I think most of us could best express our feelings about the Packers last night with one question….
That was a team failure in every imaginable way, resulting in the first home opening loss after a 13 year win streak. Let’s take a closer look at last night’s heartbreaking defeat against the Atlanta Falcons.
Packers Dropped Off Quickly After Early Success
The Packers started out the game with Xavier McKinney welcoming back Micahel Penix with an interception.
Unfortunatley the Packers would then have one of their many 3 and out possessions. Jordan would eventually answer back and go on to draw first blood circa a Christian Watson touchdown.
Unfortunately a sobering reality check would come as Michael Penix shook off the rust and Bijan Robinson returned to dominant form. Atlanta was a hungry team looking to change the narrative after a disastrous beginning to their season.
The Packers were beaten in virtually phase in their 35-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. The momentum truly seemed to shift after a god awful roughing the passer call on Brenton Cox.
That flag would end up leading to Bijan Robinson ripping off a 55-yard run to bring the Falcons into the redzone for the first time in 2026.
The Falcons then found their way into the endzone and never looked back. They were able to drum up answers to everything the Packers threw at them. Meanwhile Jordan and company began to fall apart at the seams.
Plenty of Blame To Go Around
We are tragically spoiled for choice on who to assign blame to after this Week 3 stinkfest. I’ll start with the man that is souring for many in Packer Nation. Here’s HC Matt LaFleur giving his thoughts after the game.
A butt whoopin’ indeed Matt! The frustration with game plans, play calling, and an inability to play consistently and disciplined, lays squarely at the feet of the Packers head coach at the moment. Last night saw gas poured on the fire of calls for Matt to be let go around the internet. Reporters are asking him directly if he is looking to make his own coaching changes, not exactly a hallmark of a seaon to be hopeful for.
Packers Offensive Line
Jordan Love certainly was off last night. However, he didn’t get much help from his offensive line, who had him under pressure constantly.
The offensive line seemed to further validate the doubts that have been cast on them since the off season. Here’s a quick breakdown of their performance from PFF.
There seems to be no immediate solve to the issues with the O-Line as of now. Some in the Packers fan base have started to look towards Gutey and his roster decisions over the past few years. One thing that is a near consensus, Luke Butkus is a Chicago plant.
Joking aside, it’s becoming harder and harder to understand why Butkus is still with the organization. We’ll have to see what Offensive Coordinator Adam Stenovich and the coaching staff can do to get this line to play cohesively.
Jordan Had An Up and Down Performance
Despite the poor blocking of the offensive line, Love had flashes, including the deep bomb to Matthew Golden that flipped the field in the first quarter and ultimately set up Watson’s touchdown.
That aside, the Packers again struggled to maintain possession and find a rhythm. Jordan ened up throwing for 312 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. He completed 28 out of 53 passes, with a completion rate of 52.8%. Unfortunatley, as hard as he tried to put this team on his back, his inaccuracy along with the constant pressure and drops from reliable targets including Tucker Kraft who has less than impactful as of late, proved to be too much for the Packers.
Packers Run Game Was Non-Existent
MarShawn Lloyd and Kaleb Johnson did not deliver any complement to the pass game. To be fair, the Packers only ran the ball on 9 out of their 63 plays. That is an insane ratio of rushes to passes to be running.
The absence of Josh Jacobs is casting a large shadow over the Packers running back room right now. With the uncertainty of if and when Jacobs will return, the Packers are struggling to establsih a meaningul run game. Last night it ultimately put too much of the burden on Love, and the Falcons were able to dictate the terms of the game as the night wore on.
Packers Defense Had No Answers for Bijan Robinson
The craziest turn of events was the defense. A unit that came into this game with stopping the run as one of their early pillars to lean on.
Atlanta shattered that reality pretty quickly.
Bijan Robinson absolutely destroyed that defensive front. While the Packers had some early success, the Packer offense’s inability to keep them off the grass showed as they looked gassed early on as Gannon sent massive pressure packages to try and make a stop.
Robinson repeatedly found creases and seemed to be unable to be tackled. He was explosive and ended the night with 29 carries for 194 yards and 2 touchdowns. That’s an average of 6.7 yards per carry, with the tide turning 55 yard rush being his longest. He also had 2 catches for 19 yards. It’s simple enough to say that Bijan had the Packers number all night.
Atlanta’s 2nd back Brian Robinson Jr. was no slouch as well with 10 carries for 50y yards and a touchdown.
As if the breakdown of the Packers run defense wasn’t bad enough, Edgerrin Cooper would end up leaving the game after being evaluated for a concussion.
The Secondary Couldn’t Keep Up
The Packers defensive backs had early flashes of great play however some of the same old issues came back up.
Drake London was a problem on the perimeter.
With the run firmly established, Michael Penix was able to take his time and settle back into a rhythm with his wide receivers. Their execution definitely didn’t help the Packers with getting off the field, moving the ball down with ease as the game progressed.
In the end, Jonathan Gannon just didn’t seem to have an answer for slowing down the Falcons attack.
Packers rookie CB Brandon Cisse also had a rough go of things and showed his growing pains against Falcons WR Drake London.
Micahel Penix and Drake London are certainly a talented duo, but the Packers are set to go against some very heavy hitters in the next few weeks. They need to find a solution to locking down opposing receivers. Certainly when Micah Parsons returns, he and Lukas Van Ness can hopefully help by applying pressure on the quarterback. However, in the interim, Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon will need to find a solution.
The Packers Head Into Mini Bye With A Lot Of Questions
The tape spoke for itself last night. The Packers were outplayed and suffered a brutal and humiliating defeat in their return to Lambeau. The game started with a lot of promise and just completely fell apart. There were some bright spots, like the play of Matthew Golden and Christian Watson. Early on LVN had stepped up again with Micah coaching him up on the sideline. Skyy Moore also had a nice night in the return game, and as a fill in for Jayden Reed who remains out for an undetermined amount of time with a neck injury.
The Packers need to take this time during the mini bye to examine what they need to do to turn this ship around. There really are some amazing moments here and there in all phases of play, but they need to get on the same page and play as complete team.
There’s still 14 games left in the season and the Packers can certainly still make a comback after their 1-2 start. It’s absolutely valid for some folks to say that the season is looking bleak, but there’s also no reason to write off the entire season just yet. The Packers have battled back from adversity before, and hopefully they can find some ways to get back to winning form. It’s undeniable that they need to make some major changes, but we’ll have to wait until October 4th in Tampa Bay to see what the Packers have done to course correct while facing off against Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers.
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