It was a different story the last time Lambeau's lights switched on. Matt LaFleur's Packers made a statement, sending the Commanders packing just four days after dismantling the Lions. Finally, the youngest team in football had grown up and emerged as serious Super Bowl contenders.
Sixty days later, another NFC East giant arrives for a heavyweight primetime bout at 1265 Lombardi Ave. The reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles are coming to town.
The feeling in Green Bay is different. Chillier temperatures are forecast, even a chance of snow. The Packers, even with an NFC North-leading five wins under their belt, have become the league's most confusing team. Irresistible in spells, but lacking in championship consistency.
Real football begins now. The "easy" part of the schedule is over. The Eagles are next, then the Giants, before a barrage of NFC North blockbusters. Green Bay meets all three division rivals, including Chicago and Minnesota twice, during the final seven weeks of the season.
LaFleur faces arguably the greatest challenge of his head-coaching career.
Matt LaFleur has to overcome poor execution and reimagine his offense
Beyond the brutal schedule, LaFleur's offense isn't working consistently. He wants to run the ball to set up the pass, but his offensive line has a woeful run-blocking record. He wants to attack defenses vertically with the speed of Matthew Golden and Christian Watson, but opponents are dropping deep and eliminating the explosive play.
The Panthers played like they had stolen LaFleur's game plan. They bottled up the run game, read every screen, and swarmed to the ball when the Packers painfully threw behind the sticks for the millionth time.
Carolina dared them to run the ball and to dink-and-dunk, confident the Packers would screw it up. A penalty here, a poor block there.
The Panthers called correctly. They would bend, with the Packers reaching the red zone five times on seven possessions, but they didn't break, knowing Green Bay would eventually self-destruct.
LaFleur had no answer, and the Packers delivered just 13 points.
It's easy to blame the play-calling. And that's fair, to a point. But LaFleur isn't Jordan Morgan getting blown up at the line of scrimmage, or Savion Williams running into his own blocker and then fumbling, or Jordan Love getting impatient and launching deep into triple coverage for a pick.
That's not LaFleur's fault, but it's now about how he adapts.
Tucker Kraft's injury might force Packers into a significant change
Losing Tucker Kraft is crushing. He is one of the few truly irreplaceable weapons in this offense, with his ability to barrel through defenders and dominate after the catch. He was the antidote to soft coverages.
Without him, LaFleur must rewrite the script. Kraft is out, and Luke Musgrave takes the reins. He doesn't offer much in terms of blocking or yards-after-catch ability, but he is an outstanding athlete with the speed to attack the seam.
Perhaps LaFleur opts to play a sixth offensive lineman to replace Kraft's blocking prowess, gets into heavy formations, and tries to attack soft coverages with a heavy dose of the run. Maybe he goes the opposite way, spreads teams out, gets out of their snail-pace tempo, and tries to crank up the speed of the snap. Or maybe we'll see the quick-strike passing game to replace the run, as we saw in Pittsburgh.
Matt LaFleur enters the most important nine games of his Packers career
It's a little premature to talk about hot seats, but there's undeniable pressure. New Packers president Ed Policy decided not to extend LaFleur or general manager Brian Gutekunst in the summer, even saying he's not afraid of "changing the structure" if necessary.
We're a long way from that conversation. After all, LaFleur has a phenomenal win-loss record and, until proven otherwise, deserves that trust. But with the Packers shouldering the weight of Super Bowl expectations, he must find a way to steer this team through adversity.
Fifty-five days separate Monday Night Football and the end of the regular season. The Packers face a brutal schedule, and they must now overcome adversity. Kraft's out, and the offense has become stale and predictable.
We're going to learn a lot about LaFleur. How does he adapt? Can he unlock Version 2.0 of this offense and take them on the Super Bowl path?
His track record suggests the answer is an emphatic yes.
LaFleur's Packers have always been resilient. He didn't lose back-to-back games at any point during his first three seasons as head coach. They always bounced back. Then, in 2022, the wheels fell off, and the team started 3-6. Yet LaFleur's crew showed the grit and fight to win six of their next eight, narrowly missing the playoffs.
In 2023, Love's first year as QB1, the Packers had to navigate through choppy waters after a painful 2-5 start. They became sellers at the trade deadline, shipping Rasul Douglas to the Buffalo Bills, and many questioned whether it was time to start researching college quarterbacks. LaFleur led them on a 7-3 run to clinch a wild-card berth before stunning the Cowboys in the first round of the playoffs.
LaFleur has adaptability. He even showed that midgame against the Steelers. But this is his toughest test to date.
In 2022, LaFleur led an aging team that had already run out of time. He had three 13-win seasons and goodwill in the bank. In 2023, he had essentially a rookie quarterback and the youngest team in football.
Now, the Packers are considered serious Super Bowl contenders. The Micah Parsons trade cranked up the urgency. His team is 5-2-1 and leading the division, but a string of ugly wins soon turned into an even uglier defeat. More concerningly, they lost their star tight end and looked lethargic and predictable on offense.
How does LaFleur adapt?
Is it time to manufacture touches for Matthew Golden? He's passed every test when given an opportunity. Will we see the Packers give Anthony Belton a chance at guard? His size and run-blocking talent might be the perfect match for frozen Sundays at Lambeau.
The Eagles are coming to town. Soon after, the Packers will face the Vikings and a Brian Flores defense that's thrown them into schematic hell. Then comes Thanksgiving in Detroit, followed by two matchups against the revamped Bears. Throw in a trip to Denver and a home date with Baltimore, and it's a brutal stretch.
The Packers have the talent. They have the coach. But they also have a real offensive problem, and the next 55 days will show us whether LaFleur can adjust through adversity and steer this ship into the deep postseason waters.