While the offensive numbers don’t jump off of the page, Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings is the Packers most complete win of the season.
Over recent memory when talking about the Green Bay Packers, the analysis after games has always been either the offense showed up to play, but the defense had a bad game or vice versa, the defense showed up to play, while the offense struggled, and if both sides of the ball showed up to play, mistakes on the special teams unit costed the team a win.
Even though quarterback Jordan Love was not asked to win the game passing the ball, this was as close to all three phases of the team coming together to all play as one whole unit this season.
“I would say all three phases contributed to the win. I thought it was a dominant defensive performance, which allowed us to play the way we played,” said Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. “You can’t discount just how critical special teams played a role in this.”
That started with the offense. Even with an under .500 record, when it comes to rushing the passer, no defense may be scarier than the Minnesota Vikings. With blitzers and pass rushers coming from seemingly everywhere, it is very easy to get overwhelmed and lose the game. For the Packers in this game though, the team ran right at the rush and neutralized it with a strong running performance.
On defense, the key was to make J.J. McCarthy uncomfortable, which in turn leads to turnovers and poor offensive play from Minnesota. With Micah Parsons as a key cog in that game plan, the Packers were able to get to McCarthy five times and forced those turnovers to put the offense in a strong spot.
Finally, while nothing really jumped off the page on special teams, other than recovering a Vikings muffed punt. The Packers avoided disaster by converting what it needed to when it needed to.
Brandon McManus was perfect on the day, making three field goal attempts and two extra-point attempts. In the punting game, Daniel Whelan continued to show that he is one of the better punters in the league, punting four times for 190 yards and pinning the Vikings inside the 20-yard line three times.
When all three phases come together, like against the Vikings, then the hype that has been surrounding the Packers for the past few seasons starts to become justified. When this team plays a complete game, it looks like one of the teams on a short list that can win the Super Bowl.
“When everybody is firing on all cylinders, you are able to get a turnover on special teams, offense goes down on their first drive and scores a touchdown, it gives us confidence on the defensive side of the ball,” said Packers safety Evan Williams. “We understand that wherever we are at, if we can get a stop, that is going to turn into points, especially if they are backed up. I would say we played some pretty good complimentary football, and the offense makes it easy when they are scoring like that.”
Given that the Packers are in the midst of its toughest stretches of the season with the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears on the schedule and that there was some frustration among the fan base over recent weeks, seeing a game where all three phases of the team played together revitalizes the energy and thought that this Packers team is one of the better teams in the NFL this season.
Playing good complimentary football also helps to alleviate catastrophic consequences if the offense turns the ball over, a field goal is missed or if the defense gives up a long touchdown, because as Williams said, at least from a defensive perspective, the confidence is there from the other phases when one phase is playing well.
Now sitting at 2-0 in the division, that idea of all three phases coming together to play winning football should give the Packers confidence heading into its next two games with both being divisional, because in these intense NFC North rivalry games, teams are going to have to play near perfect at every level.
