GREEN BAY – The Packers struggled mightily on offense for a second straight home game and lost as a result, this time 10-7 to the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles on Monday Night Football at Lambeau Field.
Here are five takeaways from the defeat:
- The offense did not hold up its end, again.
For the second consecutive game, the Packers didn't find the end zone until the latter stages of the fourth quarter. Even worse, until that touchdown with 5:49 left they had exactly zero points due to a litany of mistakes – many of the same types that have plagued the offense much of the season.
In some games, the Packers have overcome those errors and still found enough production to win. But not the last two games, and they've dropped from first to third place in the NFC North at 5-3-1 because of it.
"We're not getting any consistency right now," said QB Jordan Love, who threw for just 176 yards despite 36 pass attempts, completing 20. "We're not getting into a rhythm. We'll have a good play here, and then a negative play, whether it's a turnover, penalty, drop, sack … you know, it's a lot of things."
The Eagles played a style of defense the Packers have seen plenty, two deep safeties with a soft zone, mixing in man coverage here and there, and the Packers still haven't found answers.
The Packers are down a major playmaker in tight end Tucker Kraft, who's out for the season, and the offense clearly felt his absence, while rookie receiver Matthew Golden (shoulder) also couldn't play. As the game wore on, center Elgton Jenkins (ankle) and receiver Romeo Doubs (chest) exited with injuries.
"Obviously we're struggling with finding the right solutions right now, so we've got to take a long, hard look at that and come up with a better plan," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said. "The bottom line, you score seven points in this league, you're probably not going to win many games."
- The missed scoring opportunities were numerous once again, and each one proved costly in such a close game.
On the game's opening drive, the Packers got inside the Philadelphia 40-yard line and got sacked. Late in the first half, they got inside the Philly 30 and Love was sacked twice in a row, losing the ball on the second one as he was trying to dump it off to Josh Jacobs to avoid the lost yardage.
In the second half, a fourth-down pass was dropped in Eagles territory, a 22-yard completion into the red zone was nullified by an illegal formation penalty, and – after the late Jacobs TD got the Packers within 10-7 and the defense got a stop to get the ball back – a fourth-and-1 run at the Green Bay 44-yard line with 1:30 left was blown up.
"In those critical moments … the money down, third down, fourth down, we just malfunctioned," LaFleur said. "Situational ball, we just weren't clean."
The dropped pass and illegal formation were both on receiver-turned-DB-turned-receiver-again Bo Melton, forced into tough duty due to the thin ranks among the perimeter weapons. LaFleur lauded Melton for his effort in a difficult spot, but those miscues loomed large.
- The fourth-and-1 failure epitomized the offensive struggles.
Apparently Eagles defenders could be heard calling out the shotgun run to Jacobs (21 carries, 74 yards), which the Packers had run successfully multiple times earlier. Philly easily wrecked it, as a desperate Jacobs fumbled, and the Packers had another illegal formation on the play anyway, which was declined.
"They probably heard the call. Or were guessing," Love said. "There was a D-lineman saying some stuff, but I still thought we had a light box."
LaFleur considered taking one of his two remaining timeouts rather than rushing to the line after tight end Luke Musgrave's 9-yard reception on third-and-10, but he was trying to preserve them. As it turned out, those timeouts got the Packers one last desperation drive, but that only ended with a 64-yard field goal attempt that wasn't close.
A conversion on fourth-and-1 would've put the Packers roughly 20 yards from game-tying field-goal range, and they would've had more than a minute to get there.
- The defense did everything it could.
The Eagles, now 7-2, went three- or four-and-out five times and gained just one or two first downs on two other possessions. Also, on Philly's first drive, linebacker Edgerrin Cooper punched the ball out of Jalen Hurts' hands after a successful third-down QB draw would've had the Eagles knocking on the door.
That turnover, along with Love's fumble late in the first half, were the biggest reasons the game was scoreless at intermission.
Green Bay allowed a long drive for a field goal to open the second half and then had its only real defensive breakdown two drives later in the fourth quarter – a two-play sequence during which running back Saquon Barkley turned a third-and-7 swing pass into a 41-yard gain by making cornerback Carrington Valentine whiff on the tackle in the open field, followed immediately by a 36-yard TD pass from Hurts to De'Vonta Smith, who outjumped safety Evan Williams to haul it in.
Two plays, 77 yards, and the Eagles were up 10-0. Barkley was held in check on the ground (22 carries, 60 yards), and Hurts threw for just 106 yards aside from those two completions. But the yeoman's effort was all for naught.
- There's no time to wallow in disappointment.
The flight for New Jersey leaves Saturday and the Giants, who just fired head coach Brian Daboll, await Sunday with interim coach Mike Kafka and injury uncertainty at QB (rookie Jaxson Dart, concussion).
Suddenly the Packers need a win in the worst way as the five victories in their first seven games feel like ancient history.
"We've got a short week," LaFleur said. "Can't feel sorry for ourselves. Gotta figure it out, come back and be better."
