Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers fell to Minnesota, 27-25, on Sunday.
For the fifth time this season, the Green Bay Packers played a team that has a legitimate chance to win a Super Bowl.
On Sunday afternoon, the Packers fell to a dreadful 0-5 in those contests.
Minnesota downed visiting Green Bay, 27-25, in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. The Vikings built a 27-10 lead late in the third quarter, before the Packers scored a pair of touchdowns in the final 6 minutes.
Green Bay fell to 0-2 this season against both Minnesota (14-2) and Detroit (13-2), and 0-1 against Philadelphia (13-3). That dismal record is why the Packers (11-5) will finish in third place in the NFC North and almost certainly play all of their playoff games on the road.
“We're going to have to find ways when the playoffs start to go into those road atmospheres and win those tough games,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said. “But it's only going to get tougher for us. So we know that, you know, we got to find ways to keep improving, keep getting better.
“We know we’ve got to come out and play our best ball, and everybody's got to be locked in and play the best game they've played all season. So there's no secret, you know, we're going to have to find ways to win these games on the road. It's going to be our reality.”
Right now, when the Packers face elite teams, reality bites.
On Sunday, Minnesota scored 20 unanswered points in the second and third quarters and built a 27-10 lead. Green Bay scored the final 15 points of the game, but for 3 ½ quarters the Packers were thoroughly dominated by the Vikings.
If the Packers take any solace in their late rally, it’s fool’s gold. They were completely outplayed for most of the day and must find answers quickly or their playoff run will be short-lived.
“We gotta take it upon ourselves to change that narrative,” safety Xavier McKinney said of the Packers’ inability to the NFL’s top teams. “We can’t just sit up here and talk about, ‘Oh well, we don’t want …’ Like we already went through this feeling. Either we change it or we don’t. If we don’t, it’s not gonna be good for us.
“We gotta take initiative. We gotta be better. I gotta be better. That’s what it is. Like I said, we here now. It’s no turning back. We’re gonna be in the playoffs. We got another game to play and we gotta be better in order to get to where we want to get to.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly from Green Bay’s loss to Minnesota.
THE GOOD
EDGERRIN COOPER: The rookie linebacker simply plays at a different speed than most NFL linebackers and is quickly becoming one of the more impactful defensive players in football.
On Sunday, Cooper tied for the team lead with 11 tackles and had four tackles for loss.
“I think that we are highlighting him,” Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said of Cooper. “I mean, we're sending him, he's running games, yeah, I think we're doing a good job of highlighting him right now and I'm not sure there's much more we can do with him right now. I think as he continues to develop we can, but I think we're doing a pretty good job of that right now.”
BE HIS VALENTINE: The Packers trailed, 20-3, midway through the third quarter when Carrington Valentine made a terrific read and intercepted Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold. Valentine returned the pick 31 yards to Minnesota’s 18-yard line, but fumbled.
Fortunately for Valentine and the Packers, defensive lineman Karl Brooks was ‘ Johnny of the Spot’ and recovered the fumble.
“Yeah, I told KB, ‘Thank you.’ I said I definitely have something for you, don’t worry,” Valentine said.
Four plays later, Josh Jacobs had a 2-yard touchdown run that pulled Green Bay within 20-10.
“I’m not trying to go out there and be superman or anything. Just trying to do my job,” Valentine said.
THIS AND THAT: Karl Brooks sacked Sam Darnold for a 5-yard loss late in the first half. It was Green Bay’s only sack of the day. … Emanuel Wilson had his second rushing touchdown in as many weeks and his third rushing TD of the season. … Romeo Doubs had a team-high seven receptions.
THE BAD
FUMBLE-ITIS: Josh Jacobs fumbled in each his first two games with Green Bay, then didn't fumble again until Week 15 against Seattle. Jacobs fumbled on the Packers’ opening drive, though, on Sunday giving him four on the year.
Jerry Tillery forced the fumble and Cam Bynum recovered at the Minnesota 38 to kill a promising Green Bay drive.
“Yeah I feel like it drained the energy out of the team just starting early,” Jacobs said. “One of them plays where I feel like I said earlier in the week I take it personal on getting the team to start fast and things like that. Yeah, that’s on me.”
KILLER PENALTIES: Trailing, 10-3, in the final 2 minutes of the second quarter, the Packers had a third-and-1 from their own 39. Josh Jacobs ran for a first down, but error-prone wideout Dontayvion Wicks was flagged for an illegal formation penalty, and Love threw incomplete on the next play forcing Green Bay to punt.
“I'll tell you what I saw and obviously the official disagreed with what I saw,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “I saw our tight end clearly signal he was off the ball and I saw Wicks take the ball. I wasn't standing on the sideline, so I couldn't tell you, but they obviously saw it differently.”
