Packers Report Card: Grades Following Offensive Meltdown vs. Eagles

GREEN BAY, Wis. – A 2-0 start, coupled with a trade for Micah Parsons, had many people in Green Bay thinking this would be the year the Packers returned to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2010.

Instead, their 10-7 loss to the Eagles has them with 5-3-1 record, third place in the NFC North and the seventh seed in the NFC playoffs. As the final score might suggest, this week’s Packers report card features low marks for the offense but high marks for Jeff Hafley’s defense.

Let’s get right to the grades.

Pass Offense

It was another struggle for Jordan Love and Green Bay’s offense.

The final numbers don’t look good. Love was sacked three times, including one that resulted in a fumble that effectively took points off the board at the end of the first half. He finished 20-of-36 passing for 176 yards, which is an average of less than 5 yards per attempt. His passer rating was a putrid 68.8.

The receiving corps was a “free for all” due to injuries, coach Matt LaFleur said. Rookie first-round Matthew Golden did not play due to a shoulder injury. Rookie third-round pick Savion Willams played through a foot injury, though Green Bay’s coaching staff clearly wanted to limit him.

They were forced to abandon that plan in the second half when Romeo Doubs left the game with a chest injury. LaFleur did not have an update on him after the game, other than he was told he wasn’t able to return to action.

Their leading receiver was Christian Watson, who had 45 yards on two catches.

There may have been no bigger example of the team missing tight end Tucker Kraft than on a third-and-10 on their second-to-last possession. Love completed a pass underneath to Luke Musgrave, who turned and fell forward for 9 yards.

We’ll get to what happened on the next play later, but the Packers did not end up picking up the first down.

Kraft likely would have picked up the first down by running through defenders. That’s not part of Musgrave’s game.

“Yeah, I think that’s something that obviously we’re struggling with finding the right solutions right now, so we’ve got to take a long, hard look at that and come up with a better plan,” LaFleur said.

Green Bay Packers tight end Luke Musgrave is pushed out of bounds by Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack Baun. | Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“The bottom line, you score seven points in this league, you’re probably not going to win many games. Give them a lot of credit, I think they did an outstanding job. That’s a good defense. They’ve got really good players over there. I think Vic Fangio, you guys know how I feel about him. But, ultimately, we have to do a much better job and it always starts with myself.”

The “bottom line” is the money line from LaFleur there.

The Packers have lost three games this season, and their defense has allowed 16 points or less in all three.

Another curious decision was to play the receiver-turned-cornerback Bo Melton at receiver ahead of Malik Heath or a potential practice squad callup. Melton struggled, including a huge drop on a fourth-and-9 in the third quarter.

Was he put in a position to succeed by being asked to do something he has not done much of since the spring?

“Yeah, that was certainly -- all that was part of the discussion, but this week we thought it was best for us,” LaFleur said. “I mean, Bo hasn't played a ton on defense. We thought we could use the speed element that he possesses to help open some things up offensively.”

The offensive coach and the $220 million man playing quarterback need to come up with solutions fast, or this all-in season is going to go up in flames, quickly.

Grade: D

Rush Offense

Josh Jacobs’ final numbers are pedestrian, with 21 carries only resulting in 74 yards and a 3.5-yard average.

He was better than the box score says.

Green Bay’s run game simply cannot deliver consistent production. The offensive line has been shuffled and reshuffled but remains inconsistent.

LaFleur continues to insist they need to be balanced, but they’ve struggled far too much on the ground for him to continually bang his head into the wall.

Green Bay’s offense is being invited to run the ball by the split-safety looks they see on a weekly basis. The defense wants LaFleur and Green Bay’s offense to try and rely on its ground game. LaFleur continues to play into the defense’s hands.

At some point, LaFleur is going to have to rely way less on his run game, and put the ball in the hands of his quarterback.

Grade: C-minus

Pass Defense

Jalen Hurts, who had seven touchdown passes and two incompletions in the two games before the bye, had a mediocre night. He completed 15-of-26 passes for 183 yards and one touchdown.

There were really only two plays that hurt Green Bay’s defense through the air. Both came in the fourth quarter of what was a 3-0 game. First, Saquon Barkley converted a third-and-7 with a 41-yard catch-and-run aided by a missed tackle by Carrington Valentine. The next play was a 36-yard haymaker touchdown to DeVonta Smith.

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith (6) runs after the catch against Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Those two plays gave the Eagles 77 of their 183 passing yards.

The Packers did not sack Hurts but were good enough in coverage throughout the night. Their embattled cornerback group held Smith and A.J. Brown to 82 yards on six catches, a big reason why it held the Eagles to only 10 points.

That should have been enough to win but, thanks to the lack of scoring from their offense, it was not.

Grade: B-plus.

Rush Defense

After last week’s disappointing performance against the Panthers, the Packers had a big test with Saquon Barkley coming to town.

