NFC North presents big challenges, and the Packers haven’t been able to overcome them yet
Two divisional games at Lambeau Field, two losses. The Green Bay Packers have lost their first two NFC North games of the season for the first time since 2005. At that time, Brett Favre's team was also defeated by the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings, but the circumstances were completely different. It was Ted Thompson's […]
Two divisional games at Lambeau Field, two losses. The Green Bay Packers have lost their first two NFC North games of the season for the first time since 2005. At that time, Brett Favre's team was also defeated by the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings, but the circumstances were completely different.
It was Ted Thompson's first season as the general manager and Mike Sherman's last one as a head coach — the only year in which the arranged marriage was up. The Packers ended up 1-5 in the Division, 4-12 in the season, leading up to significant changes in the offseason.
Right now, this Packers team is clearly much better. It's a 6-3 team with real aspirations and Jordan Love in his second season as a full-time starter.
But the NFC North is also strong, and the Packers couldn't overcome mistakes to beat the Vikings or the Lions.
"It's definitely very disappointing," quarterback Jordan Love said after the 24-14 loss to the Lions on Sunday. "Those are two games we did not play our best at all. Too many mistakes, we didn't play our best in these games that we needed to be able to go out there and execute at a high level, play our best ball. It's definitely very disappointing, but two teams that we'll see again this season."
For the Packers, the bye week comes at the perfect time. Time for Jordan Love to get healthier, for Jaire Alexander, Evan Williams, and Josh Myers to get back.
But also a time to understand what the Packers really are. So far, they've shown they can beat bad teams. However, even though it was impressive to get wins with Malik Willis on the field, the signature win hasn't happened — the 6-1 Houston Texans were probably the closest to it, but it's a struggling offense and a team that just lost to the New York Jets.
So the Packers need to execute and improve to face the great ones.
"It's disappointing when you have a big game like this against one of the best teams in the league and there were just too many mistakes, you can't overcome those against a good football team. That's exactly what Detroit is," Matt LaFleur said. "They just played a clean game. They really didn't put the ball in jeopardy, I think Jared (Goff) was really efficient. They did a good job keeping us off balance. I was probably anticipating a little bit more man coverage, and they were jumping in and out of it. So they did a good job of keeping us off balance offensively. That's a good football team."
After the bye week, the Packers will have another chance to win a divisional game. In week 11, Green Bay faces the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field — certainly, a much more manageable game than the ones they've had inside the NFC North.
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