As a group, the NFC is full of midseason underachievers. The 49ers are suddenly finding ways to lose games, and the Cowboys are an outright mess. Atlanta and Tampa Bay have had moments where they’ve won impressively, but now both teams look like pretenders. The Vikings have been impressive as well, but they have a growing Sam Darnold problem.
Which brings us to the Packers. They’re the big mystery team in the NFC, to the point where no one really knows what to make of Green Bay. They’re currently 7-3 but not playing consistently well, and they were dominated in their NFC North showdown against Detroit before they “recovered” yesterday against the floundering Bears.
Jordan Love can’t shake his turnover issues
Last year, the Packers came from out of nowhere to make the playoffs and shock the Cowboys, and after that they took San Francisco down to the wire in the NFC divisional round. Their surge was sparked by a midseason shift in the play of Jordan Love, who suddenly figured out how to avoid turnovers while still getting the Pack’s high-powered offense to perform.
Given Love’s youth, along with that of the wide receiver corps and the roster as a whole, the future looked incredibly bright going into this year. Love took a huge step forward last year, and the widespread assumption was that he’d be able to build on that, albeit with an occasional bad game here and there.
But that hasn’t quite happened. Green Bay has posted a couple of impressive victories, most notably against the Vikings and the Cardinals, but they still don’t have a signature win that stands out. Love has continued to showcase his big-play capability, but he’s also thrown 11 interceptions to go with 16 TDs, which isn’t really the margin that fans and the media were hoping to see.
The plus side is that the Packers are establishing a winning culture
To some extent, key injuries have been a factor. Love has been nicked up for much of the year, starting with an injury in the opener against Philly in Brazil, and he was later forced to the sidelines by a groin injury that resulted in a pair of wins under Titans discard Malik Willis.
When Love returned, though, the Packers were totally dominated by the Lions in a key home game. Bad weather played a role, but Green Bay is traditionally a solid bad-weather team, which was what made Detroit’s domination so shocking.
The good news is that the Packers found a way to eke out a win against a struggling Chicago team that looked hopeless the week before against the Patriots. They needed a blocked field goal at the end of the game to do it, though, despite the fact that Love threw for 261 yards on just 17 attempts.
The defense is better, but there are still issues
The focus in Green Bay this offseason was on fixing the defense, especially in the secondary. The Packers are currently ranked 11th in the league in scoring defense, and they’re 10th against the run.
The secondary has had its moments, but the pass defense as a whole is a middling 15th in the NFL, and the red zone defense is 21st. Clearly, there’s some work to do there as well, especially if the Packers are going to make a deep playoff run.
Their upcoming schedule gives the Packers time to solidify things. They get the struggling 49ers this week, and after that comes a quick turnaround against the Dolphins on Thanksgiving Day. Wins in both games would help Green Bay separate from the rest of the NFC pack, and after that they get a week and a half to prepare for their rematch against Detroit.
That game could easily define Green Bay’s season. They’re currently two games out in the NFC North, and if Love shows out in Detroit against the potent Lions offense, it will truly be time to take the Packers seriously as possible Super Bowl contenders.