CLEVELAND – The Packers let one get away Sunday at Huntington Bank Field, blowing a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and losing on a walk-off field goal to the Browns, 13-10.
Here are five takeaways from the frustrating defeat that dropped the Packers to 2-1:
- The game turned hard, and in a hurry.
Cleveland didn't score until less than four minutes remained in the game to get within 10-3, and from there almost nothing went right for Green Bay.
QB Jordan Love threw an interception on third down that Browns safety Grant Delpit returned inside the 5-yard line, setting up the tying score.
The Packers drove into field-goal range to retake the lead, but Brandon McManus' 43-yard kick was blocked.
Then the Browns used the last 21 seconds to get into range themselves and win it on a 55-yard kick at the wire by Andre Szmyt, who had missed a 36-yarder in Week 1 with the game on the line.
"That was extremely disappointing, obviously to be in a position to win the game and have the script totally flip on you," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said. "It's tough to deal with."
- There's plenty of regret on the fateful interception.
Both LaFleur and Love gave credit to Delpit for falling off his coverage of tight end Tucker Kraft to get into the throwing lane for Dontayvion Wicks and make the play, but both also were taking the blame.
LaFleur was kicking himself for the play call, pondering whether he should've just had Love keep the ball on a bootleg run, which had worked successfully a couple of times earlier with the Browns selling out on the inside.
"That's a bad play call," LaFleur said. "I shouldn't have called that play. That's on me.
"Our defense was doing so well. We knew we couldn't make the deadly mistake like that offensively to give them a short field and that's exactly what happened."
The turnover came with just over three minutes left with the Packers needing a conversion there, plus maybe one more first down, to prevent the Browns from getting the ball back.
Cleveland hadn't moved the ball the full length of the field on Green Bay's defense all day, and then was able to get the tying score from just four yards out.
"I didn't see it," Love said of Delpit's coverage move on what the QB termed a triple slant concept to the left side. "It's a really tough play, the circumstances and timing of the game right there.
"I've gotta be able to see him falling off."
- That was far from the only mistake, though.
It was an offensive struggle all day against Cleveland's rugged defense, with the Packers hurting themselves with a slew of penalties (false starts, block in the back, holding, ineligible downfield).
The Packers' defense unfortunately started getting in on the penalty party, too, late in the game, giving the Browns multiple free first downs. An offside call on the first snap of Cleveland's final drive – the second on Micah Parsons in the game – gave the Browns a 5-yard head start toward their winning kick.
And the special teams were in on the act, too. Even if Szmyt had missed the 55-yarder on the last play, the Packers were flagged for jumping offside, and he would've gotten another crack from 50 yards out.
The official totals were 14 penalties for 75 yards for Green Bay.
"One thing we have to get corrected, when we have 14 penalties in the game, it's going to be tough to overcome that," said LaFleur, 10 days after the Packers were flagged 10 times in a win over the Commanders. "We have to do a much better job of coaching the fundamentals and details, and locking in.
"We've got to coach it better. We have to be harder on our guys when we see it in practice, because that's where it starts. Ultimately we have to do a better job across the board."
- The ending ruined what had been a dominant day for the defense.
The Browns were shut out for more than 56 minutes. They finished with just 221 total yards. They had one drive all game on which they gained more than two first downs, and the Packers won the time of possession by 8½ minutes.
Cleveland was missing its two starting offensive tackles, with one leaving early in the game. Green Bay lost starting right tackle Zach Tom after the first play to a re-aggravation of his oblique injury, and left guard Aaron Banks to an ankle injury later.
The Packers were making the better adjustments, until they weren't.
"It's a total team sport," LaFleur said. "I thought we played well enough defensively to win the game, but we didn't do a good enough job on offense and special teams."
But Cleveland's defense came to play, too, sacking Love five times and holding the ground game to just 2.6 yards per carry.
The inability to run the ball – Josh Jacobs saw his TD streak end and finished with just 30 yards on 16 carries – made it hard to find openings downfield and/or protect Love long enough to make them pay for crowding the line of scrimmage with man coverage behind it.
"That's when you've got to hit shots down the field," Love said. "You look at Cleveland, that's their MO. That's what they do, put extra hats in the box and stop the run.
"A couple plays the rush got home before some of the concepts were able to develop."
- This was a huge missed opportunity, but the Packers have to forget about it.
Green Bay's strong 2-0 start hasn't been erased, but some of the good certainly was undone in a loss like this.
LaFleur was questioning a number of things after the game, not just play calls and penalties, but injury decisions and more. There's a lot to digest, but there's no time to dwell on it.
"You gotta move on," LaFleur said.
