?

They play in a city named Titletown.

Great is the expectation, and frankly, a requirement.

The 2024 version of the Green Bay Packers, was rarely, if ever great.

Most of the time, they were good. 

Other times, they were downright bad.

That was especially true against the great teams in the NFC.

Yes, the final scores may indicate that the Packers were this close to getting over the hump against the best teams in the NFC.

They lost to Minnesota by two points both times the two teams met.

The Packers also fell behind by three scores in both of those games.

They never felt like they were in control in a 34-31 loss against the Detroit Lions, nor a 34-29 loss to the Eagles on opening night.

They also lost by 10 at home to the Lions in a game where they trailed 24-3 at one point. 

Falling behind and coming back in garbage time is not the hallmark of a great team.

That's what the Packers were supposed to be this year.

Since they came together in the spring, they talked about getting to the Super Bowl. 

Openly.

That's rare in an NFL locker room.

Everyone knows the expectations, but it's rarely spoken about as boldly as the Packers did this offseason. 

They never even came close to sniffing the Super Bowl this year.

A year ago, the Packers were mere minutes away from a trip to the NFC Championship Game. 

This year, the Packers never looked like they were going to get out of the first round.

They fell behind 7-0 within four plays of the game when Keisean Nixon fumbled the opening kickoff to give the Eagles the ball in prime field position.

They fell behind 10-0 before halftime.

Jordan Love, who was so spectacular before last season came to a close, was pedestrian, at best, to finish the season. 

He threw three interceptions, including one that hit Eagles' linebacker Zach Baun right between his numbers. 

The offense rarely looked like the well-oiled machine that it was to close the 2023 season.

There are more reasons for that beyond Love. His best receiver, Christian Watson, was lost for the season with a torn ACL last week.

Romeo Doubs left the game with a scary concussion. 

Jayden Reed dislocated his shoulder during the game.

Those were Love's top three receivers coming into the 2024 season.

It's hard to ask a quarterback to make chicken salad out of Bo Melton and Malik Heath, but that is the burden of being the signal caller for the NFL's most famous franchise.

Defensively, the Packers were good, but two ill-advised penalties gifted the Eagles six points in a game where points were at a premium.  

Rashan Gary was more good than great during the year.

Xavier McKinney was a great free agent signing, but nobody else on that side of the ball would be confused as a great player.

Perhaps Edgerrin Cooper could be one, but that is where the candidates end. 

The Packers' mission this offseason should be simple.

Find more blue chip talent.

Perhaps that means another pass rusher to pair with Gary.

Maybe it's a cornerback to play across from or in place of Jaire Alexander.

Maybe it's, yes, another receiver to give Love someone he can rely on on a weekly basis. 

The Packers did not have enough guys like that, even if they thought so. 

"Yeah, there were a, there was a lot of things that I thought we were going to be able to hang our hat on." LaFleur said after the game

"And, you know, it’s unfortunate. There were a couple times where we had guys open and, you know, one ball gets batted at the line of scrimmage. It just, you know, there was, there was, sometimes we didn't have great protection. So I think it was a multitude of things throughout the course of the game that led to a poor performance in the pass game." 

The passing game is where all focus needs to start.

Love needs to rediscover the form that earned him a big contract extension in the offseason. 

At the skill position, they'll likely need to add someone in the draft, if not a free agent.

The uncertainty surrounding Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs puts a cloud over that position group,

Even if those guys were healthy, the Packers needed to add, now, it's almost a necessity. 

What is also a necessity, is finding a way to get over the hump.

Plenty of good teams come and go before becoming irrelevant.

That's not good enough in Green Bay.

Jordan Love said as much. 

"Yeah, not good enough, I’d say. I think that’s kind of the main factor in a lot of the losses we had was just not good enough, not able to get the job done." Love said.

"And pretty much the same thing tonight. It’s disappointing. I think we did a lot of good things this year; I think there’s a lot of things that we didn’t do as good and we need to find ways to improve on. Anytime you aren’t holding that Super Bowl trophy up and having that be the end of your season, it’s tough and it’s disappointing. I think we’re a really good team. There’s a lot of things we kind of just hurt ourselves in a lot of areas. It sucks. It sucks right now but we’ll be back. We’ll find ways to get better and attack this offseason."

That offseason, begins tonight, because the Packers were just a good team.

The Eagles are a great one.