Paul Bretl | 1/6/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers are going to enter the 2024 postseason trending in a much different direction than what the 2023 version of this team did, and a key contributing factor to the recent struggles that we’ve seen is due to the inconsistencies of the passing game.
“It hasn’t been good,” said Matt LaFleur of the passing game. “Credit them (the Bears). They did a nice job and it is extremely frustrating right now, so I think that’s something that we’re gonna have to take a deep dive into and we have been. It’s not like it’s anything new, but we gotta do a better job.”
From Week 11 through Week 15, both Jordan Love and the offense appeared to be heating up just as they did a season ago, which included four straight games of scoring at least 30 points. However, since that New Orleans game, where the offense still managed to score 34 points, the passing attack has felt disjointed.
Over that three game stretch against New Orleans, Minnesota, and Chicago, Love is completing just 60% of his throws, which ranks 28th out of 36 eligible quarterbacks. His 6.2 yards per attempt during that span also ranks 28th and Love is 22nd in passer rating.
While he’s taken care of the football with no interceptions and no turnover-worthy plays, according to PFF, he’s also thrown only two touchdown passes.
“I definitely don’t think it’s a problem, but if this was a playoff game, we’d be going home right now,” said Jordan Love postgame. “We’ve got to find a way to make those plays, execute and stay on the field as offense, put up more points than we did tonight. We’ve got to find ways to just be better because like we said in the locker room, if this was a playoff game, we’re going home. So just not good enough.”
Of course, when things aren’t going quite right in the passing game, all eyes fall on the quarterback position, with Love mentioning post-game following the Bears’ game that it all feels inconsistent right now.
“It’s definitely been a little stagnant,” Love said of the passing game. “It just feels like we’re just missing right now. Missing on some of these opps that obviously before we were hitting on. Like I’ve said before, it’s not like we’re far off. It’s not like everything we’re running is just not working. Stuffs there. We’ve just got to go out there and make plays. We’ve got to be great, like I said, with accuracy, ball placement, everything, so I think it’s a lot of stuff well clean up.”
However, in a nuanced game like football, it’s not only Love’s play that has taken a step back, but the receivers are out of sync as well. Following the game against Minnesota, Matt LaFleur mentioned that the Vikings’ heavy usage of man coverage in that contest was unexpected. When that happens, it can throw off the timing of the route and the need for the receivers to win those one-on-one matchups becomes heightened and if that doesn’t happen, then Love has nowhere to go with the football.
“I would just say like for me personnally I gotta be better overall,” said Jayden Reed at his locker on Sunday. “I haven’t been playing good ball lately. If we want progress in the playoffs that not how we gotta play. We gotta play better than we did today. Just pounding in on the details, protecting the ball that’s protecting the team, first and foremost, that’s on me. I gotta be better. If I want to be a leader and good player in this league, I gotta be able to do that.”
In two of these last three games, the Packers were without Christian Watson against Minnesota and for most of the Bears’ game, while Romeo Doubs didn’t play against Chicago either. That, of course, is going to be a factor in the on-field play. However, for a position group where its strength lies in its numbers, the Packers need more from that room as well as Love, particularly with it looking like Watson won’t be able to play this postseason.
“Execution, really,” added Reed about the inconsistent play. “Everybody doing their 1/11th. Just completing the pass. We had some drops along the way, you just gotta finish the catch sometimes. Just everything. Everything goes hand in hand.”
The run game has often been the catalyst for the Packers’ offensive success this season. However, in today’s NFL, when that is the only consistent method for picking up yards, that’s a difficult way for an offense to have to live on a regular basis. The margin for error becomes extremely small because any sort of run that doesn’t pick up four-plus yards, puts the offense behind the sticks and in predictable passing situations that, right now, the Packers offense doesn’t have the ability to routinely dig themselves out of.
Awaiting the Packers in the playoffs is a set of NFC offenses that have been among the most dynamic in football. Philadelphia, Detroit, Minnesota, and Tampa Bay, all rank in the top 10 of the NFL this season in points per game and yards per pass attempt. Obviously, the hope would be that the Packers’ defense could limit those opponents, but that’s also a tall task to accomplish over four quarters. Realistically, the Packers’ offense is going to have to put up points and getting off to another dreaded slow start could very well doom their playoff chances.
Although things haven’t gone all that smoothly for the passing game, Love doesn’t believe that the offense is all that far off, either. However, the opportunity to establish momentum has vanished and Green Bay is now at the point where a switch is going to have to be flipped. Time to course correct is no longer on their side.
“We just have to get back to what we do,” Love said. “Get back to the basics and the fundamentals and be crisp. As we go through the week, be dialed in and locked into all the little details. We can’t let anything slip. It just comes down to that. I mean, that’s where you start throughout the week, and then you have to go out there and just make those plays. Like I said, we’re not far off, we just have to hit.”