Green Bay’s offense, defense struggling in red zone

The Green Bay Packers are riding a four-game winning streak, sit atop the NFC North standings and appear to be in the hunt for one of the top seeds in the conference again. But there’s a common theme through the first five games that’s cause for concern — red zone efficiency on both sides of the ball.

Through five games, the Packers’ offense has made it to the red zone 20 times, a top-five mark in the NFL. Once Green Bay has reached the opponent’s 20-yard line, things have slowed down, only scoring touchdown on 11 of those possessions.

The 55% touchdown rate is one of the worst in the league.

Like he does for most problems or issues on the team or inside the organization, coach Matt LaFleur took responsibility.

“Speaking from an offensive standpoint, I’ve got to do a much better job of putting our guys in a better position,” said LaFleur. “I didn’t like a couple of the sequences, just some of the play calls for the situations (against the Bengals).”

The 55% mark is a drastic dropoff from last year’s league-leading mark of 80%, when the team scored touchdowns on 48 of its 60 red zone trips. That mark helped the Packers score the most points in the league.

The team’s inability to finish off drives have kept the Packers from putting opponents away, and it has forced the defense to make some timely stops.

“It starts with me and then, you know, when the plays are there, then we have to execute a little bit better,” said LaFleur.

What makes the offenses’ red zone inefficiency a bit more puzzling is that many of the players who were part of last year’s offense are still on the roster this year. The only noticeable changes are on the offensive line, and the makeshift line hasn’t had any troubles moving the ball into the red zone.

LaFleur did note that when you are one of the best units in the league, that other teams study their tendencies and figure out what made them so successful. He added his next task is to have counters to what’s slowed the team down so far. He also believes the team had plays that would have gotten the job done but just didn’t “dial them up.”

The Packers’ offense will look to improve in the red zone against one of the NFL’s best red zone defense so far this season in the Chicago Bears. Sixteen times opposing offenses have reached the red zone against Chicago, and the Bears have only allowed six touchdowns.

For as strong as the Packers’ defense has looked since week one, its red zone defense has been the farthest thing from strong. In fact, Green Bay’s defense hasn’t stopped an opponent once after they’ve reached the red zone, with scores on all 13 attempts.

“Defensively, it really comes down to making sure that everybody is doing their job,” said LaFleur. “I’ve got no issue with what we called down there, but we didn’t execute.

“You can’t have nine guys doing their job — if two guys aren’t doing their job then it’s going to be tough to stop anybody. So we need all 11 on the same page and make sure that communication is on point, and then we got to go out there and execute.”

A year ago, it was a bend but don’t break approach most weeks for the Packers’ defense. Opponents made it to the red zone 52 times, but only scored touchdowns on 30 of those trips.

The 57.7% mark was a top-10 mark in the league.

The Packers’ defense has made up for some red zone troubles by forcing eight turnovers already, a top-10 ranking so far.

The defenses’ red zone woes are a bit more understandable given all the injuries and new faces on that side of the ball. Without the likes of cornerback Jaire Alexander and pass-rushing linebacker Za’Darius Smith, it might take that side of the ball a bit longer to turn in results like the defense had a year ago.

The defense will next take on a Bears’ offense that has been decent in the red zone so far this season. Chicago has scored touchdowns on eight of its 13 trips inside the 20.

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