It’s not too late for the Packers. But if they want to be relevant in November and beyond, a wake-up call might be a good idea for head coach Matt LaFleur.
Green Bay plays the first of five home games in primetime on Thursday and the NFL placed another one on the tee. Alas, the Packers are only 1-1 because they blew a second-half lead against the Vikings and then followed it up by narrowly escaping New Jersey with a 20-17 overtime win over the Jets last week.
Enter the Falcons, winless and turning the offense over to a quarterback who hasn’t taken a live snap since November 16.
Michael Penix Jr. takes the reins for Atlanta on Thursday night at Lambeau Field where the Packers have everything to gain. The Lions appear to be a Greatest Show on Turf type of offense and a 2025 Cowboys type of defense. The Bears went from a 59-point record-shattering opener to losing to the Vikings with a paltry three points last week.
The North is not running away from the Packers.
Whether they can keep pace regardless is what we’re about to find out.
Atlanta might not be a true layup from the perspective of talent and playmakers. Drake London at wide receiver and Bijan Robinson at running back both present problems for the Packers. Robinson is out of the gates in All-Pro form.
The Packers are inching forward without two of their top players, running back Josh Jacobs and pass rusher Micah Parsons. It’s unclear when Jacobs might be in position to play again because he’s on the Commissioner’s Exempt List for pleading no-contest in a domestic situation. Reports indicate he could miss 4-6 games, but the league had no official word on when they might rule.
Parsons is working his way back from a torn ACL.
When he returns, presuming he’s healthy, Parsons immediately puts the Packers’ defense back in the elite category. Linebacker Edgerrin Cooper might not be a household name outside of SEC country — he starred at Texas A&M or Wisconsin — but he’s on pace to put up special production in Jonathan Gannon’s defense. He already has multiple sacks, five tackles for loss and more than 15 tackles, something no Packers’ defender has done in the past 27 years.
And Lukas Van Ness — No. 6 in the NFL in pressure rate — is making his presence felt. The player drafted with the first-round pick the Packers acquired from the Jets for Aaron Rodgers might be a late bloomer, but Green Bay is looking wiser by the week for holding onto the Iowa product. Dani Dennis-Sutton is helping fill in for Parsons and has been even better generating pressure — he’s fourth in the NFL at 29.2 percent.
But a loss Thursday night places LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst in the pressure cooker.
They’ll have 10 days to prep for Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers and then a home game with the Bears. But a 1-2 start would mean fighting uphill for weeks or months, and the Packers already gifted Minnesota a head start in the division. The Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions are next on the schedule before a short-week visit and another primetime game at Lambeau Field on Oct. 29 against the Panthers.
But the fall equinox is too soon for must-win talk.
Or is it?
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