Packers Report Card: Grades from Crushing Loss to Broncos

The Green Bay Packers lost the battle against the Denver Broncos in Sunday’s 34-26 defeat. That could be something that Matt LaFleur and his team could stomach.

There is no shame in losing in a tough environment against one of the league’s best teams that is in the midst of a 10-game winning streak.

The hard part for the Packers is that they have likely lost the war. Zach Tom, Christian Watson, Evan Williams, all left the game with different ailments. The big blow came late in the third quarter when Micah Parsons was lost on a non-contact knee injury that appears destined to end his season.

The final result on the scoreboard was a 34-26 defeat that dropped the Packers to the seventh-seed in the NFC playoffs thanks to an embarrassing effort on defense once Parsons left the game.

Pass Offense

Jordan Love did not seem phased by the fact that Denver’s pass rush was as ferocious as it has been all season long in the early going. Love diced up Denver’s defense in the first half, scoring 16 points, which could have been more if not for some self-inflicted wounds. Love looked completely in command against Denver’s defense until the turning point of the game.

The Packers led 23-14, when Love lined up a deep shot to his top receiver, Christian Watson. With pressure bearing down on him, Love made a throw to give Watson a chance, but Denver’s Patrick Surtain Jr. had other ideas.

Surtain Jr. got his hands on the ball and intercepted the pass, giving Denver’s offense new life. To add injury to insult, Watson was injured on the play and his status is now uncertain.

Love and Green Bay’s offense could only muster three more points after the interception, and had three separate attempts to put together a drive to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

They failed all three times, with Denver’s pass rush taking over on the final two drives. The first attempt, was a badly thrown ball from Love that Dontayvion Wicks had to turn around to try and get a hand on that was intercepted by Riley Moss.

The final numbers are not good with two turnovers and three sacks, all of which came in the second half.

Grade: D

Rush Offense

Josh Jacobs was supposed to be hobbled with a knee injury after being designated as questionable coming into the game. Against a stingy Denver defense, Jacobs looked like the best version of himself, which was highlighted by a 40-yard run for a touchdown that gave the Packers a 23-14 lead in the third quarter.

Jacobs finished the game with 12 carries for 73 yards and averaged 6.1 yards-per-carry.

An admirable stat line for someone that came into the game on a pitch count.

OPE! He just scooted right past ya#ProBowlVote + Josh Jacobs

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— Green Bay Packers (@packers) December 14, 2025

Jordan Love added 29 yards on three scrambles, including a 24-yard-run that helped extend a drive in the third quarter.

Green Bay’s final numbers on the day were 20 carries for 115 yards, aided largely by Jacobs’ 40-yard burst. It’s easy to say in hindsight, but perhaps Jacobs should have gotten the ball more than just the 12 times he did today.

Grade: B

Pass Defense

Green Bay’s pass defense was supposed to be one of the strengths of the team. Coming into the game, it certainly had been. Micah Parsons continued to prove his mettle was one of the best players in football at his position.

The issue was whether the guys around him were going to be able to step up and make enough plays when the postseason came around.

Now, without Parsons, those guys stepping up to make more plays is even more of a necessity. The greatness of Parsons is not going to be there to cover up any warts.

Those warts came with the other rushers, and in the secondary. Bo Nix had one of the best games of his career, throwing for 302 yards, four touchdowns, and having a passer rating of 134.7.

Xavier McKinney dropped one interception, and got his hands on another potential big play. Carrington Valentine dropped an interception, and was beaten for a big fourth down conversion in the fourth quarter.

Last week’s hero, Keisean Nixon, was beaten repeatedly by Courtland Sutton, who piled up 113 yards receiving on the day.

The secondary was always going to be a pressure point for this Packers team. If they were to not make the Super Bowl, it was foreseeable that the lack of playmaking in the secondary was set to be the team’s achilles heel.

On Sunday, it certainly was, as they were torn apart by Nix and his group of pass catchers. Denver scored three touchdowns in the second half, and piled up points as Green Bay had no answers.

Grade: F

Rush Defense

Edgerrin Cooper was one of the lone bright spots in this game for Green Bay’s defense. He recovered a fumble on Denver’s first possession of the game. He snuffed out two other Broncos drives, with one coming through the air, but the other saving the game on a fourth-and-1.

Cooper stopped Denver’s fullback Nate Adkins to give Green Bay’s offense a chance late in the game to try and mount a comeback.

Overall, the Packers did a good enough job slowing down RJ Harvey and Denver’s ground game. Sean Payton tried to be creative to get Marvin Mims Jr and Bo Nix involved in the ground game.

The final numbers are that Denver ran the ball 31 times for 89 yards for a paltry 2.9 yards-per-carry.

This phase of the game was more than good enough for Green Bay to win the game, including getting the lone takeaway of the day.

Grade: A

Special Teams

Brandon McManus was perfect in his homecoming game to Denver, making all of his field goals and extra points, showing the big leg that was a big part of his game when he was a member of the Broncos. The kicking game appears to have stabilized itself.

That’s the good news.

The rest of the unit was mostly bad news. Kingsley Enagbare and Karl Brooks were both tagged for personal fouls in the first half, with Enagbare taking a shot at the punter of all players on the first punt of the game. Brooks was flagged on an extra point. Emanuel Wilson did an admirable job a week ago returning kicks, but struggled at the end of the first half. Wilson bobbled the ball that looked destined to be a touchback, and would have given Green Bay the ball at their own 35. Instead, Wilson was tackled at the 14, effectively losing 21 yards of field position.

They were below average in kick coverage with Mims and Tyler Badie both having returns of more than 30 yards.

Not a good day at the office for Rich Bisaccia’s crew.

Grade: D

Coaching

It was an up-and-down day at the office for Matt LaFleur and his coaching staff. Early in the game, it seemed like the Packers had all the answers, as they piled up 16 points in the first half that easily felt like it could have been more.

LaFleur has said in the past that he takes personal foul penalties personally, and the Packers were called for three of those in the first half. Perhaps one was questionable on Javon Bullard, but that helped the Broncos get out of a first-and-25 hole.

The oddest decision of the game came on a fourth-and-3 I n the fourth quarter when Courtland Sutton beat Carrington Valentine for a first down. There didn’t look to be anything that was there to challenge for LaFleur, but that did not stop him from throwing the red flag on the field.

Replay angles showed perhaps a little movement on the ball as Sutton went to the ground, but in a close game it felt like lighting a timeout on fire.

Defensively, Jeff Hafley did not have any answers for Denver’s passing game. That was true when Parsons was in the game, and became even more exaggerated after Parsons left the game as well.

Rich Bisasccia’s crew was tagged for two of the three personal fouls mentioned earlier. It was not a good day at the office for the coaching staff.

Grade: D

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— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) December 15, 2025