There were concerns about the Green Bay Packers offensive line entering the 2026 season, and Sunday’s defeat in the opener against the Minnesota Vikings did nothing to dispel those worries.
Jordan Love did his best to overcome the pass protection problems, and mostly succeeded until late in the game, when the floodgates finally opened and he was forced into multiple turnovers which sealed the Packers’ fate.
Analyzing the performance is not straightforward, and there is plenty to unpack.
The first thing to note is that until the late-game collapse, the O-line was far from perfect, but was surviving a normal level of struggle one might expect against a maniacal Brian Flores defense on the road in a raucous stadium.
Add in the fact it was Week 1, when
most teams are still kicking off the rust, and the Packers starting multiple new and inexperienced players, and it was a perfect storm for a tough afternoon, and yet they were still managing to put up points.
If the game did not inexplicably get out of hand following a bizarre chain of events which included the referees holding Minnesota’s hand all the way down the field to take the lead, Green Bay probably secures the win and the discourse around the O-line is not as negative.
These are all ifs and buts though, and ultimately, it was not good enough, which continued a theme from last season.
The line has consistently been a factor in the Packers’ late-game collapses, as they struggle to control games, especially late when teams will sell out to take the run game away. It is a much more tangible issue than the simplistic “they can’t finish” narrative.
On Sunday, the time of possession was slanted in the Vikings’ favor throughout. Part of that was the game Flores wanted to play.
Explosive plays were easy to come by as gaps were left by the defense, but Green Bay could not dictate the game or get into a rhythm as the run game struggled and pass plays were often blown up before they could begin. As Matt LaFleur said on Monday, it was “feast or famine."
LaFleur explained: “What’s disappointing is we had a few protection busts that absolutely should not and cannot happen.
“We knew that was the challenge going in, they were gonna give you some tough looks and that’s the toughest test you’re gonna face (in) Week 1 is to play that defense in that environment."
He continued: “There were some things we could do schematically that we’ve gotta do a better job with and then there’s some things where we have to go out and execute, but we have to have everybody on the same page if you wanna give yourselves a chance."
More than just the performance of the line itself, the lineup selection was questioned by many before the game and certainly after.
Aaron Banks was the only preferred starter unable to suit up, but based on how he played a year ago, it was fair to think it would not make much of a difference. However, very few people thought the replacement would be Donovan Jennings instead of Jager Burton or Anthony Belton.
In fairness to Jennings, he was not the problem on Sunday. It was still a strange decision by the coaching staff though, given he had not played with the first-team offense at all in the preseason.
This coaching staff has made some curious calls on the offensive line in the past, and this was another. It seemed like a classic case of coaches preferring experience in the system, even if it is just in practice, over the higher upside player who they do not trust to do their assignment consistently.
But as LaFleur noted, the line they picked because of “time on task” or “playstyle” still had plenty of mental errors anyway. When asked if they would have to consider putting different players in the lineup this week, he said: “potentially."
Fans may not believe it, but Week 1's performance is likely not a predictor of what is to come. While the offensive line is not likely to be great, it will probably not be a true problem each week, as the game plan and Love will be able to mitigate it and the opponent will not be Brian Flores.
The question is whether they can get it to a good enough spot to hold up against more top defenses in the playoffs.
To do so, they will be reliant on Banks and Zach Bako-Bewele getting back to their highest level of performance as they ramp up from injury recovery, inexperienced players like Monk and Jordan Morgan improving, and the group gelling together after a disrupted training camp.
Ultimately, while Week 1 did not make anyone feel any more comfortable with a potentially problematic O-line, all is not lost because of a season-opening game, and the offense is still going to put up a lot of points this season, as they did last year in an arguably worse situation.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers offensive line fears come to life in Week 1 loss to Vikings
