The boos were already rolling through Lambeau Field before halftime, and by the time the Atlanta Falcons left with a 35-14 Thursday night win, the Packers had put together the kind of performance that forces ugly questions.
Green Bay looked every bit like a 1-2 team that can’t consistently protect Jordan Love or generate anything on the ground. Matt LaFleur didn’t try to soften that reality. He called the loss a “butt-whooping” and said his players needed to take a “long hard look” at themselves.
What he would not touch was the question hovering over the sideline: whether offensive line coach Luke Butkus should be replaced.
“I’m not even going to respond to that question,” LaFleur said when asked if the line’s play would lead to a staff change. Matt Schneidman of The Athletic posted the exchange Friday morning, and NBC Sports carried the same refusal.
That response came after a night in which the Packers managed only 17 rushing yards on nine carries and put the offense almost entirely on Love’s shoulders. He finished 28 of 53 for 312 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. He was sacked once, but the real damage came from the pressure and the complete absence of a run game.
The Packers’ line situation was already messy before kickoff. Right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele tore the patellar tendon in his right knee three plays into last Sunday’s win at the New York Jets and is out for the season.
Left guard Aaron Banks was inactive because of knee and toe issues. Green Bay started rookie Jager Burton at left guard and Anthony Belton at right tackle, according to Sports Illustrated’s inactives report.
Those injuries explain part of the problem. They don’t explain all of it.
Love has now been sacked eight times this season - four at Minnesota, three at the Jets, and one against Atlanta. Next Gen Stats credited the Falcons with 15 quick pressures on Thursday, the second-highest total any team has allowed in 2026.
Through three games, the Packers have just 146 rushing yards. Bijan Robinson had 194 by himself on Thursday.
The perimeter still gave Green Bay something to work with. Christian Watson caught seven passes for 96 yards and a touchdown, while Matthew Golden had five catches for 100 yards and his first regular-season score, numbers the team highlighted in its game recap on packers.com.
But those plays don’t erase the larger issue. When the pocket is collapsing and the ground game never gets rolling, everything else gets harder.
LaFleur didn’t pin the loss on one position group, even with the line under the microscope.
“I don’t want to put all the blame on the offensive line,” he said. “There’s enough blame to go around to everybody.”
He was even more blunt when asked what the offense does well right now.
“I don’t know what we’re doing well offensively,” he said after the game, a quote Bill Huber included in his postgame column for Sports Illustrated.
The bigger concern is that this isn’t just one bad night. The Packers haven’t had the same five up front in consecutive weeks.
Josh Jacobs remains on the commissioner’s exempt list. Against Atlanta, MarShawn Lloyd and Kaleb Johnson combined for 17 rushing yards.
Green Bay also leaned pass-heavy early, throwing 12 times and running three times in the first quarter even with the score tied 7-7.
Butkus has been on LaFleur’s staff since 2019 and has served as the full-time offensive line coach since 2022. The team bio points to top-10 sack rates in recent seasons, but that belongs to healthier teams and different rosters. On Thursday night, none of that mattered to the fans watching Love reset under pressure while a 13-game home opener winning streak came to an end.
The Packers go to Tampa Bay to face the Buccaneers on Oct. 4.
Tampa Bay is 0-2 heading into Sunday’s game against Minnesota. It’s a meeting of two offenses trying to find their footing.
If Green Bay shows up with the same patched-together line and the same empty run game, the question LaFleur brushed off Friday won’t go away. It’ll only get louder.
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Michael Penix Jr. Already Put Falcons Fans On Edge In Debut
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Atlantas response turned the mood in the building fast, especially once Penix connected with Austin Hooper for a touchdown pass and the Falcons pushed out to a 17-7 lead late in the second quarter. For a quarterback making his first start, the early turnover was the kind of jolt that can linger, but the way the Falcons steadied themselves around him suggested this debut was going to be watched closely all night. [Read more 🡒]