3 takeaways from Packers’ win over Panthers in Week 15

3. It was time for the defense to win a game

This season has been all about the offense for the Packers. It was about time that changed and the defense stepped up to win this team a game.

Despite the offense’s fast start, they only finished with 24 points and gave the defense little help in the second half. They only ran 10 offensive plays in the third quarter.

But Mike Pettine’s defense stepped up. The only touchdown allowed came on a Teddy Bridgewater run. Outside of that, it was all field goals.

Krys Barnes made arguably the play of the game, punching the ball out of Bridgewater’s hands on the Packers’ one-yard line, which Kevin King scooped up and returned 48 yards, setting up the Packers’ third touchdown. It was a huge swing of momentum in the game.

The pass rush got home with three sacks and six quarterback hits, while there were some impressive performances in the secondary, most notably from Adrian Amos (seven tackles, three pass defenses, one sack) and Darnell Savage (six tackles, one tackle for loss, one pass defense).

With an eight-point lead late on, the Packers needed the defense to come up with one more stop to close out the game. And they did.

Green Bay’s offense has carried this team a lot this year. Not on Saturday night. It was the defense’s time to shine.