The ‘Cheeseheads’ are going home miserable. The Green Bay Packers had a good season at 11-6 with one disturbing flaw: They failed to get it done against good teams.
The Packers’ offense stalled all night long and went nowhere against the stout Philadelphia Eagles defense in a 12-point 22-10 wild-card playoff game loss, which dropped their record against the trio of the best teams the NFL has to offer, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings and Eagles to 0-6 this season. It is hard to walk away from this game feeling too optimistic about an 11-win campaign when Green Bay seemed like a full step below the NFC’s best teams.
The way the season played out is unacceptable. The Packers played awful on the offensive side of the ball, with quarterback Jordan Love getting very little going and throwing three shaky picks against an Eagles pass defense that has been on a roll for months. The Packers had one highlight run from Josh Jacobs that set up their lone touchdown. But that was about it.
The Eagles advanced, and although their offense was pedestrian at best, the defense did what they were supposed to do, playing well enough to reclaim their status as a Super Bowl contender. The Packers go into the long offseason scratching their heads and left to wonder why they struggled so mightily to beat the elite teams they faced, and what they can do to elevate the gap. The Packers seemed miles away on Sunday evening.
After three less than competitive AFC games to kick off wild-card weekend, it appeared Packers-Eagles would be a treat that everyone could get their popcorn ready for. Then the teams played a lethargic first half, filled with turnovers and penalties.
The Packers gave it away over three times, including a pair of bad interceptions from Jordan Love. The first turnover came on the first play of the game, when a vicious hit by Eagles linebacker Oren Burks caused Packers’ returner Keisean Nixon to fumble. The Eagles recovered the rock, although it was a questionable call. It seemed like Nixon might have fallen on it but there was not enough clear-cut evidence on the replay review to give it to the Packers. The Eagles were able to take advantage with a Jahan Dotson touchdown catch from Jalen Hurts. That was the last touchdown from either team in the first half.
“That was their goal to take away the run, and they did a good job of that,” Love said. “It just comes down to executing and making plays out there, and it just wasn’t good enough.”
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Packers accumulated just 16 yards and a single first down through their first four possessions. On the fifth drive they got into field-goal range, but place kicker Brandon McManus, who is usually reliable, missed a 38-yard kick, which was a sign of things to come for the Packers. Coach Matt LaFleur told the Fox broadcast team at halftime that it was the worst half the Packers had played all season, and it was impossible to debate that.
Things were not much better for the Eagles. Jalen Hurts, coming back from his two-week layoff due to a concussion, started out efficient, completing his first six passes for 39 yards and then out of nowhere turned erratic, throwing incomplete on his last seven passes of the first half.
“I think it’s been an odd year in a sense of how choppy it’s been, and obviously me kind of being on leave the last couple weeks or so,” Hurts said. “Being back and just getting into that rhythm and leaving it all out there right now, that’s what it’s about.”
It was 10-0 at halftime, and two good teams from the regular season were nowhere close to playing their best football.
There were a couple of exciting plays to add some flavor to the second half. Tight end Dallas Goedert did his best Derrick Henry impression and had three stiff-arms to break free for a 24-yard touchdown.
“That was a really fun play. It might be my favorite touchdown of my career,” Goedert said. “I had one guy to beat, and I was able to do that. I’m not ready to go home, and I was going to do whatever it took to help the team get the ‘W.’”
After that, Jacobs dragged nearly the entire Eagles defense to the 1-yard line on a great run, then punctuated the drive with a touchdown to slice the Eagles’ lead to 16-10.
The Eagles’ relentless defense was not going to let that lead slip away. It was a frustrating, non-productive day for the Packers’ offense, which lost guard Elgton Jenkins to a shoulder injury early in the game and then also lost receivers Romeo Doubs (head) and Jayden Reed (shoulder) as well as center Josh Myers (leg). On a fourth down in the fourth quarter, Love connected Malik Heath, who was in the game due to those receivers going down, near the sideline for what would have been a first down. But Heath’s foot landed on the whit line out of bounds, the pass was incomplete, and it was a turnover on downs. That is how a bad day became worse for the visitors.
Philadelphia’s defense has been on top of their game for most of the season, and they were dominant against the Packers. Green Bay fell right into their trap by committing too many mistakes and not executing when it was time. The Packers’ defense did an outstanding job overall but had no support, but it was too hard to overcome Green Bay’s miserable offensive performance.
Saquon Barkley, who led the NFL in rushing with 2,005 yards, had 119 yards in his Eagles’ postseason debut.
“A year ago, I put out a tweet when I was on my couch watching playoff football that I gotta find a way to get back in it,” said Barkley, who spent his first six NFL seasons with the Eagles division rival the New York Giants. “So, I’m just happy to be here.
“And shoutout to my teammates and, most importantly, we move on. And we get another home game, so that’s good.”
Ultimately it was a frustrating end for the Packers. Love looked like he was on the fast track to becoming one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks late last season, but he regressed and had an up and down 2024 season and a bad end to it in the ‘City of Brotherly Love’.
“They got good players,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of the Eagles’ defense. “Even when we were running the quick game, they were triggering and coming downhill and smacking us in the back too many times. They played better than us, bottom line.”
Packers: Season over.
Eagles: Wait to find out if they play the Minnesota Vikings or Los Angeles Rams next Sunday.
