The Packers keep finding the same painful way to lose, and Tucker Kraft isn’t interested in sugarcoating it.
Green Bay let a 22-10 lead slip away in the third quarter against Minnesota, then watched the Vikings pour in 29 unanswered points in a 39-22 Week 1 defeat. It was the kind of collapse that has started to feel familiar for this team, one more entry in a run of blown second-half leads that also included losses to the Broncos and twice to the Bears, including in the NFC Wild-Card Round.
Kraft, who is back from an ACL injury and caught three passes for 65 yards, pointed the finger at the Packers themselves.
“That momentum swing was due to our own fault," Kraft said, via video posted to X by ESPN's Rob Demovsky. "We allowed that to happen...
The only people who can beat us are us. That’s it.
"We’re the best team in the NFL, but if we don’t go out there and play like it, no one’s going to believe us."
The message lands because the problems went well beyond one bad stretch. Green Bay’s offense stalled twice on downs, threw an interception, and watched Jordan Love get strip-sacked as the game turned. The defense, meanwhile, unraveled under first-year defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon as Minnesota kept piling on.
Matt LaFleur’s team also ran into major trouble up front. Love was sacked four times for minus-34 yards, and the offensive line had a rough day even without the passing-game chaos. The Packers, missing star running back Josh Jacobs, who is on the commissioner’s exempt list, ran 21 times for 66 yards and averaged just 3.1 yards per carry.
LaFleur and his staff have gotten Green Bay off to strong starts, but the adjustments have been a different story once opponents start solving the plan. That leaves the Packers with plenty to answer for heading into Week 2.
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LaFleur said afterward the team has to do a better job closing games, and the reaction around the league made clear how quickly one loss can turn into a referendum. For a fan base that has seen similar late-game issues surface before, the concern is not just the final score in Minneapolis, but whether Green Bay has already shown a familiar vulnerability at the worst possible moment. [Read more 🡒]