The Green Bay Packers are 0-1 after melting down in the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium. It's Tuesday, typically an off day for players, so you already know how it happened: The Packers led 22-10 late, gave up a long kickoff return and a quick touchdown, then failed on a fourth down after taking points off the board. And everything fell apart from there, as the Vikings scored 29 straight points to turn a heavyweight fight into a 17-point blowout.
Some final thoughts from editor Zach Kruse and contributor Mark Oldacres before turning the page to Week 2:
Zach: A six-game losing streak featuring four blown leads. At what point does a mindset of "Well, here we go again" become the collective response to
second-half adversity for a team? That has to be a concern moving forward. Football is all about responding when you get punched in the mouth or bad things happen, and this collection of players and coaches -- largely unchanged from last year, at least at the top, and in leadership positions -- has to begin rewriting the narrative. Will it take returning Micah Parsons, the ultimate closer, for the Packers to finally finish off games?
Mark: The offensive line had a nightmare of a season opener, but do not expect it to look like that every week. While it is absolutely fair to question whether this group is capable of winning a Super Bowl, and that matters, I would be surprised if it stopped the offense from being a top 10 unit.
Zach: The offensive line cope is that Week 1 was a perfect storm of variables against the Packers. No Aaron Banks. Zach Bako-Bewele returning from a major injury and clearly not 100 percent. Next to zero continuity coming out of training camp. Typical Week 1 chaos. And then facing a blitzing madman named Brian Flores inside a loud, raucous U.S. Bank Stadium. Like Mark said, I doubt the offensive line is this bad again, and Week 1 could like a blip on the radar akin to last year's disaster in Cleveland, but the concerns along the offensive line are very real, and the solutions moving forward are limited.
Mark: Among the positives lost in Sunday’s game was Matthew Golden’s significantly increased workload. He was targeted 12 times and caught six of them for 95 yards. All of those figures are higher than any single game from his rookie year, and the target tally is double his previous high.
Zach: The special teams were much better on Sunday, but it certainly wasn't perfect, and mistakes affected the outcome. Trey Smack missed an extra point, which probably influenced Matt LaFleur's decision to take points off the board later. With the extra point, Smack's field goal in the second half would have given the Packers a two-score lead, which is what LaFleur was chasing by going for it on 4th-and-1. And allowing the 68-yard kickoff return after the Packers went up 22-10 helped jump-start the Vikings, providing a short field ahead of T.J. Hockenson's touchdown. Small margins on special teams.
Mark: It was an encouraging game in terms of Green Bay’s pass catching weapons. Besides Christian Watson’s heroics, tight ends Tucker Kraft and Jonnu Smith each had 50 or more receiving yards, which has never happened for Kraft and Luke Musgrave in the same game.
Zach: If anyone ever questions Jordan Love's toughness, show them the All-22 of this game. He got hit 18 times (by Adam Stenavich's count) because the Vikings continually had free runners at the quarterback and Love was willing to either hang in there and throw the ball or create extra time with movement. A lot of the hits on Love were either as he was throwing the ball or a half-second after. Many created explosive plays downfield. Those are called "job description" throws. Love's toughness under unrelenting pressure deserves a ton of praise, even if Brian Flores eventually overwhelmed the front and created two big turnovers late. Sunday would have looked much, much uglier with a lesser quarterback under center.
Mark: Keisean Nixon having a strong start to the season and silencing the critics (for now) is good news after a shaky summer. Elsewhere on defense, some concerns were eased about Green Bay’s ability to get pressure without Micah Parsons, as they racked up 15 pressures and four sacks.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Final thoughts on Packers in Week 1: Turning the page on another meltdown
