Green Bay Packers: Can the defense get off the field?

After a hot start, can the Green Bay Packers get things in order on the defensive side of the ball?

Remember when the Green Bay Packers had a defense? It seems like ages ago a smiling Aaron Rodgers was praising the defense for their performance in Week One against the Chicago Bears. “We got a defense,” Rodgers said. Just as the clock hit zero, the camera cut to him hugging it out with defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. Little did the team know they had just faced one of the worst offenses in the league.

After the opener, the Packers defense became more and more difficult to figure out. Turnovers and sacks gave a clouded perspective. However, now it is quite clear this defense is quite average at best.

Aside from creating turnovers and forcing sacks, it is hard to find something they do particularly well. Big plays fix a lot of things, but when they aren’t happening, things get ugly.

The level of concern elevated after Green Bay’s Thursday night game matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles offensive completely dominated as their backfield combined for 176 rushing yards and two touchdowns. It was an atrocious performance but not their worst by comparison in terms of run defense. Two weeks prior, Dalvin Cook rushed for 154 yards by himself, and the Minnesota Vikings racked up 198 total yards on the ground. The defense’s inability to stop the run was relatively forgotten because they won. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Chargers easily rushed for their highest yards total in 2019. It also marked the sixth time this season the defense gave up at least 100 yards rushing.

Before Sunday’s loss, the Packers had won all four of their previous games, but the defense had one good performance if we’re being objective. Actually, it was just a good second half against the Detroit Lions. Winning cures a lot of things, but the problems are often still there.

It’s abundantly clear the run defense has been brutal, and the pass defense hasn’t been much better. This season, Green Bay’s 26th ranked defense is 25th against the run and 21st at defending the pass. In other words, this is not a top-10 defense contrary to early season beliefs.

Just look at the recent numbers, the Oakland Raiders totaled 484 yards of offense in week seven. Then, the Kansas City Chiefs managed to gain 337 yards offense with Matt Moore and virtually no run game. Finally, Green Bay surrendered 442 on Sunday against a struggling Los Angeles Chargers offense.

Though yardage is not the only area they have struggled though in. The Packers’ defense comes in at 18th on third down percentage, yet somehow their time of possession stats are not all that bad. Mostly because their own run game has been quite good.

They’ve only lost the time of possession battle twice this season, against the Denver Broncos and the Chargers. The offense scored quickly and often facing Denver, so it’s somewhat of an outlier. Only one team showed up for the week nine game in Los Angeles, and that team controlled the ball for almost 36 minutes.

Sacks and turnovers have created a skewed overview of how good this defense actually is. Now, it’s starting to catch up with them, and the rest of the league is going to start picking up on what works. If the opposition takes the easy yards and controls the clock, this Green Bay defense becomes obsolete.