WEEK 1 RECAP
Disaster hit the Packers on their week one loss against the Vikings, blowing a 9 point lead at the half.
This loss is tough to swallow for Packers fans knowing the Packers had the lead going into the fourth quarter. And once again, it’s a game where they had a start strong and then can’t find a way to finish the game with a win. After promises this offseason from head coach Matt Lafleur of finding ways to finish games, this game hurts for fans just a little bit more.
The Packers started off very promising. Just the second play of the game the Packer’s defense forced an interception by Keison Nixon. Nixon was also seen putting pressure on the quarterback, recording a sack as well as a tackle for loss. The interception set up a 58-yard field goal from the rookie kicker Trey Smack. Defensively, the Packers were pretty dominant in the first half. They recorded 2 sacks and multiple tackles for losses.
The next drive for the Packers ended in a 851-yard catch and run for Christian Watson, who got a big contract extension this offseason. This put the Packers up 9-0 after the missed extra point. Offensively, the Packers began to get tested by the Vikings defense. The pressure of the Vikings defense brought to this already banged up Green Bay O-line proved to be damaging. Jordan Love managed to prevail, regardless of being harassed throughout the whole first half. Love was able to connect a second time with receiver Watson for a 2-yard catch to end the half with a 19-10 lead and were getting the ball after half.
Towards the end of the first quarter starting quarterback Kyler Murray got injured with a concussion and was forced out of the game. In his place, Carson Wentz came in to lead the Vikings offense.
The second half was not how the Packers wanted it. The Packers offensive line simply could not handle the pass rush of the Vikings. The Vikings recorded 3 sacks and a fumble recovery against Jordan Love, who is known for not giving up sacks with a 4.57% sack rate last year. While the Packers could only come up with a field goal from Smack, the Vikings responded with a touchdown, making it 22-17.
The next drive the Packers seemed to have a good rhythm but were stopped on third down at Minnesota’s 17-yard line with 6 yards to go. They sent Trey Smack for another field goal, which went in, but had a flag called on the field. This penalty was on the Vikings and gave the Packers 5 more yards making it fourth and one. Head coach, Matt Lafleur, decided he would accept the penalty, erasing the three points and go for it on fourth down. They ran a quarterback sneak but did not get the first down. This ended up turning the whole game around.
The Packers defense on the other hand was trying their best with some aggressive play calling by Jonathan Gannon but were heavily penalized and were not able to get themselves off the field. People argue some of the calls were debatable. Specifically a call of roughing the passer, a penalty that attempts to protect the quarterback from dangerous contact after the ball is thrown, where Chris McClellan was seen trying to brace himself after landing on Carson Wentz but was still called on the penalty. This led to a touchdown that gave the Vikings the lead 25-22 with just over 6 minutes to go.
The next drive for the Packers Jordan Love lost the football while being sacked and gave up the ball at their own 1-yard line. This helped the Vikings pull away, giving them an easy 1-yard touchdown. Not even three plays later the pass rush got to Love again forcing him to throw an interception at their own 14-yard line. This led to a Justin Jefferson touchdown, his second of the game. Green Bay’s last drive made it all the way to the redzone only to not be able to get the fourth down conversion giving the ball to the Vikings at Minnesota’s 14-yard line.
This offseason Matt Lafleur talked about working on finishing games and how he plans on bettering that for this season. Because of this loss, in the postgame interview Lafleur was asked if it damaged his faith about it. “No, not at all,” Lafleur said. “It's gonna be a topic of conversation for all you guys until we do it.”
The biggest shock of the game when it came to play calling was the quarterback sneak on fourth down that didn’t get the first down. “We are gonna be aggressive,” Lafleur said. “We liked our [play] call…and we didn’t get it.”
The Packers now land at 0-1 and are starting the year last place in their division. The NFC North is one of the hardest divisions in football. Recovering is going to be an uphill battle for the Packers, who next week are playing the Jets who just won this Sunday. “We gotta rebound,” Lafleur said about the next game against the Jets . “It's always tough to go on the road in this league and we got a great challenge in front of us and we gotta pick up the pieces.”
To see the stats from the game visit:
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/boxscore/NFL_20260913_GB@MIN/