Minnesota then drove to Green Bay’s 37-yard line, but Minnesota’s Will Reichard missed a 55-yard field goal on what appeared to be the final play of the first half. Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper was offsides on the play, though, and Reichard drilled a 50-yard field goal on his second chance to give Minnesota a 13-3 halftime lead.
“I'm not going to make excuses for it,” LaFleur said. “We put ourselves in a bad position ultimately. I was standing right down the line for that, I didn't see it that way, but I'm not an official either. That's not my job and that's not what I get paid to do.”
Midway through the fourth quarter, Josh Jacobs ripped off a 19-yard touchdown run, but right guard Sean Rhyan was called for holding on the play.
Perhaps the most egregious penalty, though, came when the Packers had 12 men on the field — on offense. While you often see 12 men on the field on the defense, it’s rare that penalty happens to the offense.
“Yeah, that was on us as coaches,” LaFleur said. “We called a personnel. Somebody heard it different, and that’s how we got 12 in the huddle. That’s the first time that’s happened in a really long time, in my time here. It can’t happen, because that was a critical penalty.”
TAKE THE POINTS: Green Bay trailed, 7-3, late in the first half and faced a fourth-and-2 from the Vikings’ 23.
Instead of kicking the field goal, LaFleur went for it and Love threw incomplete for Jayden Reed. Considering the Packers lost by two, those three points would have been enormous later on in the game.
“It’s just a gut thing. I’ve said that a million times,” LaFleur said. “If we feel good about it, then you go for it. If you don’t, then you’re going to kick a field goal.”
NAILED IT: Minnesota took a 7-3 lead with 11:52 remaining in the second quarter when Sam Darnold hit Jalen Nailor for a 31-yard touchdown. Darnold had 3.28 seconds to throw on the play, the Packers had a bust in the back and Nailor was five yards behind safeties Xavier McKinney and Javon Bullard for an easy score.
With the Packers paying much of their attention to the sensational Justin Jefferson, Nailor had five catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.
THIS AND THAT: Keisean Nixon was hit with a 17-yard pass interference penalty against Justin Jefferson in the second quarter. … Defensive lineman Devante Wyatt and safety Zayne Anderson were both lost to concussions. … Daniel Whelan shanked a 29-yard punt early in the third quarter.
THE UGLY
SECONDARY SHREDDED: Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold threw for 377 yards, three touchdowns and posted a 116.1 passer rating against a Green Bay pass defense that wasn’t up to the challenge.
Darnold was rarely pressured and was sacked just once. Darnold then picked apart Green Bay’s secondary, completing passes to eight different players, including five pass catchers that caught at least four balls.
Green Bay did a respectable job against all-world wideout Justin Jefferson (8 catches, 92 yards), but Jalen Nailor (5-81-1), Jordan Addison (6-69-1) and T.J. Hockenson (5-68-0) all hurt Green Bay throughout.
“They’re a good football team,” Packers safety Xavier McKinney said of Minnesota. “They’re gonna make plays. We can’t stop everything. But there’s just certain situations where we just gotta be better. We gotta be cleaner. But they’re gonna make plays. He’s a good quarterback. They got a good team. They got good offensive players who can make plays for them. So yeah, we just gotta be better.”
FLORES > LAFLEUR: While the Packers made things interesting at the end with two late touchdowns, Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur lost his matchup with Vikings’ defensive coordinator Brian Flores by TKO.
Green Bay’s first six possessions went fumble, punt, field goal, downs, punt and punt. By that time, the Packers were in a 20-3 hole they couldn’t escape.
The extremely creative and blitz-happy Flores had his way with LaFleur most of the day, which is a major reason the Packers fell short against Minnesota for the second time this season.
“I don't think we were at our best, but that's a credit to them in our slow start and that's me as much as anybody,” LaFleur said. “So I gotta be better and we gotta get better. And we gotta learn from this and try to move on and get some momentum here.”
LOVE HURTS: Jordan Love’s final statistics were OK — 19-of-30 for 185 yards with one touchdown, no interceptions and a 91.7 passer rating.
For most of the game, though, Love was timid, inaccurate and couldn’t lead Green Bay’s offense anywhere.
Love had just 45 passing yards at halftime and 64 yards passing through three quarters.
In a game where Love needed to shine, he was thoroughly outplayed by Minnesota’s Sam Darnold.
WHERE’S JAIRE?: Green Bay cornerback Jaire Alexander sat out his sixth straight contest with a knee injury and has now missed 33 of the Packers’ last 67 games. There have also been five games Alexander has started, but couldn't finish — such as Green Bay’s Week 11 contest in Chicago when he played just 10 snaps.
In all, Alexander played just four games in 2021, seven last season and seven this year. And at this point, it’s unclear if Green Bay’s will have its top cornerback for the postseason.
