If my calculations are correct, it’s been approximately 647 days since the Green Bay Packers played a football game. It’s been even longer since they came away with an outright win, so today’s matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals was a welcome one, because hello! They’re the Bengals. The Packers decided to Packer a little too close to the sun, and the game was a lot closer than it should’ve been, but they came away with the 27-18 win. Let’s dive in to the winners and losers from an underwhelming
performance at Lambeau Field.
Winner: Josh Jacobs
Josh Jacobs big play, Josh Jacobs touchdown, rinse, repeat. The Packers RB once again had a great game, totaling 81 yards and a TD…in the first half! In the second half, when the offense finally got the ball back after a years-long Bengals drive, they went right back to Jacobs, who sometimes feels like the only player who works. The result: another touchdown, and one of the fastest runs I’ve seen from him in some time. This was Jacobs’ second straight game with multiple TDs, and he’s up to 6 on the season. After a relatively slow start to the run game, the team finally looks like they’ve found their stride (in that area, at least!) Jacobs’ final stat line: 93 yards and 2 TDs on 18 carries (5.2 avg), plus 57 yards on 5 catches for a total of 150 all purpose yards. Good stuff, especially when you consider this was a Michael Jordan flu game for him! Let’s do it again next week without throwing up.
Winner: Matthew Golden
He’s here, and he’s perfect. Our baby boy had just three catches on five targets today, but they came at absolutely crucial moments in the game. Golden seemed like the biggest spark in the receiving room today, which was much needed being down Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, and Dontayvion Wicks midway through the game. With Watson poised to make his return extremely soon, we’ll get to see what things look like with two speedy boyz on the field at the same time, which will probably open things up for just about everyone. Golden led the team with 86 yards today (28.7 avg!), and had his first 100-yard total with an additional 16 rushing yards.
Loser: Pass Protection
Jordan Love was sacked just once for a loss of 3 yards, but it felt like the offensive line allowed way too many pressures to a defense that was missing Trey Hendrickson for much of the game. We’re no stranger to Love deciding to run the ball from time to time, but he did so 7 times today (2nd-most attempts of his career), which feels…problematic. Guys were getting beaten QUICKLY by a 3-man rush, which doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence when you realize the line was relatively healthy this week. One bright spot on the line today was Jordan Morgan, who looked pretty great at RG and enabled Josh Jacobs to do his thing.
Winner: Lucas Havrisik
If you told me 6 months ago that I’d be putting “Winner: Lucas Havrisik” into an article, I’d have said “Hey who’s that” (I would’ve said the same thing if you told me this yesterday.) The Packers signed K Lucas Havrisik about five minutes ago, when he was thinking about doing some substitute teaching. Shortly before the game, it was announced Brandon McManus wouldn’t kick today, and Havrisik would play in his first game since 2023. Kicker worries against the Bengals, is anyone else having war flashbacks? Havrisik was absolutely perfect today, nailing both FG attempts as well as 3 XP attempts. His final FG essentially put the game away for Green Bay. Can’t ask for anything better.
Loser: Anyone involved in a Ja’Marr Chase or Tee Higgins catch
The coverage wasn’t really even the problem today; the DBs were there at the point of catch. “Catch” is the keyword here, however. Those. Guys. Caught. Everything!! Chase and Higgins combined for 15 catches on 20 targets for 156 yards, which feels almost underwhelming at the surface, until you remember the Bengals were starting a 96 year old Joe Flacco who was a Cleveland Brown literally 5 days ago. He was on the money when targeting these guys, even when he had no time to throw the ball. I don’t know if the DBs need to get more handsy, if the pass rush needs to get to the QB faster, if they’re just missing Devonte Wyatt that badly, or if it’s a combination of all of the above (yes?), but I expected better against a bad Bengals offense.
The 3-1-1 Packers travel to Arizona next week to face off against the 2-4 Cardinals who are coming off their 4th straight loss. After being inactive with a foot injury this week, it’s up in the air if QB Kyler Murray will be the one the Packers face off against. If Murray can’t go, it’ll likely be Jacoby Brissett, unless the Cardinals do the funniest thing possible (trade for Joe Flacco).
