After Two Statement Wins, Packers ‘Don’t Give a (Bleep) Who You Are’

GREEN BAY, Wis. – At the end of last season, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst talked about the need for his team to “ramp up our sense of urgency” and start “competing for championships.”

This year’s schedule opened against the Detroit Lions, whose 15-2 record included two lopsided wins over the Packers, and the Washington Commanders, who went 12-5 and reached the NFC Championship Game.

That’s a combined 27-7. No team in the league needed to start this season with more urgency than the Packers. Only the Falcons, who opened against the Buccaneers and will host the Vikings, can come close with a combined record of 24-10.

Maybe, considering the injuries to the quarterback, receivers and offensive line during training camp and the late addition of Micah Parsons to the defense, coach Matt LaFleur would have been secretly satisfied with a 1-1 start given the caliber of the opponents.

After all, the Packers went 0-6 against the NFC’s top teams last season. Winning one of those games would have been a sign of significant progress.

Instead, the Packers won both games. Convincingly.

The Packers beat the Lions 27-13 on Sunday, then beat the Commanders 27-18 on Thursday. Really, much like most of last year’s big-game losses, the final scores don’t adequately show the level of domination.

“I think it’s great. But it’s just the start,” LaFleur said on Thursday night. “There’s a long season ahead of us, you can’t take it for granted. I think you’ve got to keep competing, pushing, and there was opportunities to really put this game away tonight and I don’t think we did that. So, that gives me a lot of ammo when we get with the guys on Monday to kind of get after them a little bit.

“But I love this team, this locker room. We’ve got great character guys, they care, and they’re going to be hard on themselves. I know it. But, obviously, there’s a lot of things we’ve got to clean up.”

From that perspective, with two wins and things to work on, it’s been a dream start.

Green Bay’s defense looks elite. Perhaps because he’s such an incredible talent, the integration of Parsons has gone seamlessly. If there was any concern that opponents might have a bead on defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley after having all offseason to study his success, that’s gone out the window.

Last year, the Packers finished sixth in points allowed and fifth in total defense without a consistent pass rush or elite cornerback. If Hafley’s success last season was smoke and mirrors, his success this season has been flamethrower and wrecking ball because of the Hall of Fame-level talent of Parsons.

“What I’ve been telling everyone: Defense wins championships,” Parsons said after recording eight pressures against Washington. “J-Love, I think you give us 20 points, we should be able to win that game. It’s all about getting stops and getting the ball back to the offense.

“As y’all seen against Baltimore and Buffalo, you can have your quarterback damn near have a perfect game but still lose because, guess what, the defense gave up 40 points. So, defense wins championships. I think the fans like points and they like to see the big plays but, when you play great defense, it’s just so beautiful to see.”

The level of beauty can go “further up” as Parsons “keeps building,” safety Xavier McKinney said after the Packers held the high-powered Commanders to 230 yards and 5-of-16 on third down.

“We having fun. We excited,” he said. “We’re playing really good defense. I think we all just having fun with it and we enjoying playing with each other and going out there and dominating.”

Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons (1) celebrates after sacking Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels. | Tork Mason-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Offensively is where there’s more meat on the bone.

The running game, which was so dominant last season, has consisted of little more than Josh Jacobs putting his head down and fighting for a few yards. The passing game has been “feast or famine,” LaFleur said.

“I think there’s opportunities we need to capitalize on if we want to become the team I think we can become,” LaFleur said.

Against Washington, there were touchdown drives of 96 and 92 yards in the first half. However, excluding the take-a-knee possession to run out the clock, five of the team’s 11 possessions failed to gain a first down.

“It says we’re capable of anything,” LaFleur said.

Still, the Packers have scored 27 points in each of the first two games against quality opponents. In last year’s six big-game losses, Love threw eight touchdowns and eight interceptions. To start this season, Love has four touchdowns and zero interceptions.

“Every year is a new year, so you never know how these teams will be,” Love said. “Obviously, new year for us. For us to be able to come out and start fast in both these games and be able to finish it with the defense holding two really good offenses to some pretty low yards and low points until the end, it’s just fun. It’s just a great way to start the season and something we’ve got to keep building on.”

Other than Week 1 in Brazil, the Packers largely were noncompetitive in the first half of big games last year.

In the 31-29 loss at home to the Vikings in Week 4, the Packers trailed 28-7 at halftime. In the 24-14 loss at home to the Lions in Week 9, the Packers trailed 17-3 at halftime and 24-3 after the opening drive of the third quarter. In the 34-31 loss at Detroit in Week 14, the Packers trailed 17-7 at halftime. In the 27-25 loss at Minnesota in Week 17, it was 13-3 at halftime and 20-3 after the opening drive of the third quarter. In the 22-10 loss at Philadelphia in the playoffs, it was 10-0 at halftime.

This year, Green Bay outscored the Lions and Commanders 31-6 in the first half.

“Obviously, it’s still early in the season,” Jacobs said, “but those two teams are good teams and I think that’s important for when it gets deeper in the season, you head into playoffs, to be battle-tested against good teams. We felt like last year against good teams, we kind of was right there but we didn’t come over the hump, so to see us doing what we need to do and making wins where it’s really not even close, we like that, but we still think it’s a lot that we need to grow from.”

Fast starts to games have meant fast starts to the season.

Playing with urgency, in other words.

“We had a goal coming into this season to start the season off fast and build on the things we’ve done last year,” Love said. “I think we’ve got a really good offense and we’ve been talking about the sky’s the limit and, obviously, it just comes down to coming out here in the games and executing.”

If the offense keeps growing, the defense keeps building and the mentality holds strong, the Packers could be on their way to a special season.

“Offense, defense, special teams, you going to get a whole 60-minute battle for whatever it takes to win,” Rashan Gary said. “That’s our identity right now. We going to play a full 60 minutes and we going to play hard.”

Nate Hobbs made the same point but with more colorful language.

“Just our style of play, and we don’t give a f*** who we play, when, where, why how. You’re playing a bunch of dogs on defense. We’re dogs that swarm and I think we proved that. And we just don’t give a f*** who you are.”

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