There’s an “advanced” stat going around Twitter showing that the Packers are 11-0 against teams with a worse record than theirs and 0-5 against teams with a better record. The stat is problematic to start with because the Packers won’t play many teams with a better record by virtue of having a good record, and they beat the Lions in the second match-up if competent referees call the game, but they’ve indeed looked like a different team against the Lions, Vikings and Eagles of the world, at least for parts of each game. For what it’s worth, four of the five losses are by four points or less. So what do they need to do to beat good teams in the playoffs? Becuase, it’s looking like they might be forced to play three in a row.

Get healthy

This one is the most obvious. When losing Zayne Anderson throws your defense so far into disarray that it never recovers, you know you need to get healthy. Zayne was one of the highest-rated safeties last week and played well in limited snaps before that. When he went down, Javon Bullard moved to safety and he’s bad and Keisean Nixon moved inside to slot corner and he’s worse there.

Just like that, the Vikings could target a confused rookie or bad slot corner with one of their four pro bowler targets whenever they wanted. And they did!

Get some damn pass rush

Hafley had adjusted his defense to confuse opposing quarterbacks with sim pressures and funky post-snap rotations that often led to inverted cover-2, which QBs rarely see in the NFL. The Vikings were prepared for both. They shut down the pressures and had receivers running free all game.

The solution to this is just getting some pressure with the defensive line. Do what you’re paid to do! The line had magically gotten a ton better after Preston Smith was traded, I don’t quite believe that that was all a mirage, but guess what, the teams we’ll be playing in the playoffs all have the Vikings-level offensive line or better.

The receivers need to play better too

LaFleur said after the game that they encountered more man coverage than expected. Well, why wouldn’t the Vikings use man coverage when, without Christian Watson, the Packers receivers were either not getting open or dropping the ball for three quarters?

Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks, Tucker Kraft, hell, even Bo Melton have shown some great flashes at receiver for the Packers but none of them stepped up in this game.

Doubs’ strong hands weren’t useful as he got smothered in man coverage. Jayden Reed hasn’t caught a ball downfield in what feels like two months. I’m not sure what was wrong with Dontayvion Wicks and Tucker Kraft but they hardly had any targets. One of these guys needs to step up in a game like this. Over the past six weeks, Christian Watson has shown that he may be capable of morphing into a number-one receiver. I’m not sure if anyone else on this team can. We better hope Watson can play in a few weeks.

Let’s all chill out a little bit

I’m definitely going overly negative here and am at risk of fully turning into a packers twitter replied. It’s important to note that in this game where the Packers were down five good defensive player and their best receiver, they still managed to bring the game back into within two in the fourth quarter.

Who knows what happens if possible the worst ever offsides call isn’t called to end the first half? Or if Zayne Anderson and Devonte Wyatt don’t get concussed. Or if the “play-makers” on offense actually made a few plays in the first three quarters. Hopefully this game can be a wake-up call for a few position groups and will turn into a positive come playoff time.

Mike Price is a lifelong Packers fan currently living in Utah. You can follow him on twitter at @themikeprice.

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