Happy birthday, Jordan Love; sorry your party’s so lame. The Green Bay Packers debuted their new throwback uniforms this Sunday against the Carolina Panthers and their depleted offensive line and…lost,
by a score of 16-13. You’d think the Packers’ defensive front would feast in a game like this, correct? WRONG! For the first time in Micah Parsons’ 5-year NFL career, he was held to zero (0) pressures. I’d say buckle up, but this is going to be a short one, so…just sit down. Here are this week’s losers.
Loser: The DB Room
It’s been an issue all season thus far, and it continued today: the Packers’ secondary has been absolutely awful at the point of catch. Their coverage has been mostly okay, but they have GOT to get their hands in front of the ball. Xavier McKinney was gifted an endzone interception on a bad Bryce Young throw, and nearly hauled in another, but that’s about it when it comes to the secondary today. Keisean Nixon was once again flagged at the absolute worst time, on third and goal for pass interference when Bryce Young had just thrown an incomplete pass (McKinney’s almost-pick, so it would’ve been wiped out had he gotten his feet in bounds). When the Panthers were given a fresh set of downs, Rico Dowdle promptly ran the ball in for a TD. Atrocious work by the secondary, which needs to improve quickly before some big divisional games on the upcoming slate.
Loser: The DL room
I repeat: for the first time in Micah Parsons’ career, he didn’t record a single pressure. Against an offensive line consisting of backups! Bryce Young was sacked just once today, for no loss. He finished the game 11 of 20 for 102 yards and 1 pick, and still came out on top, because the defense gave up 163 yards in the run game. Thus far in 2025, the Packers have given up just 78.9 rushing yards per game. Halloween is over, but I’m still scared.
Loser: Jordan Love
The Packers QB threw for 273 yards today, but it felt like much of this came from short passes down the middle of the field. There were times when Love held onto the ball too long, leading to incompletions or risky throws. He did have an incredible throw today, a 52-yard bomb to Christian Watson into double coverage on 3rd and 12. He also had several atrocious passes today, one of which led to one of the worst picks I’ve seen him throw in a hot second, so do with that what you will.
Loser: Matt LaFleur
This felt like one of the more poorly coached games of Matt LaFleur’s career. The whole game, I found myself questioning why things were being called the way they were on offense. Once again, it felt like LaFleur was playing to score field goals at times, which is a fun way to play the game when your kicker is not at 100%. As the Packers tried to close out the first half with a score, they kept running the ball with limited time left on the clock. The result: a field goal! There were also some awful screens called which led to either no gain or a loss of yardage. Fire away in the comments with your “Fire LaFleur” takes—I won’t stop you this time!
Winner: Christian Watson
My one bright spot from today’s game was a huge bright spot last week, and proved once again that the team really, really needed him while he was gone. Christian Watson looked great in the blocking game on the few big plays the run game was able to squeeze out. He also had the play of the game, a 51 yard catch in double coverage on 3rd and 12, after Jordan Love was unable to complete nearly the same play just before with Matthew Golden (not Golden’s fault!)
I simply do not know what else to say, folks. This game was silly. The entire team looked silly. Was this perhaps in honor of Silly Body’s 27th birthday? Get as silly as possible before we get back to winning football games? Who knows. Next up on the schedule is a tough one: a Monday Night Football matchup against the defending Super Bowl champs, the 6-2 Philadelphia Eagles, who will be fresh off a bye week. Can the 5-2-1 Packers get revenge against the team that handed them both their first and final losses of the 2024 season?
