The Green Bay Packers emerged from their bye victorious as the earned a 27-18 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday afternoon. The Packers looked good in several areas as Josh Jacobs scored twice, Matthew Golden put together another strong effort with three catches for 86 yards, and the defense suffocated new Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco.
But for everything that went right, Matt LaFleur’s fatal flaw still showed up. The Packers let the Bengals hang around in a game Cincinnati had no business being competitive in, continuing a frustrating trend of Green Bay playing down to lesser opponents and displaying the exact opposite behavior of a hopeful contender.
The Packers Let Another Inferior Team Hang Around Despite Win Over Bengals
Green Bay has looked dominant at times this year, including a season-opening win over the Detroit Lions and a follow-up win against the Washington Commanders. But in the last three games they’ve played with their food, allowing inferior opponents to make games closer than they should be.
In Week 3, the Packers were heavily favored against the winless Cleveland Browns. Instead of taking care of business, Green Bay saw several mental lapses from rookie Matthew Golden and a blocked field goal toward the end of regulation allow the Browns to come back from a 10-0 deficit and hand the Packers a stunning 13-10 defeat.
The following week, the Packers went down to take on the Dallas Cowboys in a game many figured would be Micah Parsons’s revenge game. While Green Bay jumped out to a 13-0 lead, a blocked extra point gave Dallas life and the Cowboys eventually earned a 40-40 tie in a game the Packers could have won if it weren’t for several breakdowns.
Sunday’s game once again saw the Packers favored by double-digits, but they still had trouble putting Cincinnati away. While they took a 10-0 lead into halftime, the Bengals went on a 17-play, 78-yard drive to open the second half that ended with a Flacco touchdown pass to tight end Tanner Hudson to cut the lead down to 10-7.
Josh Jacobs’s second rushing score of the day gave the Packers a 17-7 lead four seconds into the fourth quarter but Cincinnati responded again with a 45-yard Evan McPherson field goal to cut the lead to 17-10 with 10:43 to play. Tucker Kraft’s 19-yard touchdown reception from Jordan Love once again gave Green Bay breathing room with a 24-10 lead, yet Flacco found Ja’Marr Chase for a 19-yard touchdown with 4:11 to play to once again make it a one-score game at 24-18.
Mind you, this was a Bengals team that had been dominated in its previous encounters with the NFC North, as the Minnesota Vikings defeated Cincinnati 48-10 in Week 3 and the Detroit Lions beat the Bengals 37-24 last week.
This may be nitpicking as the Packers are in the thick of the NFC North race. But it could come back to bite them if another team like the Browns took advantage of the opportunity. Even Love called that out after the tie with the Cowboys yet it still doesn’t appear LaFleur’s message is getting through to the team.
Perhaps it will take another shock to the system, but Green Bay needs to take their opponents seriously if they want to make a run toward the Super Bowl.