Packers Get Wild in the Jungle: What Went Right, and What Went Wrong?

The last time the Green Bay Packers won at Paul Brown Stadium; gas prices were just over a buck.

The Packers exercised some demons Sunday and walked out of Cincinnati with a victory. It was a wild, crazy, and unpredictable game that required an overtime field goal to crown a winner, but the Packers won a massive game.

Despite missing multiple starters and key players, the Packers have now won 4 in a row, and Sunday very well may go down as one of the craziest games you will ever see.

Sunday’s game was indeed a roller coaster ride for everyone. Let’s check out what went right and went wrong in the Green Bay Packers win over the Bengals.

What went right?

Historic offensive performances

According to the Packers, Sunday’s game marked the first time in team history that the team had a 300-yard passer, 200-yard receiver, and a 100-yard rusher in the same game.

In other words – The Packers’ “Big 3” was unstoppable.

This Bengals team isn’t the same old Bengals. The Bengals defense was ranked 5th overall by DVOA. Sunday, it didn’t matter much, as Aaron Rodgers & Co recorded 466 total yards of offense, and the only reason they didn’t score 30 or more points was due to the fact that their clutch kicker struggled throughout that entire game.

Keep in mind; the Packers were without three of their starting offensive lineman and their number two wide receiver, their only vertical deep threat. It was a total team effort and, offensively, quite impressive nonetheless.

De’Vondre Campbell continues to make a huge impact

The Packers have lacked playmakers and game-changers in the middle of their defense since the Nick Barnett days. That may have changed this past summer when they signed linebacker De’Vondre Campbell back on June 9th.

Campbell’s play has caught the attention of  just about everyone in that locker room, including the reigning  league MVP, Aaron Rodgers:

"” How in the hell was this guy on the street? It was a great pickup by our personnel staff. He can run, he’s a great tackler, he’s around the ball all the time, he’s a great locker room guy.”"

The former fourth-round draft pick has been outstanding all year and, noticeably on Sunday, made monster plays when the defense and team needed it most.

Campbell made a huge stop in the fourth quarter on a 3rd down and forced a long field attempt which ultimately was missed and gave Green Bay another chance to win the game.

On the first play of overtime, Campbell came up big again with an interception off Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow to set up the offense for a game-winning field goal attempt.

The Green Bay Packers walked it off with a game-winning field goal, but not everything was pretty. Let’s take a look at what went wrong Sunday.

Special teams continue to be an issue.

Mason Crosby is human, after all. However, that can be hard to believe after all those clutch kicks these past few seasons.

Coming into Week 5, Crosby had made 27 consecutive field goals but struggled mightily Sunday in Cincinnati.

Crosby missed three field goals, all of which would’ve given the Packers the lead and/or the win. Crosby missed from 35, 51, and 40 yards,  which was very uncharacteristic of the clutch kicker.

However, something can be said about all of Crosby’s misses, all going wide left. The protection on the right side of the formation was questionable, at best.

During Monday’s press conference, Head Coach Matt LeFleur noted that the whole unit needs to be better moving forward:

"“There are some things we need to absolutely clean up, as far as an operations stand-point, I dont think you can put all of that on Mason”"

The Packers struggle to capitalize in the red zone.

According to Team Rankings, the Packers are now ranked 27th in the NFL in red-zone scoring percentage.

For a team that was so dominant last season in which they scored touchdowns on 80 percent of their red-zone trips, Sunday was undoubtedly a struggle.

The Packers only converted two touchdowns out of their four trips to the red zone with a couple of missed field goals and a missed extra point.

The most frustrating aspect of the red zone failures Sunday was that running back Aaron Jones and wide-receiver Davante Adams both had explosive plays to get the Packers very close to striking distance in which they couldn’t capitalize.

Realistically, if the Packers scored a touchdown after one of those extended plays, both of which were in the fourth quarter, it felt like the Packers could’ve made life a little easier on themselves and closed that game away.

As usual, Coach LeFleur took the bulk of the blame and will look for ways to get more touchdowns and more points on the scoreboard moving forward. Emphasizing his importance and role in helping this offense be successful:

"“I’ve got to do a much better job of putting our guys in a better position to score”"

The Packers now head into Week 6 and turn their attention to the Chicago Bears.