Three weeks into the season, the Green Bay Packers are looking more like a team trying to stop the slide than one living up to the hype. After opening with a 1-2 record during what was supposed to be an easy part of the schedule, Green Bay has now gone without a regulation win since December 7th, and the national power rankings reflect that reality.
The Packers landed in a rough neighborhood across the board. ESPN was the most optimistic outlet, slotting Green Bay at No.
- Bleacher Report, CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated all put the Packers at No.
- The Score had them at No.
- NBC Sports and Yahoo!
Sports both ranked them 25th, while FOX Sports and USA Today each placed them at 26th. The Athletic had them 27th, and NFL.com was the harshest of the bunch at No.
That puts Green Bay right around 24th on average, which is basically the edge of the bottom quarter of the league. Not exactly the kind of national respect the Packers were hoping to command in Week 4.
ESPN’s note on tight end Tucker Kraft summed up part of the frustration. As Rob Demovsky wrote: “Coming off last season’s torn ACL, Kraft was ninth among tight ends in our draft rankings.
Through three games, he’s 27th in fantasy points at the position. Kraft has just nine catches for 108 yards and no touchdowns despite not being on a snap limit.
As bad as the Packers’ offensive line has been, the Packers still rank tied for fourth in the NFL in passing yards per game. But Kraft has not been a big part of that.”
Kraft’s production has been underwhelming, and he doesn’t look fully healthy right now. Before last season’s injury, his yards-after-catch ability was a major part of what Green Bay leaned on against split-safety looks, especially when the run game wasn’t cooperating.
The Packers could use that version of Kraft now. At this point, just about anything would help.
NFL.com was the low point for Green Bay in this week’s rankings, putting the Packers ahead of only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans. That list also included two winless teams ranked ahead of Green Bay: the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans.
Matt LaFleur didn’t sugarcoat Thursday’s 21-point loss to Atlanta, calling it a “humbling night.” The offense still has no real running game and is asking too much of Jordan Love, while the defense’s poor tackling helped bury the Packers in their second loss. It’s not hard to see how this team could already be 0-3, and the next stretch suddenly looks a lot more serious.
If Green Bay can’t clean it up against the Buccaneers in Week 4, the alarm bells will get louder fast. And with the Packers-Bears game in Week 5 already flexed to noon local, plus the team planning to unveil its new alternative uniforms in honor of the shareholders, a 1-3 start would not go over well.
In Other News...
Packers Captains Just Weighed In As Matt LaFleur Heat Builds
With the Packers sitting at 1-2 and trying to steady themselves before a Week Four meeting with the Buccaneers, the conversation around Green Bay has shifted quickly from expectations to urgency. Protection issues up front and another late-game stumble have put Matt LaFleur under an uncomfortable spotlight, but some of the locker rooms most visible voices tried to push back on the idea that the season is veering off course.
Xavier McKinney and Tucker Kraft both expressed confidence in LaFleur, saying the team trusts its coach and believes it can still improve. They also acknowledged the frustration that followed the Week Three loss, which has only sharpened the pressure outside the building, but inside the locker room the emphasis remains on getting the details cleaned up and finding a way to turn the season around before the noise grows louder. [Read more 🡒]
Tucker Kraft Tries To Walk Back A Frustrating Packers Moment
Tucker Kraft spent the days after the Packers loss to the Falcons trying to straighten out a postgame moment that landed poorly with part of the fan base. The tight end said his frustration was really aimed at the way the game unfolded, not at Green Bay supporters, and he admitted his wording could have been better after emotions spilled over in the aftermath.
Krafts clarification matters because the Packers are already under scrutiny for the product they put on the field, and the last thing the team needed was added noise around a defensive comment directed at its own crowd. He pointed to Christian Watsons response as a better example of how to handle the situation, a small but telling sign that Green Bays players know the line between venting frustration and turning it inward. [Read more 🡒]
Jordan Love Now Has To Answer For A Packers Offensive Mess
Jordan Loves first three weeks have been a mix of promising numbers and obvious frustration, the kind of start that makes it hard to separate the quarterback from the offense around him. He has thrown for 844 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions, but the production has come with uneven efficiency and eight sacks, while Green Bay has had to work through injuries up front and a rushing attack that has not done enough to steady things.
Brent Sobleskis Week 3 grade of a D for Love against Atlanta only adds to the pressure on a unit that has looked out of sync at times. For the Packers, the bigger question now is not just whether Love can keep stacking up touchdowns, but whether he can keep answering for an offense that has too often made his job harder than it should be. [Read more 🡒]