GREEN BAY – Head Coach Matt LaFleur's message after Sunday's game was pretty clear.
The Panthers knew how they wanted to play, and how they wanted to make the Packers play. They succeeded, and the Packers couldn't win that way.
"They played the game they had to play in order to beat us," LaFleur said moments after the 16-13 defeat.
What that meant, defensively speaking for the Panthers, was to take away the big play, force the Packers to move the ball slowly and methodically down the field, and count on them making a mistake somewhere along the way.
Which is exactly how it played out.
The Packers had six drives in the game of between nine and 13 plays in length. Six out of seven in fact. And yet they scored on just three of them, and produced only 13 points thanks to a fumble, a missed field goal, a handful of offensive penalties, a sack, and a general lack of execution.
"We thrive on some explosive plays," LaFleur said, "and when you're not getting them, and when you've got to just move the ball down the field consistently …
"It's going to be tough if we can't figure (stuff) out and score in the red area. It's just going to be tough to win football games like that."
But that's exactly what the Packers will have to do. Find ways to win football games just like this one.
Because future opponents are going to see how much trouble the Packers have when they can't get chunk plays and have to steadily execute during a long, drawn-out drive.
There have been other examples this season of these same problems, but for the most part the Packers have overcome them. Now the Panthers have shown it can work for four quarters to beat Green Bay, at Lambeau Field no less.
The big-play passing game was limited to a 52-yard bomb to Christian Watson and completions of 30 and 28 yards to Romeo Doubs. Only one other pass play gained more than 16 yards on Jordan Love's 37 attempts, and the Packers looked frustrated all day because of it.
"We all, and I'm talking about myself as much as anybody, but when we get into these types of games where it's just about consistent execution, you just can't chase the big play," LaFleur said.
Except they did anyway, when a deep shot for Watson into triple coverage in the third quarter turned into a gift interception. Double covered already, Watson had no chance when a third defender, safety Tre'von Moehrig, floated over once the pass was released.
He settled under the long ball and got Carolina's second takeaway of the game, which the Panthers turned into a touchdown for a seven-point lead, the largest of the game. Love said he didn't see Moehrig, and with no route on the back side forcing him to hold his position, he started to cheat before the ball was launched.
Seeing three defenders surrounding Watson on a deep ball thrown on first down into a troublesome wind was the epitome of impatience, and playing into the Panthers' hands, literally in the case of where the ball wound up.
But even with the ill-advised interception, the Packers had plenty of chances to win this game. Going 1-for-5 in the red zone and losing by three is all the evidence anyone needs.
Ultimately Love's evaluation of the offense is that "it's inconsistent," which is absolutely true, because all the unevenness is why the Panthers' plan worked.
So what do the Packers have to do? If the answer is hit more explosive plays, there will be more games like this. If defenses are going to keep a lid on the back end, the Packers have to find ways to steadily execute a long, bit-by-bit touchdown drive without flubbing up. It took until the offense's last possession – which started with a 21-yard completion but had no gain longer than eight yards after that – to do it, and the Packers never got another chance.
"If they're going to play two high (safeties), you've got to stay with the run game and find ways to just dink and dunk the ball down the field," Love said. "It just comes back to finding ways to run the ball at a high level and maximize your yards after catch on some of the shorter passes and keep finding completions."
Josh Jacobs did his part on the ground, with 17 carries for 87 yards (5.1 avg.). Take away his longest run of 18 and he still averaged 4.3. That could be better, but the problems are not primarily with the running game.
It's on the mistakes across the board – a fumble, two false starts and four holding penalties (one declined) spread across six different players, and that's not counting the missed blocks on blitzes and screens, and a missed field goal.
"It's very frustrating," Love said. "I think everybody in that locker room is very frustrated."
The good news is the season is just reaching the midway point, so there's still time to find what's missing in these types of games. The bad news is they'll probably have to do it without one of the offense's most important and reliable players, tight end Tucker Kraft, who's likely out for an extended time due to a knee injury.
Nothing was easy about winning five games by the end of October, and nothing will get easier from here.
"You've just got to get back to it," Love said. "I think the most important thing is just everybody staying together, staying with that mindset, finding ways to get better, learning from the mistakes.
"This is the NFL. This is what it is."
