Teams are just about one quarter of the way through the NFL season, and the Green Bay Packers are going into their bye week.
Their season started with a bang. A big trade Aug. 28 that netted Micah Parsons in exchange for two first round draft picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark was a big boost to the team’s morale — and, more importantly, their defense — before the start of the regular season.
The defense has been as advertised, as Parsons has worked his way into the fold.
The offense has some issues to work through, but they should have some reinforcements on their way.
Ultimately, their record is 2-1-1 through four games. They are second in the division.
Here are six of our thoughts as the team gets a week off.
1. How welcome is this rest after just four games?
Incredibly welcome. When the schedule came out, there were some collective groans about the bye week being so early in the season.
There are still some challenges that come with that, but the Packers are a beat-up bunch, particularly on the offensive line.
The inactive list that came out 90 minutes before the team kicked off their Week 4 contest against the Dallas Cowboys had three of their top seven offensive linemen on it.
Zach Tom in particular has been in and out of the lineup to start the year with an oblique injury that knocked him out after just one snap against Cleveland in Week 3.
Just as importantly, the Packers could be getting some reinforcements back at practice when they return from the bye.
Wide receiver Christian Watson will start practicing when the team gets back. Running back Marshawn Lloyd could give the team’s run game a boost out of the bye as well.
Either way, this team should come out of the bye healthier than when they entered it.
2. How good is the receiving corps with Watson and Jayden Reed both out now?
The receiving corps is still in good shape with both of those players still sidelined.
Reed is going to be back sometime in late November or early December, and he should be fully healthy.
He’s not a player the Packers were going to have this season with Reed playing through a Jones fracture that was surgically repaired when he went in for surgery on his collarbone.
Watson should start practicing when the team returns from the bye week and could make his season debut before Halloween.
Romeo Doubs has been solid if unspectacular. Dontayvion Wicks has been much better this season.
Matthew Golden has shown flashes, even if they have not shown up in the box score yet.
Wide receiver is the least of Green Bay’s worries on offense.
3. What’s next for the O-line?
For now, that group is in shambles. Through three games, they had played nine different offensive line combinations.
They went into the Dallas game with three of their top seven offensive linemen on the sideline with injuries.
Depth on the offensive line is always going to be tested. That position group rarely has the same five starters throughout the season.
Through four games, the Packers have not had the same starting five in back-to-back games.
The result has been an obvious lack of continuity, leading to some miscommunications while trying to protect Jordan Love.
Coming out of the bye week, the hope is that they’ll have some of their guys back and be able to get some semblance of stability within that group
4. When do the Packers need to make a special teams coaching change?
Weeks 2 and 3 in particular were rough showings for Rich Bisaccia’s group.
The fourth game of the year wasn’t much better as Brandon McManus had a PAT blocked and returned for a two-point conversion, which helped the Cowboys take a lead into halftime.
The Packers have been putting a noticeable emphasis on the third phase of the game since the disastrous 2021 group played a large role in ending their season.
That included making Bisaccia the highest-paid special teams coordinator in football. He was also promoted to assistant head coach before the 2024 season as well.
Bisaccia is widely respected both by the coaching staff and by the players that he coaches.
Keisean Nixon, in particular, has been very outspoken about how Bisaccia has influenced his career.
That being said, at some point the results have to meet the investment made.
They’ve continued to change the players, but the unit still has not been up to par.
If that does not happen before the end of the season, there are plenty of fair questions that can be asked.
5. How do you stop the penalties?
This is a tough one, because of the way the NFL works in regard to how much you’re allowed to practice in pads.
This is not the old days when discipline was paramount, and coaches were allowed to make players run until they threw up, or anything like that.
It’s a different world.
The preventable mistakes are the ones that are happening before the snap.
The false starts and illegal shifts have been tough, specifically during the team’s 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
The easy answer is that some of the young players on the roster need to grow up quickly.
In addition, the veterans on the offensive line have to play better as well.
In general, some stability, specifically on the offensive line, will allow Green Bay to settle in and cut down some of their early season penalty issues.
6. Where are the takeaways this season?
The defense is elite, first and foremost. That’s a question that has been emphatically answered through the first four games of the season. That’s true even despite a performance that was not fully up to the standard that they set in the first three games of the year.
Dak Prescott’s touchdown run near the end of the first half was the first touchdown the defense had allowed in the first three quarters all season.
They were dominant in wins over Detroit and Washington at Lambeau Field to open the season.
Micah Parsons is a legitimate star, and he makes everyone else around him better. That trade has been worth its weight in gold.
When last offseason began, Brian Gutekunst said his team had to be able to pressure the quarterback with just four players.
Because of Parsons and the strong start to the season from Rashan Gary, they’ve been able to do that.
The special teams remains a roller coaster. They don’t have a punt returner and don’t seem particularly interested in going outside of the organization to find one at this stage of the season.
The punt game has been good with Daniel Whelan’s strong start to the season.
The kicking game has been a bit of a disappointment. Brandon McManus was nearly perfect in training camp but missed a kick in Week 2 against Washington and had a potential game-winning kick blocked by the Cleveland Browns in the team’s first loss of the year.
They had an extra point blocked against Dallas as well, which gifted the Cowboys two points.
Offensively, it’s still a work in progress. The run game has really struggled through the first quarter of the year.
There could be a variety of reasons for that, but the Packers need to rectify that situation as one-dimensional teams are often bounced in the playoffs.
As it usually does, however, the big question will need to be answered by the team’s quarterback: Is Love good enough to win a championship?
His highs are as high as anyone in football. His lows? Those can also be pretty disastrous.
Love will have a chance to win some big games and silence those critics as the season breaks into the second half of the year.
