Matt LaFleur had every reason to point out the good in the Packers’ offense after Sunday’s 39-22 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Green Bay did hit on big plays.
It did move the ball. For stretches, it looked like the kind of attack that can stress a defense.
But the problem is right there in LaFleur’s own description: “feast or famine.”
That’s not a clean formula for winning games, especially not when the pressure is coming the way it did against Minnesota. The Vikings blitzed Jordan Love on 78.3 percent of his dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats via ESPN’s Benjamin Solak. That kind of number is staggering in any setting, and in Week 1 it clearly caught the Packers’ offensive line in a tough spot.
On Monday, LaFleur was asked whether he expects other teams to copy that approach against Green Bay.
“That would be a wholesale commitment to go to that style of defense, which you don't see a whole bunch of that in the league,” LaFleur said with a laugh, before pointing to the production the offense still managed to create.
“I think we ended the game with, like, 10 explosives [plays] for 300 something yards. So it's feast or famine. Unfortunately, we had some great moments where we feasted on it, certainly, but at the end of the game when we needed to get some plays, they did what they do and they got two or three takeaways.”
He’s not wrong that the Vikings’ game plan was extreme. And he’s also right that Green Bay’s offense had moments that looked sharp for much of the afternoon. For three quarters, the Packers found ways to attack and pile up yardage.
Still, the larger issue is harder to ignore: banking on explosive plays and hoping to survive the rest is a shaky way to build wins. Love was under so much heat that the offense needed near-perfect execution just to keep functioning. That’s not a sustainable burden for a quarterback or an offensive line over four quarters.
The final numbers tell the same story. Green Bay put up 22 points, but only 10 of those came across four trips inside the red zone.
That’s the part that keeps undercutting the optimism. If the offense is going to live on the edge like this, it has to cash in far more often when it gets close.
LaFleur’s point has some merit: the Packers probably won’t see this exact blitz rate again from many opponents, at least not in the same way Minnesota deployed it. But that doesn’t make the underlying concern go away. Green Bay can’t depend too heavily on explosives and expect that to carry them as a contender.
The personnel may be there for big-play football. The issue is whether that style, by itself, is built to hold up.
With the way the Packers have struggled in the red zone over the last two years, the answer so far looks pretty clear. They can have stretches where they feast.
They just can’t afford to make famine part of the plan.
In Other News...
Packers O-Line Issues Just Turned Into A Bigger Coaching Debate
The Packers opening-week loss quickly pushed the offensive line into the center of the conversation, and offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich tried to frame the problems as more about communication than anything structural. He said the choice to start Donovan Jennings at left guard came down to what the staff saw in practice, and he also left open the possibility of moving Anthony Belton back to guard as Green Bay continues to search for the right mix up front.
What makes the issue linger is that the discussion has started to bleed beyond the line itself. Stenavich and Matt LaFleur offered different explanations about how Tucker Kraft was used on one particular play, a small detail that points to a larger question about how cleanly the offense is being coached and executed. For a unit already under pressure after Week 1, those kinds of differences matter because they can reveal whether the problem is simply timing, or something deeper. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Jacobs Update Leaves Packers Facing A Serious Off-Field Question
Josh Jacobs has already played a central role in Green Bays offense, but his latest legal resolution puts the Packers in an uncomfortable spot off the field. The running back entered a no contest plea to two misdemeanor charges tied to a domestic disturbance case, resulting in a battery conviction and a $1,000 fine, while the property damage charge was handled through a deferred judgment arrangement.
The remaining issue now centers on what happens with the evidence from the incident itself. The victims legal team has asked to seal surveillance footage related to the case, and the Packers are left monitoring a situation that has moved beyond the courtroom but not fully out of the spotlight. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Rodgers Sent A Message Steelers Fans Will Love After Week 1
After Week 1 in Pittsburgh, Aaron Rodgers took a moment to reach across the aisle and salute a familiar face. The former Packers quarterback sent ZaDarius Smith a handwritten note after the Steelers game against the Falcons, praising the veteran pass rushers energy and the way he worked his way back into the action.
Rodgers and Smith spent three seasons together in Green Bay, so the message carried the kind of respect that usually comes from shared locker rooms and a few battles together. Smith had only recently signed with Atlanta after a brief retirement, and he played through a shoulder issue in the opener, a detail Steelers fans will appreciate even if the note itself was aimed at an old teammate. [Read more 🡒]