{"id":34710,"date":"2025-10-06T13:57:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T13:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710"},"modified":"2025-10-06T13:57:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T13:57:18","slug":"breaking-news-three-reasons-to-believe-in-packers-despite-stumbling-into-bye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS : Three Reasons to Believe in Packers Despite Stumbling Into Bye"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

GREEN BAY, Wis. \u2013 The Green Bay Packers are 2-1-1 at the bye following the most unorthodox season-opening stretch of games imaginable.<\/p>\n

Nobody could have possibly predicted the Packers wouldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

While you never get a chance to make a first impression, the last impression is the impression that lasts. The Packers won\u2019t qualify for the playoffs unless they make across-the-board improvement after this week\u2019s bye.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

1. Jordan Love-Led Passing Game<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

With Week 5 almost complete, 32 quarterbacks have thrown at least 95 passes. Love ranks 10th in completion rate at 69.4 percent. He\u2019s still pushing the ball down the field, ranking 11th in average air yards per attempt and fourth in yards per attempt. But Love hasn\u2019t missed many easy throws.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s enormously important. In 16 career starts with a completion percentage of better than two-thirds, the Packers are 12-3-1. Even better, he\u2019s 11-0-1 with a two-thirds completion percentage and a yards per attempt of at least 7.4.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s touchdown-to-interception ratio was 2.59. This year, his 8.00 is the sixth-best.<\/p>\n

Love has done it his way. He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

2. Defense Really Is Legit<\/h2>\n

Green Bay\u2019s defense looked like the Steel Curtain \u2013 the Cheese Curtain, if you will \u2013 through the first three games. At Dallas, of course, the defense melted down.<\/p>\n

What happened?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, where do we start?\u201d coach Matt LaFleur said last week.<\/p>\n

He thought his decision to try to score at the end of the first half, which ended in Jordan Love\u2019s fumble turning into a Cowboys touchdown, set off a \u201csnowball effect.\u201d There were \u201cbreakdowns in coverage\u201d and too many missed tackles, which turned second-and-long into third-and-short or third downs into first downs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll in all, it got real sloppy in the second half,\u201d LaFleur said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everything is about how you react to the play,\u201d defensive end Micah Parsons said. \u201cI 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, \u2018This is where I\u2019m coming from, this is where you\u2019re coming from, and how do we fix it?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we got to be adults here. We got to be professionals. There\u2019s always going to be bad times. We\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Packers have too many quality veterans for that standard to not be upheld.<\/p>\n

One of the great mysteries of this season is how the Packers, who ranked fourth with 31 takeaways in Jeff Hafley\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

That hasn\u2019t happened. But it will.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to come,\u201d Hafley said before the Dallas game. \u201cIt\u2019s like you just keep sharpening and sharpening and sharpening and swinging at that tree, and eventually it\u2019s going to fall down and eventually we\u2019re going to get the takeaways. I want to get more takeaways. We want to get more takeaways. I don\u2019t think anybody\u2019s sitting here happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019t forced any this year.<\/p>\n

However, the players are doing the right things. \u201cWe\u2019re swinging at the ball more than we did last year,\u201d Hafley said, in order to force fumbles. And the pass rush inevitably will produce interceptions.<\/p>\n

As LaFleur said, turnovers \u201ccome in bunches.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just hasn\u2019t rolled our way up to this point,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cNow, we\u2019re going to continue to emphasize it and continue to work on it. I do think it\u2019s a matter of time before we get a couple to go our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GREEN BAY, Wis. \u2013 The Green Bay Packers are 2-1-1 at the bye following the most unorthodox season-opening stretch of games imaginable. Nobody could have possibl<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-bay-packers"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING NEWS : Three Reasons to Believe in Packers Despite Stumbling Into Bye - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING NEWS : Three Reasons to Believe in Packers Despite Stumbling Into Bye - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GREEN BAY, Wis. \u2013 The Green Bay Packers are 2-1-1 at the bye following the most unorthodox season-opening stretch of games imaginable. Nobody could have possibl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-06T13:57:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-bay-bau-9.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710\",\"name\":\"BREAKING NEWS : Three Reasons to Believe in Packers Despite Stumbling Into Bye - Breaking News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-bay-bau-9.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-06T13:57:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-06T13:57:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-bay-bau-9.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-bay-bau-9.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BREAKING NEWS : Three Reasons to Believe in Packers Despite Stumbling Into Bye\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking News\",\"description\":\"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\",\"name\":\"MrKen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrKen\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BREAKING NEWS : Three Reasons to Believe in Packers Despite Stumbling Into Bye - Breaking News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BREAKING NEWS : Three Reasons to Believe in Packers Despite Stumbling Into Bye - Breaking News","og_description":"GREEN BAY, Wis. \u2013 The Green Bay Packers are 2-1-1 at the bye following the most unorthodox season-opening stretch of games imaginable. Nobody could have possibl","og_url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710","og_site_name":"Breaking News","article_published_time":"2025-10-06T13:57:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-bay-bau-9.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"MrKen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrKen","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710","name":"BREAKING NEWS : Three Reasons to Believe in Packers Despite Stumbling Into Bye - Breaking News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-bay-bau-9.png","datePublished":"2025-10-06T13:57:18+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-06T13:57:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-bay-bau-9.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-bay-bau-9.png","width":1080,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=34710#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BREAKING NEWS : Three Reasons to Believe in Packers Despite Stumbling Into Bye"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/","name":"Breaking News","description":"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15","name":"MrKen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrKen"},"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34712,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34710\/revisions\/34712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}