Packers Winners and Losers After First Quarter of NFL Season

The Green Bay Packers are 2-2 after the first quarter of the season. Here’s who’s up and who’s down.

Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams is off to a hot start to the season. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

That went fast. The Green Bay Packers are at the quarter pole of the season. They are 2-2 and have not played their best football to this point of the season.

Heading into Sunday’s home game against the Chicago Bears, the early part of the season has seen some young players emerge, while others have been on the wrong end of a few things.

There is still time for those who end up on our list of losers to work their way back to the winner’s circle. The same is true for the winners. They could end up on the other side of things by the end of the season.

Football has a way of seeing the cream rise to the top. Who has done that so far this season? Who has work to do? We have that and more in our list of winners and losers.

Winner: Edge Lukas Van Ness

Coming into the season, was there a player who had to emerge as a playmaker more than fourth-year edge Lukas Van Ness?

Van Ness was a first-round pick in 2023 who had yet to live up to his billing due to injuries and inconsistent play.

Micah Parsons is not coming back anytime soon. Rashan Gary was shown the door in the offseason. The same was true for Kingsley Enagbare. That meant Van Ness had to start the first game of his career Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings.

He’s certainly taken that leap to start the season. The standard numbers look good. He has 2.5 sacks, which is second on the team. He has 4.5 tackles for losses. He’s looked more disruptive now that he’s fully healthy and appears more comfortable in his role.

He has 13 pressures in 191 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. For comparison’s sake, Van Ness had 18 pressures in 366 snaps in 2023 and 20 pressures in 427 snaps in 2024. He missed half of last season due to an injured foot but had 23 pressures in 263 snaps.

Van Ness is on pace to blow by those numbers. He ranks among the top 20 in pressures and pass-rush win rate. The Packers’ pass rush has not been great through four games, but Van Ness has kept them afloat. The Packers are hoping to welcome Parsons back to the lineup sometime in the next month, which could lead to a pairing that could help slow down some of these dynamic passers the Packers are set to face as fall turns into the winter.

Winner: WR Christian Watson

We’ll have more in a little bit on contract extensions that have turned into lemons for Brian Gutekunst, but Christian Watson certainly has not been one of them. 

Watson’s $92 million contract extension raised a few eyebrows around the league. It’s clear that anyone who was asking that question wasn’t aware of how much Watson means to Green Bay’s offense. This year, he has the production in the box score to match some of the gravitational pull his skill-set brings to the offense.

He has a team-leading 331 yards and five touchdowns, including an electric 81-yard score for the first touchdown of the season at Minnesota.

Watson is on pace to break the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career. Heck, he’s on pace for 1,400 yards. Gutekunst has had a lot of bad luck with recent contract extensions, but Watson’s is aging well, so far.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) catches a touchdown pass against the Atlanta Falcons. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Winner: WR Matthew Golden

The other part of Green Bay’s dynamic duo at receiver is Matthew Golden. Any concern about his lack of production a season ago was a misunderstanding of how the Packers typically handle their rookies.

Golden had some things to learn, and the Packers had four veterans they trusted in front of him.

This year, Golden is starting to break out. He leads the team in targets. He often looks like the guy that Jordan Love is targeting in the biggest moments. His strong hands have been on display at times, though the drop against Tampa Bay was the fourth of the season.

Golden has 274 receiving yards, which don’t include the league-high four pass-interference penalties he's drawn. After having zero touchdowns in the regular season last year, Golden has two on the young season. If he can stay healthy, he should only get better and, like Watson, challenge the 1,000-yard mark.

Winner: LB Edgerrin Cooper

Edgerrin Cooper could, unfortunately, make both the winners and losers lists because he has been lost for the season with a torn Achilles. 

It feels a little bit like last year’s ACL injury with Tucker Kraft. Kraft felt like he was on his way to an All-Pro-caliber season when he went down for the year in the eighth game of the season.

Cooper seemed to be on a similar trajectory. He had three sacks, six tackles for losses and one interception through three games and some of a fourth. He was their most dynamic player with Micah Parsons out of the lineup, and someone new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon could build his defense around.

Now, Cooper is lost for the season, and the hope is that he can be the same player he was when he returns to the lineup.

Winner: S Evan Williams

Would the Packers be 1-3 without Evan Williams in the lineup? It’s certainly possible. Edgerrin Cooper was the guy that the Packers were building their defense around in the absence of Micah Parsons. When Cooper was carted off the field, who did Gannon turn to in order to save the day against Tampa Bay?

Williams.

Williams had a sack and narrowly missed another on the final possession to clinch the game, and he had an interception that led to Green Bay’s first score. It was just another good day in what has been a string of those in 2026.

Williams leads the team with 32 tackles and four pass breakups, and will likely be asked to do more as Gannon tries to rework his defense with Cooper sidelined and Parsons’ return still on hold.

Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams (33) tackles Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jalon Daniels. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Loser: Coach Matt LaFleur

Should Matt LaFleur have been retained after Green Bay blew a 21-3 lead in a playoff game last year against Chicago?

That was up for debate at the time, but it doesn’t really matter at this point. The Packers did keep him, and gave him a contract extension.

Through four games, LaFleur has done little to justify keeping his job. The Packers are 2-2, and the two teams they’ve beaten have combined for one win. Their two losses have been humiliating, which has become the norm over the last 10 games in LaFleur’s tenure.

They’re undisciplined, with their penalties and penalty yards on pace to set a dubious NFL record. The offense looks like it doesn’t have anything to hang its hat on. Not all of that is LaFleur’s fault; he can only work with what he is given by his general manager.

