The Green Bay Packers suffered a humbling 30-10 loss at home to the Vikings, as Minnesota completed the season sweep and dropped Green Bay to 6-4, keeping Matt LaFleur's team in last place in the NFC North.
Here are five takeaways from a massively disappointing afternoon at Lambeau Field:
Packers cannot get out of their own way
After the highest high of the season a week ago, when they could seemingly do no wrong, the Packers came back down to earth with a thud, putting out the kind of performance they have produced too often in the last couple of years where they are their own worst enemy.
Green Bay committed every type of unforced error they could not afford to make in a game like this. They turned the ball over relentlessly in bizarre ways, wasting opportunities for points or handing
Minnesota the chance for easy scores with many of them.
They had drops, missed another field goal, and Matt LaFleur’s decision to accept a penalty and keep the Vikings offense on the field, hoping to force them out of field goal range backfired spectacularly when the defense gave up a touchdown on 3rd and 23.
As has been said so many times before, this team is very talented but are incapable of getting out of their own way.
Offense falls flat without explosives
The Packers offense is easy to diagnose at this point. When Jordan Love is able to play the game he wants to and hunt explosives, they mostly overcome the errors and general unevenness they seem to go through each game and put up a lot of points in the end.
When an opposing defense demands that they execute play after play and matriculate the ball down field in a more boring fashion, they simply can’t do it. LaFleur’s apparent lack of a game plan to counter what he must have known Flores would bring was also baffling.
The biggest problem was not even the endless sacks Love took. It was that too often bad plays were made worse by a number of culprits, rather than living to see another down. If they had been a normal brand of bad for most of this game, instead of a disaster, they might have won it.
Many defenses they face this year will not be able to drag them down to the depths Brian Flores’ Vikings can, but when it does happen, the results are usually disastrous.
Offensive line remains an issue
Minnesota’s defense is so exceptional that it feels a bit unfair to throw a huge amount of criticism at the offensive line, but the group’s flaws were on full display against a Flores defense which is equipped to expose them unlike any other.
Kevin Zeitler being unable to play probably had the coaching staff scrambling to an extent, as it seemed he was in line to finally start. They span the wheel on Travis Glover rather than Aaron Banks, which was surprising.
Perhaps it would not have made a difference, but not going with an experienced player like Banks next to a massively inexperienced center in John Williams is perplexing. Williams has filled in admirably, but the Packers badly need Sean Rhyan back after the bye.
Third down defense continues to struggle
For all the excellent play by Jonathan Gannon’s defense this year, they have been quite poor on third down, ranking 23rd in EPA per play entering Sunday’s game. It became a big problem against Minnesota, as they converted multiple back-breaking third downs during the game.
Knowing Green Bay’s issues in that regard makes LaFleur’s decision to make them face an extra third down by accepting the penalty rather than letting the Vikings kick a field goal even harder to explain.
Micah Parsons should in theory return to face the Rams, and having him on the field to help the Packers get off the field on third down is perhaps the biggest impact he will have.
Chances of NFC North title are all but gone
This loss drops the Packers to 6-4 on the year, which is not disastrous by any stretch, but they have lost the wrong games, now sitting at 1-3 in the most competitive division in football.
Given all four NFC North teams will be vying for the playoffs, that could be very detrimental for their chances of finishing anywhere other than last in the division, and may leave them fighting for the seven seed with the Rams – their next opponent – and Seahawks.
It will very likely be another year without a division title for the Packers and a road trip in the first round of the playoffs assuming they get in.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: 5 takeaways from Packers' 30-10 loss to Vikings: Offense falls flat
