Beau from Lancaster, PA

Well, that should take care of the chortling.

Ya think?

Brian from Fox Lake, WI

What could go wrong did go wrong. That's it in a nutshell!

Snowballs in September.

Eric from Skokie, IL

That certainly didn't end well as we had hoped! Why didn't Jordan Love just run the ball on that third-and-3? Are we ever going to hear the end of it? (At least the Brewers won the NL Central!)

After the game, LaFleur certainly regretted not calling the play-action or zone-read bootleg. He admitted that call was in his head, knowing it had worked earlier. They took a risk with the ball and paid the price. Love got fooled by the safety's coverage switch, something he's seen before but didn't see it when he needed to. It's a huge lesson for all involved. The Packers still should've won the game, but that's a crunch-time mistake from which you often don't even get a chance to recover.

Marty from Naperville, IL

When are you guys going to realize that Love will never carry Rodgers' or Favre's jockstrap? He lost this game!

I've never seen laundry listed among his duties. He botched a big one. No denying that. He made some great throws on the TD drive and missed what looked like easy checkdowns later. He also drove the offense into range for a field goal that should've won it. He bounced back like a true pro should, but it's a team game.

Jeremiah from Middleton, WI

It's not on the level of the game that shall not be named, but the collapse felt similar.

Not even close in my book, even setting aside the stakes. There's falling apart and there's giving the game away. This was both but much more the latter.

Kevin from Bettendorf, IA

Coach LaFleur did the stand-up thing in his postgame comments, assuming blame for the too frequent and exasperating penalties and needing to "coach better." Sorry, I'm not buying it. This one is on the players. They've all been coached plenty, and need to lock in and get it right.

Five (at least?) false start penalties, especially when there's no crowd noise to speak of, is absolutely inexcusable. There were even a couple others I thought could've been called but weren't. Focus problems are on the players. Regardless, there's plenty of blame to go around when a team's overall game is this sloppy.

Gregory from Waukesha, WI

Hey guys, now that was a gut punch. I don't know what the definition of a stolen game is, but I think we all witnessed one on Sunday. So who had more flags in this game? I think that was the real competition. Sheesh.

The Packers were flagged 14 times, after having 10 against Washington in the last game. LaFleur started his press conference last Monday harping on the penalties, and I wrote about it. For whatever reason, the message didn't get through. The ultimate indignity based on how this game went would've been for their kicker to miss from 55, get another shot from 50 because of the offsides and hit it. Alas, everything was bad enough.

Aaron from West St. Paul, MN

Seems like the offense forgot to read II this week. How many times did you insist they need to establish the run and not give the Browns offense a short field?

Without a short field, it felt like the Browns were never scoring a touchdown. It doesn't get much shorter than four yards.

Allen from Fairhope, AL

II: If someone had said the Browns would be held to 13 and Flacco to a 55.6 rating, I would have liked our chances.

I honestly expected the Packers to hold the Browns under 10 points. I typically like a team's chances when the opponent doesn't score for the first 56 minutes. No other stat should've meant anything.

Michael from Manitowoc, WI

I was extremely disappointed in the offensive line. Jordan Morgan has to be better. I know we had some injuries, but still. And all the holding and pass interference was not a good look either. What do you think MLF will do about these deficiencies?

I learned a long time ago the most succinct job description for a coach is to teach and demand. The staff has plenty to teach and more to demand. Losses like these are team-wide failures. Nobody, player or coach, gets to raise his hand and say, "I was good enough" after a loss like that.

John from Delray Beach, FL

As my father used to say: "They were reading their own press clippings." What say you?

I disagree. As LaFleur said after the game, if this team was all high and mighty on itself, how does the defense come out and completely shut down an opponent like that? The Browns were anemic offensively, at best. The Packers gave the game away. The offense was sloppy and the special teams had more breakdowns. We saw a lot of that the first two games, and they were called out. Not enough to lose, but enough to be noticed. Now it cost them. What are they going to do about it? That's the real question.

Kip from West Bend, WI

Seemed like Love's terrible decision making opened the door and our decade-plus of terrible special-teams play sealed our fate against the Browns. As all Packers fans know, special-teams play is critical in big games and this team just continues to fail in that area. Any reason to think they can turn it around this year when the games get big?

They don't have a choice if they want to be playing in big games. This one shouldn't have come down to those field goals. We all know that. But many will and the third phase has to do its part or not much of the rest will matter. They executed several clutch kicks last year. They can do so again.

Ted from Eau Claire, WI

What breakdown of protection happened on the blocked field goal?

Penetration on the interior. Shelby Harris blocked it for the sixth blocked field goal of his career.

Gregg from Murrells Inlet, SC

After all the hype this week about how good the Packers are I was surprised to see them collapse in the last four minutes of the game. I would have never thought Josh Jacobs would be held to under two yards a carry. Do you see the run game getting better next week in Dallas?

