CLEVELAND – Well, if the Packers didn't know it already, they were reminded early success in a season is just that. Early.
It doesn't necessarily carry over, and Sunday's tough slog at Huntington Bank Field that ended with depressing breakdowns in multiple phases will likely become one of two junction points.
Either the game that started the Packers down the wrong path, or a regrettable blip that'll have less chance of happening again because of how this game was lost to the Browns, 13-10.
"I knew going into this, it was going to be a dogfight," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said, specifically referring to Cleveland's defense. "It was going to be a challenge.
"What's disappointing is you could argue we lost the game offensively by making a critical error in a critical situation. That's a tough pill to swallow."
That error came with just over three minutes left, on a third-and-3 with the Packers looking to move the chains to keep the clock running and protect a 10-3 lead.
QB Jordan Love didn't see Browns safety Grant Delpit pass off tight end Tucker Kraft in coverage to slide into Love's throwing lane on a slant for Dontayvion Wicks.
The interception was nearly returned for a touchdown, but shortly became one anyway, and a game the Packers had mostly controlled was suddenly either team's to win.
Love admitted he's seen that type of coverage concept before, and he needed to see it there. LaFleur was left to wonder, knowing a conventional run wasn't going to get the three yards needed the way the Browns were playing, if he should've called a play-action bootleg – let Love keep it, not risk a throw, and see if he could've turned the corner for enough yardage.
It had worked earlier, as Love gained 18 yards on four rushing attempts.
"That (keeper) was the call more in my head on that third down," LaFleur confessed, criticizing his own play call over and over. "Hindsight's 20/20. I should've gone with what I thought initially. It didn't work out."
Love harped on needing to learn and grow from such mistakes, but the lesson needn't apply just to himself. The Packers made this game harder on themselves with 14 penalties and other forms of sloppy play.
Minor lapses occurred in the season's first two games – nobody plays perfectly clean football – but not enough to undermine how much the Packers were in control.
This time, they did.
"Very tough, very tough," Love said, describing the loss. "Just that whole fourth quarter, the way it went, obviously wasn't good enough.
"It's one of those games we let them get it at the end. We had it, and we gotta find ways to finish."
The Packers had every right to feel good about themselves for knocking off the Lions and Commanders in a span of just five days. But games like these show how precarious anything is in this league when a team doesn't stay sharp.
Favorable down-and-distances become anything but. Field-goal operations can't be taken for granted. Shuffling offensive linemen all game isn't easy. And the list goes on.
Is there any silver lining? Not really. The Packers should be 3-0. They know that. Had Brandon McManus' late kick not been blocked, even winning this game likely wouldn't have masked all the mistakes. They were that glaring.
Love commented that "adversity was going to hit us at some point," and he's absolutely right. Self-inflicted adversity is definitely the most frustrating, but it's also the one most in a team's control.
"It hit us early on right now," Love said. "We have to move on. It's a long season. It's the NFL. We know what it is."
Love also believes a loss like this isn't going to knock this team off track. Those two junction points mentioned earlier? He's betting on the second one.
"We know what we are," he said. "We're a good team. We're still a good team."
