GREEN BAY – For all that went wrong in the overtime loss Saturday night in Chicago, Head Coach Matt LaFleur's biggest regret was the collective offensive failure in the red zone.
Five times the Packers got inside the Bears' 20-yard line and they never scored a touchdown in close. Green Bay got stopped on fourth down once, fumbled the ball away once, and kicked short field goals three times.
That simply left too many points out there in a game the Packers largely controlled but never put away.
"Obviously we didn't do enough in the red area," LaFleur said Sunday. "Can't have a takeaway there, or a turnover there. We had a couple blown calls in regards to, just the play calls and the execution of those, and you can't waste plays down there. They're so critical, every one, and we weren't good enough."
The first two red-zone failures came before starting QB Jordan Love exited the game with a concussion. A fourth-and-1 pass from the 7-yard line sailed incomplete to end the game's first drive, and a backwards swing pass that bounced off running back Emanuel Wilson's hands and out of bounds for a loss of three yards contributed to a field goal on the next opportunity.
After Malik Willis took over for Love, the Packers gained one yard on three snaps from the 5-yard line and kicked again, and then Josh Jacobs fumbled on first-and-goal from the 4 in the third quarter. On the fifth chance in the red zone, a jet sweep, conventional run and receiver screen gained six yards total, requiring another kick.
The rough night in scoring territory was a continuation of the previous week, when the Packers were just 1-for-4 in the red zone at Denver, hurt considerably by penalties. The combined 1-for-9 over two games is a stark departure from the offense's success the rest of the season.
Through 13 games, the Packers ranked second in the league in the red zone, scoring TDs on 68.1% of their chances inside the 20 (32-of-47).
The current slump has dropped them all the way to 14th in the league at 58.9% (33-of-56) as they've seen their chances of an NFC North title all but vanish, with one more win needed to secure a wild-card playoff spot.
"That's life in this league," LaFleur said of the sharp turn of events in what had been a strong category. "You've got to find a way to overcome it."
As the page turns to preparing for Baltimore in another Saturday night game, the quarterback situation remains very much up in the air.
Love is in the concussion protocol, and though LaFleur said he hadn't talked to him Sunday, he's heard from others that he's "doing better."
Meanwhile, Willis hurt his throwing shoulder when he was sacked on the final play of regulation. He did finish the game and completed two passes in overtime for 37 yards, but it's something he's working through and throws into question exactly how practice reps get executed this week.
If Love doesn't clear the protocol and the Packers must turn to Willis again, LaFleur expressed the utmost confidence in him, lauding his steady, even-keeled nature anytime he's called upon.
He emphasized similar confidence in the team as a whole to shake off the frustrating loss and put in the work needed to rebound, just as it did following an adversity-filled defeat in Denver.
Knowing a red-zone conversion or two could've changed everything in Chicago doesn't make it any easier to process, but rediscovering the offense's previous success down there is a top priority.
"There's so many plays in there that we do one thing a little bit different we have a different outcome," LaFleur said. "But we didn't. So we have to take our medicine. It sucks. Everybody's bothered, I would say at a high level, because of it and it's hard to sleep at night when you have a game like that.
"But bottom line is we've got to deal with it. We've got to learn from it and we've just got to find a way to go 1-0. Period. And that's going to be the message to the team."