Barkley was last year’s rushing champion, and while he’s not having as strong of a year this year, the Eagles present a big challenge in that phase of the game

The results were good. Barkley ran for 60 yards on 22 carries, less than 3 yards per carry. Jalen Hurts added 27 on five runs, one of which ended in a forced fumble by Edgerrin Cooper.

The final numbers were 111 yards on 34 carries, which adds up to 3.3 yards per rush. The Packers’ run defense was good enough to get them into some obvious passing situations to let their pass rush try and effect the game.

It was a bounce-back for them against a good opponent.

Grade: B-plus.

Special Teams

Special teams was a walking contradiction.

Earlier in the week, Matt LaFleur said kicker was going to be a “competitive situation.” On Friday, special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said if it were up to him, Brandon McManus would kick. On Saturday, LaFleur said his comments were overblown.

Either way, McManus took the field for a 64-yard field goal and a chance to erase some of the bad memories from earlier in the season.

McManus’ attempt was not even close.

Temple legend Brandon McManus pic.twitter.com/ss4dJYQtNF
— Barstool Philly (@BarstoolPhilly) November 11, 2025

“Basically, the information I got was that he was close when he took the swing at the 64-yarder,” LaFleur said in explaining why he opted for the long field goal instead of a Hail Mary. “I don’t know what the percentages would equate to, but a Hail Mary is not by any stretch a gimme. But we had more confidence with how close the first kick was to take a shot.”

In a normal year, missing a 64-yard kick would be chalked up as a near certainty, but in this era of broken-in kicking balls and kickers making longer kicks by the week, that’s just not the case any longer.

Seven kicks of more than 60 yards have been made this season. If you don’t have a kicker who can make those longer field goals, you’re at a disadvantage.

To be fair, kicking a 64-yard field goal at Dallas or Arizona isn’t the same as kicking on a 25-degree night at Lambeau Field.

Maybe McManus still isn’t healthy, but the player he is kicking ahead of, Lucas Havrisik, made a 61-yard field goal in Arizona three weeks ago.

The Packers were supposed to be stable at kicker. They’ve been anything but through the first nine games.

Apart from the missed field goal at the end of the game, there were no glaring errors by this group. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to pull a grade down.

Grade: C

Coaching

The “P” word is something that will haunt any coach once they are labeled that way.

The word is “predictable.”

There was nothing more damning than the final play on Green Bay’s penultimate possession.

Facing a fourth-and-1, the Packers were in no-huddle trying to move the sticks in an attempt to keep the drive going. The play was stuffed, and Josh Jacobs never had much of a chance.

Eagles defensive tackle Moro Ojomo is pointing where Green Bay is trying to run.

Oh ho ho ho! Very cool! Ojomo (DT 97) loud and clear calling out the 4th and 1 go-to of the Packers.

"Inside zone this way! Inside zone this way!" https://t.co/uEhuSSkReW pic.twitter.com/VThQ210wDT
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) November 11, 2025

Jacobs confirmed the Eagles knew what was coming.

“They called it out,” Jacobs said. “They said, ‘Inside zone, it’s coming right here.’”

The play was called by coach Matt LaFleur.

“Matt makes that play call,” Jordan Love said succinctly.

“Stale” and “predictable” were words used to describe Mike McCarthy and his offense during his final seasons in Green Bay.

McCarthy was fired before the end of the 2018 season. LaFleur probably is not going to be fired during the season, and it wouldn’t be smart to do so, but this is a trend that needs to be corrected, and fast.

Green Bay’s offense is entirely too predictable.

Through three quarters, the Packers ran the ball 56 percent of the time on second-and-6 (or longer), according to Warren Sharp. They averaged less than 3 yards per carry on such runs.

Matt LaFleur on 2nd & 6+ thru the 3rd quarter:

5 RB runs
4 QB dropbacks

(56% run)

RB runs averaged 2.4 YPC

as a result of poor 2nd down decisions, the Packers averaged 9.1(!) yards-to-go on 3rd down thru the 3rd quarter

longest avg to-go in any GB game this season
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) November 11, 2025

That was an improvement from the 1.7 yards they averaged in second down distances of 7-plus yards. LaFleur called runs in 75 percent of those situations.

LaFleur has talked about these situations in the past. This time, he deflected, insisting they have been pass-heavy coming into the game

“We’re always trying to stay balanced,” LaFleur said. “Going into this game we were really heavy pass on second-and-long, so every game is a little bit different.”

The numbers above suggest that wasn’t true on Monday, and it was to the detriment of Green Bay’s offense.

There is more that plagues this offense than just running the ball in second-and-long situations. They have lost three games this year, and the defense has given up 16 points or less in all three games.

LaFleur is an offensive coach with a $220 million quarterback. To say that isn’t good enough, is an understatement.

Jeff Hafley’s masterpiece against Jalen Hurts and the Eagles’ offense is the only thing pulling this grade up this week.