The People’s GPA: Packers Edge Browns

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers were given the nicest Christmas gift imaginable by the Cleveland Browns on Saturday.
The gift of turnovers.
The first of Baker Mayfield’s three interceptions handed the Packers their first 21 points, and the last of his interceptions clinched Green Bay’s 24-22 victory. With the victory, the Packers improved to a league-best 12-3 and kept their hold on the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.
“We’ve got to do a better job of closing games out. That’s on us,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “But our defense has closed out a lot of games. The last two weeks, stopping that two-point conversion and then coming up with a big pick, man, it’s nerve-wrecking but winning is difficult in this league. Offensively, we have to do a better job of just being consistent. We’ve had some good fourth-quarter games but not consistently enough at certain times when we have to close teams out.”
Many of you were not impressed. In a postgame Twitter poll, 58.5 percent of respondents gave the Packers a “C.” With about one-third of voters giving a “B,” the Packers would up with a 2.31 grade-point average in the weekly People’s GPA. It was the lowest GPA of the season following a victory. Last week, the Packers earned a 2.53 grade-point average.
“It was a hard-fought, four-quarter battle and, like I told our team, we'll never apologize for winning in this league,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “I know it wasn't the prettiest of victories but, ultimately, we did enough as a team to win.”
That’s what Rodgers and LaFleur had to say. Here’s what you had to say.
C- Good enough to win but below average. Run defense was a mess. And where was the offense in the 2nd half? After the field goal there were only 2 first downs… and one of those set up the kneel down ftw. (Plus bailed out by a non-call on the last int)
— Jeff in GB (@JayPeeEss) December 26, 2021
C grade all around though they went too conservative second half almost cost them the game. Couldn’t believe how they used Campbell lined him up too much on line and browns ran opposite of where Campbell was lined up
— Gerard (@Gerard488093871) December 26, 2021
If not for 4 INTs, we would have been smoked by the Browns no less. Run defense was putrid. Offense was WAY to conservative in the 2nd half. What happened to all gas no effing brakes??
— Timothy Meier (@TimothyMeier) December 26, 2021
Both the Offense & Defense did just the bare minimum to win. The offensive unproductive in the second half 3 punts and the defense giving up 200 yrs on the ground
— OnWisconsin (@gbschultzie) December 26, 2021
All three phases looked complacent.
— Depoliticize This (@kurt_lutter) December 26, 2021
Aaron rodgers and running game gets an A, the rest of the team gets a D.
— Sportsadvocate (@compbrdscss) December 26, 2021
B, 4 picks can’t be ignored. Along with 5 sacks. Offense fell off the rails in the second half, but still put up 24. Special teams A+ in my book!
— 🧀Cheesehead Jon🧀 (@JDan1204) December 26, 2021
Um Brady threw 3 in one half I. The title game just saying but you can’t count on that but when ever this D needs a play they seem to make it : Cle, Balt, Arz, the team is 5-1 in games decided by 3 points or less they always seem to make the plays to win these games
— Steve Cook (@slaphappycookie) December 26, 2021
The Pack need the defense from the middle part of the season back and they need it back very soon!
— Todd Hildebrandt (@tdhildebrandt) December 26, 2021
The sign of a great team is not playing your best and still winning.
— Chip Maxey - Toot Toot (@ChipMaxey) December 26, 2021
How is anyone voting D? They did, well, win after all.
— Kurt, Esq. (@KurtInMilwaukee) December 26, 2021
Kurt they want perfection look people they won should they have won by 10-12 sure but when the game was on the line they made the plays they know how to win 5 sacks 4 INT OL gave up 0 sacks to the 5th ranked D Rodgers was excellent again . Things to clean up : Run D, Tae 2 drops
— Steve Cook (@slaphappycookie) December 26, 2021
A win is a win…survive and move ahead, but lots to clean up
— Todd (@pilprin) December 26, 2021
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Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.