Yes. The Browns are a legit defense, especially against the run, which sets up that pass rush. We said it all week. The Packers are really good against the run, too, but they let two runs slip out and it cost them a field goal. Wasn't the end of the world. When the Browns knew the Packers were going to run, it got even tougher and the offense didn't have enough answers.

Ken from Oceanport, NJ

How does Matthew Golden run out of bounds on that 30-plus-yard reception? Looks like he had time to plant his right foot and change direction to continue the play. It looked like he had room. I am sure that is something WRs work on all the time.

I'm not sure. I can only surmise he didn't realize the room he had. Regardless, I thought that play to get out of the field-position hole was the one we'd be talking about after a win. It was huge. But the Packers couldn't build on it, following with three-and-out when they couldn't connect on simple checkdowns just to keep the clock moving. So many regrets.

Mark from Westminster, CO

The Packers need to actually fix their self-defeating issues versus using trite expressions in postgame interviews. These mistakes are happening far too often for there not to be a systematic issue somewhere with the players, coaches, or game plans. How is this team going to fix this?

I don't know, Margo. I mean, Mark. They can't fix it in their postgame comments either. How they fix it is everything we don't see in practice. Then we see when the lights go on if there's progress. That's all we can do.

Zach from Waupun, WI

Not a question, but last year's Super Bowl champion started 2-2 that included a loss to the Falcons. It's a long season. Little wake-up call is good, but also good to keep things in perspective.

Be better for it. If not, the loss was worth nothing.

DJ from Glenview, IL

Mistakes lose football games. Good time for a gut-check. Time to work! GPG

That's really the only approach worth taking.

Aaron from Miami, FL

You can't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need?

We shall see.

Mike from New York, NY

I was at the Browns game. It's amazing to me seeing the difference in Packer fans saddened/frustrated because they know the Packers could have played better, while the Browns fans were in disbelief that their team even won. The Browns fans have a lot of pride in their team, but very little faith. I'll take the disappointment of a single bad game from a continually great team over the sad state of just expecting your team to lose. The Packers have a bright season ahead. This was just one game.

Well said, and as you can see, I'm running out of things to say about this game, so I'm going to divert to some leftover topics for a moment.

Markus from Aurora, CO

Saddened that Jayden Reed has been placed on IR, but I also understand that it frees up a spot on the active roster for a player. I noticed there was no "designated to return" reference, but I think that's because the DTR only is needed during the cut to 53 before the regular season. Did I get this roughly correct?

Correct. Only players put on IR before or at the cut to 53 need to be designated to return. Anyone else placed on IR is eligible to return up until the team has reached its limit of eight DTRs.

Barb from Wilmington, IL

Thanks for the link: "That answer and many more in our travel essay from a couple years ago." That was an amazing feature. Is there a list of previous essays somewhere?

The travel essay was a one-of-a-kind production. Our website's collection of longform pieces over the years, most of which have been written by Wes (I've got a few sprinkled in) can be found at this link.

Alex from Bethany, CT

Correct me if I misremember but wasn't the primary rationale for eliminating the "helping the runner" rule way back when the difficulty in officiating the play? It seems like it has come full circle with all controversy about the offensive linemen lining up offside or moving before the snap of the ball. I say reinstate the rule and let's get back to real football.

Funny how that works.

Nik from Moore, SC

I don't understand people that think the great Tom Brady would actually knowingly break the rules and cheat. Wouldn't he be afraid a cheating scandal could ruin his legacy?

You said it, I didn't.

Mike from Geneva, IL

Coach Vrable had this to say about Matthew Golden: "Your route's supposed to be 18 to 20 and if you cut at 14, you might be open but the QB's not always ready to throw." Quite often fans get upset when they see a WR/TE open, but the QB doesn't make the throw. This proves there is a lot more to consider than a player being open. This is a complicated game and fans need to recognize there is more to it than they know/understand. What other areas do you think fans minimize the complexity?

How long ya got?

Marty from Rancho Cordova, CA

It appears as though Spoff has developed a case of the "Yups"...

I had no idea it would become contagious.

Aaron from Tucson, AZ

Well, if we're gonna lose, let it be on the road to an AFC team. Lesson? It isn't a week-to-week league. It's a play-to-play league. Games can turn on a dime. Lots to clean up. Plenty of games to go. Get better. Beat the Cowboys. No. 1 will be juiced for this one.

Time to turn the page.

Zach from Duluth, MN

How does not having first-round picks the next two years change the philosophy heading into the draft? Is there more emphasis placed on drafting for need rather than taking the best player available?

Ha, not quite that far. The Packers are 2-1 and have a lot of (stuff) to figure out. Happy Monday.

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