It’s also true that after two years of going out of their way to not play Jacob Monk in any capacity, the Packers installed him as a starter at right guard early in training camp and never looked back.

Monk was arguably the worst preferred starter that LaFleur and his staff have put on the field during his tenure. Decision-making along the offensive line has been a bugaboo for years for LaFleur, but this one nearly got his quarterback killed.

A lot of the bad traits that have reared their ugly head under LaFleur still exist. The Packers gave up at least 17 unanswered points in each of the first three games. They were able to dig out of that against a bad Jets team, but were blown away by the Vikings and Falcons.

Now, LaFleur is set to face his nemesis on Sunday with Ben Johnson coming to town. Johnson is playing without his starting quarterback, but made it clear to his team what week it was after it knocked off the Jets on Sunday.

LaFleur is not engaging in any back-and-forth banter, but it’s clear his team needs to win. Furthermore, they need to start looking like a functional offense.

For all the talent that is on Green Bay’s offense, they have not scored more than 22 points in a game this season. They are 27th in points, 32nd on third down and 32nd in rushing.

His track record on offense is presumably a big reason why the Packers kept him despite last season’s failure.

It’s early, and LaFleur will be given time to turn the season around. For now, the Packers look a lot like a team who should have moved on from their head coach, but did not.

Loser: OL Coach Luke Butkus

The worst unit on the team by far to start the season was the offensive line coached by Luke Butkus. Jordan Love took a whopping 31 hits in three games. Everyone was a culprit. It did not matter who the Packers played on the interior, they all struggled.

They could not pass protect. They did not open holes in the run game. The untrained eye makes it look like they’re missing some basic assignments, as well.

When Travis Glover entered the starting lineup at right guard on Sunday, that’s the only time that one of Green Bay’s young players has looked like someone who could handle NFL duties this season.

Is it the players? Is it the coach? The answer is probably both, but Butkus has drawn the ire of the fanbase for the lack of development of the young players on the roster.

When the front office has to sign three veteran offensive linemen off the street or a practice squad three games into the season, things are not going well.

That’s not all on Butkus, but this is Monk’s third year with the team. Same for Donovan Jennings. According to offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich, Glover started on Sunday at the urging of Butkus. That’s good, but why didn’t Glover get a real look with the starters during camp?

The tackles, former first-round pick Jordan Morgan and former second-round pick Anthony Belton, have had their struggles. It’s not like there’s a lack of investment on Green Bay’s offensive line. To be sure, injuries to the big-money investments, right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele and left guard Aaron Banks, haven’t helped, but the young players thrust into action haven’t been up to the task.

What is going on with their development is a fair question.

Loser: GM Brian Gutekunst’s Recent Contract Extensions

Green Bay Packers chairman of the board, president and CEO Ed Policy, left, talks with general manager Brian Gutekunst befor the game against the Falcons. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Micah Parsons, Zach Bako-Bewele, Jayden Reed and Devonte Wyatt.

What do they all have in common? They’re all really good players, especially when they’re healthy.

The problem? Three of them aren’t playing with Parsons, Bako-Bewele and Reed on injured lists. Wyatt is not playing well. He has six solo tackles, no sacks and no tackles for losses this season.

Parsons will return at some point this season, but there are always questions about how much of an impact a player can have after being lost with an ACL tear. Bako-Bewele may not be able to play tackle when he returns in 2027. Reed has a neck injury, which puts his future into question.

Football is a violent sport. Anyone who has played is going to get hurt at some point. That’s the unfortunate nature of the game. The unfortunate reality for the Packers is that any contract extension is a bet on the unknown.

The Packers may need to save their locker room or perform some type of exorcism to change the fortune of the luck they have had in players they bet on.

Loser: LT Jordan Morgan

Do the Packers have their left tackle of the future? That’s a good question. Jordan Morgan has not necessarily been bad. He’s been fine. His bad moments, though, have really showed up in some big moments.

He still struggles in the run game, with his play strength a question mark. He gave up a team-high three pressures on Sunday against Tampa Bay and a couple tackles for losses on goal-line runs.

The schedule only gets harder from here. There are dates down the stretch with players like Carolina’s Jaelen Phillips, Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson, Minnesota’s Dallas Turner and Los Angeles’ Myles Garrett.

Morgan has been fine. Fine is not going to be good enough against the stars mentioned above.

Loser: The Run Game

Green Bay’s run game was historically bad through three weeks this season. That’s not an exaggeration. The 146 yards they gained through three games on the ground was the least they’ve had in the modern era. Their early-season pace put them in contention for the worst run game in NFL history.

Josh Jacobs is on the commissioner’s exempt list and there’s no end in sight for what that process is going to look like.

That means Chris Brooks, Kaleb Johnson and MarShawn Lloyd are going to be the trio tasked with giving the Packers’ offense some kind of balance.

They were better against Tampa Bay, but that is a low bar to clear.

Brooks left the game with an ankle injury. Johnson and Lloyd fumbled.

Matt LaFleur said curtly that the bench was a great teacher if those two backs were going to keep fumbling.

The problem is with Brooks on the shelf, Johnson and Lloyd are his only options unless they’re going to call up Pierre Strong from the practice squad.

Whether it’s the backs not finding holes or the line not opening them up, the run game has been putrid this year. They’re ranked 32nd in the NFL for a reason.

That affects the entire offense, and puts Jordan Love in too many obvious dropback passing situations, which also plays into how much he got hit in the first three games.

Where do the Packers have advantages over the Bears? @JacobWestendorf takes a closer look in his always-excellent weekly matchups. ⬇️https://t.co/qPwtzH8szC

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 6, 2026

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