Green Bay Packers Head Into The Bye Week With Mountain Of Issues

The Green Bay Packers had 11 days to prepare for their Monday night matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders. It looked like a carbon copy of the game on Thursday night. The offense started out slow and was inconsistent from there. The defense played well but couldn’t make big plays in big moments. Week 6 is a bye week for the Green Bay Packers and they head into it with a mountain of issues.

Packers HC Matt LaFleur – Mark Hoffman/USA TODAY Sports

Green Bay Packers Lose Heading Into The Bye Week

All week, the talk was that this would be the game to break the Packers out of their funk. The Raiders were reeling and Green Bay had shown flashes of brilliance. The first half was not great on offense. Green Bay could only muster up three points and looked very disjointed on offense. Not great when the coaching staff had a week and a half to plan a game script.

Still, the defense kept it close and the team only went into the half down seven. From there, the offense picked up slightly with a couple of splash plays but turnovers and inconsistency bogged down any real progress. The night was capped with an endzone interception. Green Bay heads into the bye week with a lot of questions.

Packers RB AJ Dillon (28) – Tork Mason/USA Today NETWORK

Questions On Offense

There are the obvious Jordan Love questions. He is still having accuracy issues at times and his decision-making is leading to some bad turnovers. However, I think there are so many more questions that are just as important. Who is the number one receiver on this team? Christian Watson played well overall but in big moments, is getting out-muscled by smaller corners. On the last play, if Watson fights a little bit more for the ball, the worst-case scenario is the ball is incomplete.

The best case is a penalty or a touchdown. Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks, and Jayden Reed have all looked like number-one receivers at times this season and then disappeared for long stretches. The offensive line still doesn’t look quite right either. Losing David Bakhtiari was huge but losing one guy shouldn’t cause a line to collapse.

Packers LB Quay Walker (7) – Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Questions On Defense

There are the normal questions but for me, there is one big one for the defensive side of the ball. How long are key starters going to be out with injuries? The Packers missed Quay Walker tonight. He has been a tackling machine and might have made a difference in the outcome of the game. De’Vondre Campbell has been out for the last two weeks. Eric Stokes hasn’t played since last year and Darnell Savage also went down in this game. While the scheme criticisms are warranted, it is hard to win games when you are playing mostly backups. Overall, I think this unit has the least questions.

Packers HC Matt LaFleur – Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

Questions On Playcalling

I have been a staunch defender of Matt LaFleur (and I still am) but the last three weeks have been tough on the playcalling. Tonight especially had some head-scratching decisions. The first half is when the coaching staff is supposed to show how well they have prepared for this game. The offense looks wildly unprepared going into these games.

The play calls are a little too cute at times. Green Bay tries to execute these creative plays instead of simply running easier reads for their first-year starter. In the game against the Saints, the team called a halfback pass back to Jordan Love who then was going to get it to a receiver. The play was a total mess but I can’t help but wonder whether a simpler play would have been better.

Despite what social media may tell you, the sky is not falling for the Green Bay Packers. Don’t get me wrong this loss isn’t good but the Packers have a favorable schedule the rest of the way. At this point, the goal for the season is to get some of these questions answered. If not, the Green Bay Packers are going to face some incredibly tough decisions in the offseason.