The Green Bay Packers are resting up and healing up during the team’s Week 10 bye. At 6-3, the Packers are in possession of a playoff spot entering the bye, but Matt LaFleur’s team needs to start improving in some key areas in order to catch fire and be playing their best football come the end of the season.
The 2024 Packers are good. They are a few steps away from being great. With eight games to go, the Packers have time to get things right before the postseason.
Here’s where the staff of Packers Wire thinks LaFleur’s team needs to improve coming out of the bye:
Zach Kruse: Consistency in passing game, and pass rush or coverage
The Packers offense is on the precipice of something big — much like this time last year — but consistency from the whole operation is missing. Jordan Love hasn’t protected the football or been consistently accurate, possibly due to a pair of lower-body injuries, and the receivers — namely Dontayvion Wicks and Jayden Reed — have dropped far too many passes. Rarely is play design or getting open a problem for the passing game. That’s a good thing. Now is the time to clean up some of the recurring issues, execute more consistently overall and get hot down the stretch. A dominant passing game can patch over most problems. On defense, the Packers need one of two things — more pass-rushing production from the front four, or more consistent coverage on the backend. The Packers are not getting enough from Rashan Gary, Kenny Clark or Lukas Van Ness. The pass-rush should be a strength, not a question mark. Maybe the bye week will help provide answers. In the secondary, the cornerback spot opposite Jaire Alexander (who has already missed two games to injury) looks like a potentially fatal flaw. Can Keisean Nixon, Eric Stokes or Carrington Valentine step up down the stretch? If the Packers team explosiveness with consistency in the passing game and get a little more out of the pass rush or a little better coverage from the No. 2 cornerback spot, this team will be a top contender in the NFC come January.
Brandon Carwile: Love’s interceptions
Jordan Love has got to be smarter with the ball during the second half of the season. Despite missing two and a half games, he is tied for the league lead in interceptions with 10–one less than how many he threw in 17 games last season. Now, Love did throw a lot of picks early in the season in 2023 before turning things around and going scorched earth down the stretch. However, banking on that happening again is ill-advised. Not every interception is solely on the quarterback, but Love has got to stop putting the ball in harm’s way, even if it means taking a sack or throwing the ball away. The pick-six he threw in his own end zone against the Rams game was one of the worst plays of his career until he one-upped it with the game-changing pick-six he threw in Sunday’s loss to the Lions. Love still has some learning to do, which is understandable because he is only in Year 2 as a starter.
However, knowing when to accept that a play is dead is a valuable skill he must learn sooner rather than later if this team wants to contend for a Super Bowl this year. Hopefully, he uses the bye week to do some self-scouting and soul-searching. But if the interceptions persist, the Packers’ season could end much like it did in last year’s playoff loss to the 49ers, with Love throwing a game-ending pick.
Brennen Rupp: Self-inflicted mistakes
They just need to get out of their own way. The Packers shot themselves in the foot too many times during the first half of the season. They were able to overcome those self-inflicted wounds against the Jaguars. They won’t be able to make a playoff run if they don’t clean up the penalties in the red zone, Jordan Love’s interceptions and the drops. If they can cut down on the mistakes this team could look like an unstoppable force in the second half of the season.
Greg Williams: Interceptions, penalties, pass rush
The Packers have had a solid season, but there are a few areas they need to improve. Jordan Love has shown some hig and some lows, but he needs to be more careful with the ball to avoid those lows. The team also struggles with penalties, which often slow down their progress and hurt them in close games. On defense, the edge rushers need to step up, especially now that Preston Smith was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Rashan Gary can only do so much, so I would like to see a lot more out of Lukas Van Ness. It will be interesting to see if they can create enough pressure on the other team’s quarterback to help the defense as a whole. Improving in these areas will be key for the Packers to become one of the top teams in the NFC.
