The Green Bay Packers are 5-3 after a 27-19 win over the Carolina Panthers. While any win in the NFL is worth celebrating, the Packers' continued style of play warrants more questions than answers as the season continues.
For most of the Packers' victory over the Panthers on Thursday Night Football, the team looked on course for a blowout win. They led 27-10 in the third quarter and had the ball up 27-13 to begin the fourth quarter.
Instead, the usual happened. What once was a blowout somehow became a sudden close game. A Jordan Love interception gave the Panthers the ball back, and in no time, a 27-10 lead had been cut all the way down to 27-19.
On top of that, the Packers' offense completely stalled out and actually gave the Panthers the ball back with about four minutes left in the game and in position to tie it with a score and a two-point conversion.
Ultimately, the Packers' defense held steady and stopped the Panthers on back-to-back drives to seal the win. However, the most alarming thing wasn't the fact that it got surprisingly close when it shouldn't have. Instead, it was just how normal it felt for everyone watching that the game got into such a state.
Packers must begin finishing games early when they have the chance
We've talked before about how the Packers' worst enemy in games is often themselves. Usually, we're talking about this in the context of the team dropping catches, making mental mistakes, and drawing too many penalties.
However, one of the team's most glaring issues is its inability to "complete" a game, especially when it has a big lead. Looking back at the season, you don't have to look far to see this issue occur often.
In the Packers' 23-13 win over the Dallas Cowboys two weeks ago, Green Bay led 20-7 entering the fourth, but ended up scoring just three points on two of its three final drives. Dallas would not capitalize on its chances to score, but had many drives in which it could have. Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4, the Packers led 17-7 entering the fourth.
On a potential game-sealing drive, however, they fumbled on the Bucs' 3-yard line, and then threw an interception to give Tampa Bay a chance to make a comeback. This pattern even pops up in losses, as last week against the Lions showed. Green Bay looked like the better team for much of that game, but simply couldn't finish in the red zone, and combined with Trey Smack's two missed kicks, allowed Detroit to hang around long enough to win.
Even the Packers' Week 1 meltdown versus the Minnesota Vikings included symptoms of this. While the offensive line is largely to blame for how that game ended, many forget the Packers at one point led 22-10, and 22-17 entering the fourth quarter. However, all four of the team's fourth-down drives ended in a turnover or turnover on downs, and they couldn't finish what looked to be an otherwise "easy" win.
It's unclear exactly what the issue is. The Packers are clearly capable of closing out games, as one only needs to look at the Week 5 victory over the Chicago Bears. In the 31-7 victory, they never took their foot off the gas, even with two offensive drives that ended in missed field goals. While that game featured some extra fire due to the team's rivalry with Chicago, it shouldn't take that for the team to step up and feel the need to "finish" games.
The Packers have all the skills and talent necessary to compete with any team in the league. Their biggest issue, though, is how often they allow games to stay close. In the modern NFL, where leads of almost any kind are never safe, the Packers often shrink when they need a big drive, especially in the fourth quarter.
As the schedule only gets harder, the team must find a way to overcome this and finally shed the identity they've come to be known for over the years.
Add us as a preferred source on Google