GREEN BAY – As the Packers get set to play their second Thursday Night Football game in a span of five weeks, here are some trends Green Bay needs to turn around with the Panthers visiting Lambeau Field.
Thursday nights haven't been kind lately
For all of the Packers' success on Thanksgiving in recent years, the non-holiday Thursday Night Football games haven't gone as well of late. Following the 21-point loss to the Falcons in the Week 3 home opener, Green Bay has now lost four of its last five TNF contests dating back to 2022. The only win was last year in Week 2 vs. Washington.
"We've got to be better than we were last time we played a Thursday night game here at home, and I know we will be," quarterback Jordan Love said.
"It's always tough on a short week. Everything kind of just gets jam packed. We've got a lot of guys that are injured right now. So it's always tough. You're never going to make excuses, but we've definitely got to be a lot better."
Both the Packers and Panthers are also looking to recover from difficult losses four days ago that snapped winning streaks.
Green Bay had won three straight but fell at Detroit on a walk-off field goal after blowing a huge opportunity to take the lead late in the game. Carolina had won two in a row but got blown out by Tampa Bay as QB Bryce Young threw two interceptions and lost a fumble amongst the Panthers' four total turnovers.
"I would expect them fully to rebound and play much better," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said of Carolina. "I think a lot of it was just the turnover battle. It can pile up fast on you. So I'm sure we have a very motivated team coming in here, and certainly one that we know is dangerous.
"Shoot, they came in here last year and beat us. But I think we're motivated as well, and we got to bounce back."
Interestingly, when the Panthers beat the Packers at Lambeau Field a year ago, they were coming off a blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills.
There's no getting around the importance of the red zone
In last year's matchup vs. Carolina, Green Bay scored just one touchdown in five red-zone trips, and not until that fifth and final one. The first four resulted in a fumble, two field goals and a turnover on downs. Plus there was a missed field goal outside the red zone, too.
That's a ton of points left out there in a game the Packers lost, 16-13.
"From that game last year, we've got to be able to score in the red zone," Love said. "We talked about it, we had seven drives last year, didn't punt one time and really just couldn't finish in the red zone and turned the ball over too many times. So definitely gotta do a better job there and have a better plan."
On top of that, Green Bay is coming off a frustrating red-zone performance in Detroit, where four trips inside the opponent's 20-yard line produced just seven total points. Rookie kicker Trey Smack missed two short field goals, and the offense failed on an ill-advised fourth-down decision inside the 10.
Opportunity is knocking for the ground game again
Two games ago, Dallas came into Lambeau with the league's worst-ranked run defense. But that didn't help Green Bay's worst-ranked rushing offense as the Packers managed just 57 yards on the ground.
Now it's Carolina, having just surrendered 258 rushing yards last week to Tampa Bay, coming in with the 32nd-ranked run defense.
The difference for the Packers this time is they've got Josh Jacobs back. He made his 2026 debut last week after spending the first six games on the commissioner's exempt list.
Jacobs rushed for just 36 yards on 11 carries against the Lions, but he did have attempts that gained 8 and 10 yards in the second half, saying he was "starting to feel more like myself."
Will this be the night the running game finally gets some traction?
"It has to get better," Love said. "We've leaned on the passing game and I think the pass game as good. Pass game, run game, there's still a lot more out there for us, but if we want to be the team we want to be, we definitely gotta improve the run game."
