The Green Bay Packers walked out of U.S. Bank Stadium with a mess on their hands after a Week 1 loss to the Vikings that looked ugly from just about every angle.
They had a five-point edge heading into the fourth quarter. They finished 17 points in the hole. Somewhere in between, the game unraveled in familiar fashion, and Matt LaFleur’s team found a few new ways to turn control into chaos.
The biggest issue is the same one that keeps coming back: the Packers still can’t finish.
There are plenty of places to spread the blame. The officiating.
Bad breaks. The absence of Micah Parsons or Josh Jacobs.
A less-than-100-percent Zach Bako-Bewele. None of it changes the bottom line.
Green Bay gave away another fourth-quarter lead, and this one was brutal enough to stir up memories of Soldier Field on January 10.
With a little more than 13 minutes left, the Packers had just stretched the margin to eight points on a field goal. Then Minnesota drew an offsides penalty, and LaFleur decided to chase the knockout punch by taking the points off the board and going for it.
The call fit the tone Green Bay had talked about all offseason: be aggressive, finish the job, put teams away. The idea made sense.
The execution did not. Jordan Love’s failed quarterback sneak became the spark for yet another collapse.
Minnesota also got some help from a stretch of questionable, drive-saving penalties that kept possessions alive and helped set up the go-ahead touchdown. That sequence erased an Edgerrin Cooper sack and later wiped out an Evan Williams interception.
Even with all that, the bigger story is what happened over the final 15 minutes. Green Bay was outscored 22-0 in the fourth quarter and turned a position of strength into a humiliating finish.
The pass protection only made Love’s night harder. By Pro Football Focus’ unofficial count, the Packers gave up 16 pressures, three sacks, and six hits. Zach Bako-Bewele, Jacob Monk, and Sean Rhyan each allowed a sack, while Bako-Bewele and Jordan Morgan were both charged with a team-high four pressures.
It was a rough assignment against a Brian Flores defense on the road, but the result was still a rough one. And there’s no easy fix waiting in the wings. If a returning Aaron Banks is supposed to solve it, that raises its own questions.
There was at least one bright spot buried in the wreckage: rookie kicker Trey Smack.
Smack made all three of his field goals, including a 59-yarder on the opening drive. He did miss an extra point, but it didn’t matter in the final tally.
For now, that’s the tradeoff Green Bay is living with. Smack has a huge leg and the range to hit from just about anywhere.
The real question is whether he can pair that power with the kind of consistency teams need when the pressure rises.
In Other News...
Bucks Rookie Brayden Burries Is Already Stirring A Dream Comparison
Brayden Burries is only at the beginning of his Bucks journey, but he is already drawing a familiar kind of comparison around Milwaukee. The rookies defensive versatility, size and offensive ability have people thinking about Jrue Holiday, a name that still carries real weight with Bucks fans because of the way he impacted winning on both ends of the floor.
Burries is nowhere near that level yet, and nobody around the team is pretending otherwise. Even so, the traits he has flashed are the sort that can earn trust over time, and Milwaukee would love it if his development eventually led him into a role with that kind of two-way importance. [Read more 🡒]
Bucks May Have Found A Long Term Answer In An Overlooked Deal
The Bucks may have stumbled into a cleaner long-term fit than the deal looked like at first glance. Jaime Jaquez Jr., the No. 18 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, arrived in Milwaukee as part of the trade package and has already given the team dependable production through his first three seasons, enough to earn All-Rookie honors and finish second in Sixth Man of the Year voting.
Now the real test is coming, because Milwaukee is expected to hand Jaquez a bigger role and open the upcoming season with him as the starting small forward. His next step could say plenty about how the Bucks see him fitting into their core, and with a new contract opportunity looming next summer, this season may quickly turn into the kind of proving ground that shapes the rest of his stay in Milwaukee. [Read more 🡒]
Bucks Enter New Era With One Draft Test They Can't Afford To Miss
The Bucks have spent much of the Giannis Antetokounmpo era trying to build around a superstar while living with uneven returns from the draft, a problem that has made roster depth harder to sustain than it should have been. As Milwaukee looks ahead to a new phase, the importance of getting young talent right only grows, and recent selections Brayden Burries and Nate Ament are now part of that conversation after being taken 10th and 13th.
For a franchise that has not always turned draft position into long-term value, the pressure is shifting toward development as much as selection. Taylor Jenkins approach with young players will matter here, because the Bucks need these picks to become reliable pieces in the next version of the team, not just names on a board in a transitional year. [Read more 🡒]