As Packers’ Offense Struggles, Matt LaFleur, Jordan Love Can’t Find Answers

Mike McCarthy used to quip that a good team always played to its identity. The great Greenn Bay Packers teams of yesteryear all had one.

The 1960s Packers were led by a powerful running game spearheaded by Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor, with some timely plays made from Bart Starr. Their toughness in the biggest moments almost always shined through.

Mike Holmgren’s teams ran through Brett Favre and a dominant defense that powered its way to a Super Bowl title in 1996.

Aaron Rodgers and the Packers’ offense ran through the NFL with an aerial assault that led to the quarterback winning four MVP awards during the longest tenured career in Packers’ history.

It may not feel like it right now, but Matt LaFleur’s teams have had an identity in the past. During his first three seasons as a head coach, they had an explosive run game led by Aaron Jones, and a passing game that tore through the NFL with Rodgers in MVP form throwing passes to Davante Adams.

Whenever they struggled, they almost always had answers to get back on track against nearly any defense they ran up against.

In 2026? LaFleur, like the rest of you was at a loss for words.

“Again, I think we got to continue to work with these guys and try to figure out what we do well,” LaFleur said before saying the most concerning thing he’s said all season.

“Because right now I don’t know what we’re doing well offensively. We can all see the benefit of having a strong rushing attack, how you can get into normal rhythm on offense and that’ll open up a lot of things in the passing game. But anytime you drop back 50 some odd times in a game and have nine rushes, it’s usually not going to bode well for you.”

The offensive head coach who was hired and extended twice because of how good his offense was does not know what his team does well? The quarterback is in his fourth season as a starter. The receivers have been in the offense for multiple years. His top receiver and tight end both received lucrative contract extensions in the offseason.

Sure, Josh Jacobs is missing, but that’s been a known entity for over a month. The head coach does not know what his team does well?

That’s incredibly alarming for a team who has a stretch coming up in October against five teams who are expected to compete for a spot in the NFC playoffs.

During Jordan Love’s tenure, the Packers have enjoyed a balanced attack with a strong run game to take pressure off of their quarterback.

That run game is non-existent through three weeks and the Packers are making the wrong kind of history.

Their 146 yards through three games is their lowest total through three games since 1933 according to ESPN research.

When they drop back to pass, their quarterback hardly has any time to let his receivers get into their routes. The Packers gave up 15 quick pressures on Thursday according to the Next Gen Stats.

That was the second most in any game this season. The most came when the Vikings had 17 against Green Bay in Week 1.

Say what you will about this year’s version of the Green Bay Packers, but you cannot say they are not historic.

After playing musical chairs on the offensive line throughout training camp, the Packers have used six different offensive line combinations in three weeks.

Thursday’s combination may have been the worst of the three. Jager Burton has been clamored for as a no-brainer starter at left guard. According to PFF he gave up 10 pressures in the passing game, and was routinely beaten in the run game. The cherry on top of a dirt sundae was a false start penalty that killed a chance of the Packers potentially attempting to convert a fourth down.

Burton is a young player, but was clearly overwhelmed in his first start as a pro.

There are no white knights coming through the door to save this offensive line. Zach Bako-Bewele is done. He’s not coming back. Aaron Banks, their $77 million flop at left guard is not reliable.

Sean Rhyan was getting an x-ray on his snapping thumb according to Tom Silverstein of Packers News after the game. Jordan Morgan is getting better, but is still a relative unknown.

Are there guys available on the street? Sure. Kevin Zeitler is a popular name bantered about, but he’s not on anyone’s roster through two-plus weeks of the regular season. He’s also 36-years-old. How much does he have left in the tank?

Any other veteran you want to name on the open market is available for a reason at this stage of the NFL calendar.

So what are the answers?

Matt LaFleur did not want to talk about coaching or personnel changes on the offensive line. He admitted everyone had to do a better job, and did not want to put all the blame on his offensive line.

“No, I don’t want to put all the blame on the offensive line, LaFleur said. “I mean, there’s plenty of blame to go around. We got to catch the ball better. Certainly there’s some throws I think J Love would love to have back, just like there’s some play calls I’d love to have back. Most notably, we’re still in the game, and we drive down to start the second half, we have a fourth and 1 and it’s gloved. So it’s just, there’s enough blame to go around to everybody.”

The second hit is actually insane that Jordan Love is alive. pic.twitter.com/Bd2bMwfNYL
— Tommy Wortz (@TommyWortz) September 25, 2026

Maybe LaFleur does not want to put all the blame on the guys up front, and to be clear he does not pick the players that he has. He can only work with what general manager Brian Gutekunst has given him.

The reality, however, is the most basic premise in football is failing the Packers right now. I don’t care how good the quarterback is. I don’t care how many good receivers a team has. If a team cannot block, they’re dead on arrival.

The Packers are currently dead on arrival as their quarterback is taking a beating from the 32 quick pressures he’s faced in the first three weeks of the season while still trying to trust everything going on in front of him.

Without a run game to speak of, Love not only has to fight the urge to bail on his protections, but to not try and play the role of superhero every time he drops back to pass because it may be the only prayer his offense has of moving the ball down the field.

“Definitely. You’ve always got to fight the urge to do too much as a quarterback. Looking at the game tonight, when you get down, that’s really all you can do. You have to go out there, find ways to make plays and put up points in a hurry. We didn’t do that. So, it starts early on in the game is executing better early on, putting up points, helping our defense out, be able to stay on the field, execute third downs and get a little bit more balanced with the run game and the pass game. I think we got behind tonight and it didn’t look good.”

The frustration in Love’s voice was noticeable during his availability post game. Love sounded like a quarterback who is beat up, frustrated by his own performance, and searching for answers that appear to be fleeting.

“Yeah, I think it's not just over the next three days. I think it's, we have a long season ahead of us, and it's a long journey,” Love said, choosing his words carefully.

“We know that. But I always have confidence in Matt. I've been with him for so long, and I've seen what we can do as an offense. I've seen what the highs look like as this offense, and that's the most frustrating part is we're not there. And we're not playing at that level right now that I know we can play at. So, like I said, there's always going to be stuff as play callers [where] you look back and say, ‘I wish we would have done this different.’ As a quarterback, ‘I wish I would have done different.’ So, we'll dive deep, and like I said, it's a long season of continuing to figure out where we can get better. But I’ve still got confidence in everybody in that locker room.”

Figuring things out is step one. Right now, the Packers’ highly paid duo of their head coach and quarterback don’t seem to have any answers for what ails them.

Is there something they can hang their hat on like the better teams of yesteryear could?

“Yeah, sure. We feel like we have a lot of concepts that we can lean on,” LaFleur said.

“But give a lot of credit to Atlanta and some of these other defenses we played. We’re not always executing, and certainly there’s some times where we got some bad play calls. It’s all of us.”

Does that sound like someone with an idea of where to go next?

You decide.

How many F's for the Packers? ⬇️https://t.co/BP6e50XdTI
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 25, 2026

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