GREEN BAY – The Packers took a long time to put away the Bengals but finally did, 27-18, on Sunday at Lambeau Field for their third victory of the season.
Here are five takeaways from the triumph:
- The offense responded every time it was necessary down the stretch.
Trailing 10-0 at halftime with nothing really going for them, the Bengals and new QB Joe Flacco found some rhythm in the second half and hung around, starting with a 17-play, 78-yard TD drive that took the first 10 minutes, 14 seconds of the third quarter.
But for all of Cincinnati's production in the second half – touchdown, field goal, touchdown (plus the two-pointer) – the Bengals never got the ball back trailing by just one score because the Packers' offense kept answering.
Green Bay went touchdown, touchdown, field goal to stay in control.
"At the end of the day, you've gotta find ways to answer the call, whatever happens," QB Jordan Love said. "It's the NFL."
So despite the Bengals pulling within three points, then seven points, and then six points on their consecutive scores, they never really got a chance to steal the victory.
"The bottom line is you've got to find a way to win the game," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said. "You always get punched in the face in this league, and our guys kept responding. That's what we need to be."
- A big third-down conversion to rookie WR Matthew Golden was finally the decisive blow.
Trailing 24-18 late, the Bengals had just sacked Love and had a chance to stop the Packers on third-and-8 from the Green Bay 40 with 2½ minutes left. This became the play of the game.
Love broke the pocket to his left, found Golden downfield streaking across and hit him with a perfect throw for a 31-yard gain that got Green Bay into game-clinching field-goal range.
"MG was taking it deep and kind of saw me working the scramble, so he was able to put his foot in the ground and come back down," Love said. "Just threw it up for him; he made a great play."
It was just Golden's third catch of the game, but another was a 35-yarder in the second quarter that helped set up the Packers' first TD, and he wound up with 86 yards on those three grabs – an average of 28.7 per.
- RB Josh Jacobs was, as usual, a workhorse.
Jacobs touched the ball 23 times (18 rushes, 5 receptions) and churned out 150 yards (93 rushing, 57 receiving) with two scores on the ground. His second touchdown, on the first play of the fourth quarter, was an impressive 14-yard burst up the middle through a hole that "opened up massive," Love said, referencing the parting of the Red Sea from a sideline discussion.
"That's what Josh's game is," Love said of his powerful runs. "You see what he does when he gets it. I don't think a lot of people want to tackle him when he gets rolling.
"He's one of those guys, just hand the ball to him, let him go eat."
TE Tucker Kraft had a bullish touchdown of his own, bowling over a defender at the pylon to finish a 19-yard scoring pass and finish with two catches for 43 yards, while WR Romeo Doubs had five grabs for 55.
The Packers topped 400 yards of offense, but it was a couple of missed opportunities in the first half that proved costly because the early lead was only 10-0. Love threw an interception on an ill-advised sideline throw on an extended third down in the red zone to kill the first drive of the game, and the offense also stalled out at the Cincinnati 42-yard line late in the first half.
"We did a great job of moving the ball the whole game," Love said. "We've just got to keep finding ways to score when we cross the 40-, 30-yard line. We'll look at it and find out what's missing there."
- The defense's continued up-and-down play is concerning.
LaFleur didn't want to get into any explanation of the defense's breakdowns in the second half without reviewing the film, but for the second straight game, a strong start defensively somehow transformed into a major struggle.
The Bengals managed just 65 yards and four first downs in the first half and were kept scoreless in part thanks to LaFleur calling timeout right before K Evan McPherson caromed what would've been an NFL-record 67-yard field goal off the crossbar and through on the final play of the first half. The re-kick came up well short.
The way Cincinnati started scoring, those missing points mattered. The Bengals racked up over 200 yards and 16 first downs in the second half, and their only possession without points came when McPherson missed from 56 yards out in the final minute. Otherwise, the Packers would've needed to recover an onside kick to seal the win.
Flacco wound up attempting 45 passes less than a week after opening the Bengals' playbook, and he needed 29 completions to barely surpass 200 yards passing with 219. But he was sacked only once, and a highlight-reel 19-yard TD catch by WR Ja'Marr Chase (10 catches, 94 yards) with two defenders sandwiching him on fourth down is the type of play that needs to be stopped.
"I know that we can play better, certainly," LaFleur said, continuing to lament the defense's lack of turnovers, with just two through five games now. "That would be nice, to get a takeaway.
"When you look at the totality of the game, there were a lot of critical situations where they were able to make a play and we didn't, to keep them in the game. But that is life in the National Football League."
- The offensive line settled in and the new kicker came through.
The Packers had three starters on the O-line listed as questionable on the injury report coming into this game, but Rasheed Walker, Zach Tom and Aaron Banks all played. Jordan Morgan also took over as the starting right guard for Sean Rhyan, who rotated in only briefly with Morgan getting the bulk of the work.
Love dealt with some pressure early on but then things settled down as he went on to post a triple-digit passer rating (101.3) and rush for 26 yards himself.
"Having those guys, you could feel the difference," Love said of the starters.
The Packers didn't have veteran kicker Brandon McManus, though, deciding to play it safe with his quad injury and hold him out. That left the kicking duties to Lucas Havrisik, who just signed Saturday, and he delivered two field goals and three PATs.
His clutch 39-yard boot with 1:52 left re-established Green Bay's two-score lead for good, and the protection held up on all his kicks.
"That's where my focus was," LaFleur said, coming off blocked kicks in back-to-back games. "Those guys, they took it personal. Everybody stepped up and did their job."
