After winning three straight and turning its season around, the Green Bay Packers got slapped in the face Monday, losing 24-22 to the New York Giants.
It really seemed like the Packers had turned the corner after its victory over the Kansas Chiefs two weeks ago. The mistakes that fans had seen in the first ten games were seemingly over in the Packers’ three-game win streak. There were fewer penalties and close to no turnovers, but that seemed to change in Green Bay’s loss to the New York Giants.
While Green Bay did hold the lead late against the Giants, the game felt closer to how the team played when it was 3-6, rather than when it was 6-6. The problem with that is that it came in a very winnable game. Even though the Giants have now won three games in a row, it seemed that at the time, the Packers were clearly the superior team.
But as Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has said multiple times, the NFL has a way of humbling you and that wasn’t more true than on Monday night for Green Bay.
“No, not at all,” said LaFleur, when asked if the team sensed a poor performance like this throughout the week. “That is why it is disappointing. You get a Monday night game on a big stage, and I thought we had a good week of preparation, and in practice, it was pretty clean, but ultimately you have to do it on gameday.”
The theme for the Packers this season has been the youth, and the common saying is that with a young team, there is going to be some ups and there is going to be some downs. That hasn’t been more true this year, as Green Bay started 2-1, before going 1-5 and then 3-0. With the loss to the Giants, Green Bay needs to avoid another low point in the season as the playoffs loom large.
Even though the team is 3-1 in the last four games, it really feels like Green Bay needs to come away with another statement win and that can happen this week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With Tampa Bay coming to Lambeau Field on Sunday and looking to solidify its playoff life, not only getting a win, but a dominant win should work wonders in righting the Packers’ season before it goes south quickly.
“They are all critical, they are all critical,” said LaFleur, on how critical the loss is. “But, we better have a short memory. You have to learn from it and move on and we are on a short week now against a team in Tampa that is also fighting for their playoff lives and are the leaders of their division, so we are going to have to play a lot better than we did tonight in order to come out on top.”
LaFleur is right, Green Bay is going to need to play a lot better than it did against the Giants.
The good news for Green Bay is that the loss to the Giants was only LaFleur’s first loss in December. With Baker Mayfield starting at quarterback for the Buccaneers, it also poses a strong opportunity for the Packers, as Mayfield has historically struggled at Lambeau Field. In two career starts at Lambeau Field, Mayfield is 0-2, throwing for three touchdowns and five interceptions.
Now obviously, the team he is leading this year is much different than teams in the past, but given Tampa Bay’s inconsistency on both the offensive and defensive lines this year, Green Bay needs to control the line of scrimmage to come away with a victory here.
There are still four weeks left in the regular season, and realistically the playoffs may come down to Green Bay’s matchup with the Minnesota Vikings in week 17, but this game against the Buccaneers really has a must-win feel to it. If Green Bay loses and any of the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, or New York Giants win next week, the Packers could find themselves out of the playoffs.
For a team that once looked like it was going to get a top-7 pick, to a team that looked like it could sneak into the playoffs, to a team that now controls its destiny, the next four weeks are going to be very stressful in Green Bay. That all starts this week, as the Packers have as close to a must-win game as one team can get without having a must-win game.
How Green Bay responds to loss will determine future
