Packers finally reach the end of a difficult regular season with one encouraging development standing out
Green Bay lost to Minnesota and had some injuries, but at least rookie Barryn Sorrell showed promise.
Mercifully, the regular season has come to an end for the Green Bay Packers. Playing with their backups and third-stringers, the Packers lost 16-3 to the Minnesota Vikings, ending with a 9-7-1 record and the previously locked-in seventh seed in the NFC — it’s the fourth team ever to make the playoffs with a four-game losing streak.
There wasn’t much to see in Week 18, despite an obvious desire to stay healthy. But at least the defense showed some positive signs from young players.
Defensive standouts
If there’s a positive takeaway from this game for the Packers, it’s that some young defensive players showed real promise against a starting Vikings’ offense. The circumstances were particularly rough because the offense couldn’t put any decent drive together, stressing the defensive side of the ball.
The most notable piece was rookie edge defender Barryn Sorrell — he generated some pressure on quarterback J.J. McCarthy, had a sack on Max Brosmer, a tackle for loss, a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter, and was excellent in run support.
Defensive tackles Warren Brinson and Jonathan Ford also made some positive plays upfront, and safety Kitan Oladapo was viable in the secondary — despite dropping an easy interception.
Quarterback situation
With all due respect, Clayton Tune is unplayable at this point in his career. The Packers are mostly wasting a roster spot with him because if they need him to play any real action, they are done. In the first half, Tune was 2/5 for 10 passing yards, with a 47.9 passer rating. He finished the game 6/11, with 33 passing yards, and a 60.0 passer rating. The offense only scored with a field goal as the game clock expired.
The best move probably is cutting Tune, opening a much-needed roster spot — especially with so many injuries affecting the roster — and let Desmond Ridder be the QB3 on the practice squad. At least we’ve seen Ridder play NFL football throughout his career.
Hopefully, the Packers won’t need any quarterback beyond Jordan Love in the postseason.
With Tune, it was nearly impossible to evaluate the rest of the offense. Jordan Morgan played at left tackle, but there weren’t many pass-blocking opportunities. When it did happen, though, Morgan had no shot and gave up a sack to Dallas Turner.
The main goal wasn’t fully achieved
The Packers’ primary goal on Sunday was to stay as healthy as possible for the playoffs, and they couldn’t even accomplish that.
First, it was weird to see the Packers run Jordan Love as the backup quarterback behind Clayton Tune in the first place. Practice-squad quarterback Desmond Ridder could have had a real shot at playing over Tune in the second half had he been active, despite being on the roster for less than a week.
Still, wide receiver/cornerback/special teamer Bo Melton suffered a knee injury, which is suboptimal per se, and it also forced the coaching staff to use Jayden Reed to keep some 11 personnel plays. Evan Williams and Javon Bullard also had to play more than what a team resting its top players should have, and Bullard (knee) got hurt late in the game.
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