The Green Bay Packers opened the preseason with a reminder of just how shaky their offensive line still looks.
A 28-9 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ backups is ugly enough on its own, but the bigger issue for Green Bay was what happened in the trenches. Even with two projected starters sitting out, the same problems from last season showed up again: trouble blocking, trouble creating space, and not nearly enough evidence that the group can protect Jordan Love or spring the run game.
Green Bay did put together one decent opening march. Love and most of the starters moved the ball 46 yards before the drive ended with a field goal.
After that, the offense stalled hard. The Packers finished with 97 passing yards and averaged just 2.6 yards per carry as a team, even with some twitchy and potentially explosive runs from MarShawn Lloyd.
The lineup on the line was far from settled. The Packers had three of their five expected starters out there, and Jordan Morgan showed some promise in pass protection after moving back to his preferred left tackle spot.
That part was not surprising. What was more concerning was everything around him.
With right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele and left guard Aaron Banks out, Green Bay leaned on Sean Rhyan at center, Jacob Monk at right guard, Anthony Belton at right tackle, and fifth-round rookie Jager Burton at left guard. Monk later shifted to center, and Donovan Jennings came in at right guard.
No matter who was in which spot, the interior never really held up. That’s the same weak point that kept showing up a year ago, and it was on full display again. Josh Jacobs kept getting swallowed at the line, repeatedly running into stacked boxes, and the Packers never found a way to change that picture.
Preseason doesn’t usually tell the whole story, and teams often keep things pretty vanilla this time of year. But this was still the first real chance for Green Bay to show progress. Instead, the early return suggests the Packers may still need help inside if they want the line to survive in the stacked NFC North.
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