State of the Green Bay Packers Address

From the moment the regular season's schedule was released, one of the number of games I had circled on my mental calendar was the first outing between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions. November 3. Late window. Game of the week territory. I entered this season figuring that the NFC North would be between the Packers and Lions. Literally no one had the Minnesota Vikings starting 5-0. Though many figured that they'd lose back-to-back and fall to third place because, well, that's what the Vikings do.

Entering Week 9, the Lions and Packers were one-two in the division, and hadn't played each other. This was the first Lions/Packers game in a long time where the two teams were basically playing for first place. In fact, it's been seven years since these two teams clashed in such a highly important environment: Week 17, 2016 season, New Year's Day 2017. That game decided the NFC North title and took place in Detroit's Ford Field.

The glaring question involved Jordan Love. Would he start or not? He had a groin injury that was plaguing him, but he decided to get out there and lead the way. Packers won the toss, but we kept it; we've been doing that quite a bit lately. First possession went deep, but resulted in a field goal. Lions mainly used David Montgomery to get deep into goal-to-go range at the end of the first. We were keeping them at bay, but I figured that this would be four down territory because, well, it's Dan Campbell. Sure enough, I was right. 4th and Goal play became closer because of encroachment, and then Jared Goff got the pass off to Amon-Ra St. Brown. Lions lead 7-3.

Packers' second possession saw us get to field goal range but couldn't get any closer, and then Brandon McManus missed the field goal. Oh boy. Lions did struggle a bit, as the Packers defense tightened, and only held them to a field goal with 58 seconds left. It looked like we'd have time to at least get another field goal, or tie the game, but...Love, in a desperate attempt to avoid getting sacked, tossed a terrible interception that was returned all the way. Lions led 17-3, and that was the score at halftime.

Even worse, the Lions kicked off the second half with the ball, which is why many thought it was odd that Packers often took the ball on the opening game's coin toss; usually when a team wins the game's opening toss, they defer. The Lions kept their foot on the gas. It was 4th and 1 quite deep, but Jahmyr Gibbs got that and the rest of it. 24-3. It was pretty much over but the shouting, especially since all we could muster was another field goal. We would not get a touchdown until very late in the fourth quarter. We even got a two-pointer, but the onside kick went to Detroit and they finished it off.

So for the third straight year, the Packers lost at home to the Lions. So far, Jordan Love's divisional track record has not been consistent. In two seasons as a starter, Love is 1-4 at home against divisional opponents. Yet the ironic thing: the one home win was in the final week of last year against the Bears, the game we needed to win to get into the playoffs. Love is 3-0 against divisional opponents on the road. It's quite odd. And again, Love is being picked on mercilessly by so-called Packers "fans." Never mind the fact that he's playing through injury, in the eyes of those "fans," he's a plague. Oh brother, not this bullshit again.

Which brings me to the state of the team right now. The loss sucks, but our record doesn't. The Packers are 6-3 heading into our bye week next week. Sadly, we're in third place because the Indianapolis Colts shit the bed in Minnesota on Sunday Night Football. We are one down against Detroit and Minnesota. We were in that same boat last year with a much worse record after nine games. What happened after that? From a 3-6 start to nearly playing for the conference.

The 2024 Green Bay Packers are 6-3. Last year, we didn't get win #6 until the first Sunday in December. And we still made the playoffs last year! You're going to tell me this team can't go anywhere? Come on!

So as I said before, the bye is next week. We have eight games left. Our first four of our final eight: @ CHI, vs SF, vs MIA (Thanksgiving), and @ DET (TNF). We can do this, folks. We have the extra week to fix things, and that'll get Love revved up and ready to go on November 17 in the Windy City. Again, we can do this. We can chill out and breathe next week, but on the 17th, well, you know the drill.