GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are 2-1-1 at the bye following the most unorthodox season-opening stretch of games imaginable.

Nobody could have possibly predicted the Packers wouldn’t just beat the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders but mostly dominate those big-time matchups. Similarly, after the hot start, a 17-0 finish seemed more likely than what happened next. Lose to the Browns? Not beat the Cowboys despite scoring 37 points in regulation? Unthinkable.

While you never get a chance to make a first impression, the last impression is the impression that lasts. The Packers won’t qualify for the playoffs unless they make across-the-board improvement after this week’s bye.

Nonetheless, the Packers have played a lot of high-level football to start the season with plenty of room for growth. Here are three reasons to believe in the 13-time world champions being legitimate contenders to be playing deep into January and beyond.

1. Jordan Love-Led Passing Game

The biggest knock on Jordan Love through his first two seasons as the starting quarterback was his chronic inaccuracy. In 2023 and 2024, 32 quarterbacks threw at least 500 passes. From that group, Love ranked 24th in completion rate at 63.7 percent. To be sure, some of that was due to his penchant for throwing the ball downfield, but Love was too inaccurate to consistently lead the offense up and down the field.

With Week 5 almost complete, 32 quarterbacks have thrown at least 95 passes. Love ranks 10th in completion rate at 69.4 percent. He’s still pushing the ball down the field, ranking 11th in average air yards per attempt and fourth in yards per attempt. But Love hasn’t missed many easy throws.

That’s enormously important. In 16 career starts with a completion percentage of better than two-thirds, the Packers are 12-3-1. Even better, he’s 11-0-1 with a two-thirds completion percentage and a yards per attempt of at least 7.4.

Love has turned over the ball only twice, and they were both critical blunders, with the interception at Cleveland allowing the Browns to tie and ultimately win, and the fumble at Dallas allowing the Cowboys to lead at halftime. Still, his eight touchdowns and one interception is winning football. The past two seasons, Love’s touchdown-to-interception ratio was 2.59. This year, his 8.00 is the sixth-best.

Love has done it his way. He’s attacked downfield and spread the wealth. While he is 22nd in completions, his leading receiver, tight end Tucker Kraft is tied for 72nd with 16 catches.

The passing attack should get better with the potential debut of Christian Watson to the lineup this month and the potential return of Jayden Reed next month. Combined with the potential of finally playing behind his No. 1 line, this offense really could be ready to explode.

2. Defense Really Is Legit

Green Bay’s defense looked like the Steel Curtain – the Cheese Curtain, if you will – through the first three games. At Dallas, of course, the defense melted down.

What happened?

“Well, where do we start?” coach Matt LaFleur said last week.

He thought his decision to try to score at the end of the first half, which ended in Jordan Love’s fumble turning into a Cowboys touchdown, set off a “snowball effect.” There were “breakdowns in coverage” and too many missed tackles, which turned second-and-long into third-and-short or third downs into first downs.

“All in all, it got real sloppy in the second half,” LaFleur said.

Great defenses have bad games. On their way to winning the Super Bowl last year, the Eagles had games of 33 and 36 points allowed. The Rams won the Super Bowl in 2021, but not before games of 36 and 37 points allowed. Before winning the Super Bowl in 2020, the Buccaneers allowed games of 38 and 34 points.

Even after the debacle in Dallas, Green Bay ranks fourth in total defense, second in yards allowed per play, fifth in yards allowed per rush, second in yards allowed per pass and fourth on third down. Those are all hallmarks of a really good defense.

Yes, the Dallas game was a disaster, but the defense played a critical role in the Week 1 win over the Lions and the Week 2 win over the Commanders. Detroit is No. 1 in scoring and Washington is No. 8, even with Jayden Daniels missing time.

“I think everything is about how you react to the play,” defensive end Micah Parsons said. “I think everything is about how you overcome the challenges and adversity. Two things can happen. We can go in that locker room or we can go home, put our heads down and we just blame each other and point the finger. Or we can be men and we can say, ‘This is where I’m coming from, this is where you’re coming from, and how do we fix it?

“I think we got to be adults here. We got to be professionals. There’s always going to be bad times. We’re in a rough patch right here, and we owe an obligation to ourselves if we want to be that team to hold that standard up to get there.”

The Packers have too many quality veterans for that standard to not be upheld.

One of the great mysteries of this season is how the Packers, who ranked fourth with 31 takeaways in Jeff Hafley’s debut as defensive coordinator last season, can be tied for 30th with two takeaways though Week 5. The Packers forced turnovers by the bushel last season despite an inconsistent pass rush. Fueled by the addition of Micah Parsons, the pass rush is strong. Presumably, pressure should translate into errant throws and forced fumbles.

That hasn’t happened. But it will.

“They’re going to come,” Hafley said before the Dallas game. “It’s like you just keep sharpening and sharpening and sharpening and swinging at that tree, and eventually it’s going to fall down and eventually we’re going to get the takeaways. I want to get more takeaways. We want to get more takeaways. I don’t think anybody’s sitting here happy with that.”

Safety Xavier McKinney had eight interceptions last season. He has one this year on what was in essence a punt at the end of the first half at Cleveland. Last year, the defense forced 15 fumbles; it hasn’t forced any this year.

However, the players are doing the right things. “We’re swinging at the ball more than we did last year,” Hafley said, in order to force fumbles. And the pass rush inevitably will produce interceptions.

As LaFleur said, turnovers “come in bunches.” Once they do, the wins will come in bunches, as well. And if they come at the right time of the season, they could propel the Packers all the way to the Super Bowl.

“It just hasn’t rolled our way up to this point,” LaFleur said. “Now, we’re going to continue to emphasize it and continue to work on it. I do think it’s a matter of time before we get a couple to go our way.”