The Packers have made it through the first quarter of the season. If you had told fans that Jordan Love missed two games and the team was 2-2 they wouldn’t be surprised. I went over why the loss to the Eagles could be considered fluky earlier this year. I’m also happy to come up with a ton of coping to explain why the Vikings loss isn’t concerning. Rather than focus on the individual games however lets instead take a look at some larger trends, both good and bad.

The Good

Jayden Reed is a superstar. I wrote something similar after the Eagles game, but with Love back in the lineup its obvious who his go to WR has become:

Remember too that this was with Malik Willis at QB for half the season so far. Willis did everything Green Bay could’ve hoped for but he simply isn’t going to put up the raw numbers that Love will.

The Packers offense has been good despite missing it’s QB, and with Love back in the lineup I expect the passing game to explode. Jayden Reed will be a big part of why that happens.

Sticking with the offense, Zach Tom is the new David Bakhtiari.

Both fourth round picks, Tom has come in and put on an absolute clinic in his third year as Green Bay’s right tackle:

This is All Pro level play. The graph doesn’t account for week 4, but in the game against the Vikings he allowed only 2 hurries in 58 pass blocking attempts. He also graded out at an elite level as a run blocker. There’s nothing more important to a young QB’s success then having a competent offensive line in front of them. I suspect much like Bakhtiari was for Rodgers for nearly a decade, Zach Tom will be in front of Jordan Love for a long time.

Xavier McKinney is the most important FA signing since Charles Woodson.

It cannot be overstated how bad the Packers safety room was last year. Several players from that group are either out of the league or in backup positions across the league. McKinney on the other hand has 4 picks in four games. That’s over half of what the entire team produced last year. Just look at this:

The results from this new defense remain mixed, and we’ll get to why that is in a minute, but McKinney has been worth every penny so far.

The Bad

Anders Carlson, Brayden Narveson, Greg Joseph.

All three of these kickers have been on Green Bay’s roster. Carlson is not currently with a team. Brayden Narveson has cost Green Bay 9 points over two losses, losses that came by a total of 7 points.

Greg Joseph meanwhile has missed only one kick with the Giants.

Green Bay paid top on the market money to Rich Bisaccia to come in and fix the Packers special teams. They have not been fixed. You could argue they’ve gotten worse. Something needs to change, and change soon.

On the subject of top of the market money, Rashan Gary has been a massive disappointment through 4 games.

He has 1.5 sacks over his last 12 games. He did not record a single pressure against Minnesota. His pass rush win rate has plummeted from his past two seasons. It’s possible that the switch to a 4-3 has been a harder adjustment than anticipated. Whatever the reason it needs to be figured out quickly if Green Bay is going to get to where it wants to go this season.

The Second Quarter

What’s next for Green Bay as they head into the second quarter of the season? Their next four games come against a depleted Rams team, a feisty Cardinals squad, their AFC mirror image in the Texans and a collapsing Jaguars group that could be first to fire their HC this year.

Anything other than 3-1 or 4-0 against this group should be considered a big let down. This is an important stretch too because at the end of it they get their first crack at the Detroit Lions.

Look for the Packers offense to really take off with a healthy Jordan Love, and look for Green Bay to reestablish itself as a contender in an NFC with a lot of questions. If the defense can settle in and the pass rush can get back to last year, this team has legitimate Super Bowl aspirations.