Winners and Losers from Packers’ Embarrassing Collapse at Vikings

The Green Bay Packers went into US Bank Stadium for their first game of the season hoping to set the tone after a disappointing finish to their 2025 season.

They were dealt a significant blow before the game as a sobering reminder of some of the mistakes they’ve made in recent memory.

Brian Gutekunst has largely been excellent when he has dabbled in free agency. Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Adrian Amos, Billy Turner, Josh Jacobs, and Xavier McKinney were all given significant free agent contracts by Gutekunst. All of them turned into impact players for the Packers.

The 2025 free agency class? That’s a different story. Banks and Hobbs are both significant warts on Gutekunst’s resume.

Of course, that did not matter as much in the first half when an offense is able to create big plays. Jordan Love led a feast or famine offense in the first half with four explosive plays, two to Christian Watson and two to Tucker Kraft.

Watson opened the scoring with an 81-yard catch-and-run for the Packers’ first touchdown of the season.

Green Bay’s defense was suffocating until poor situational awareness from Lukas Van Ness led to Justin Jefferson’s first touchdown of the season on a free play.

Love and the offense, after sputtering following Watson’s big touchdown, was able to put together a two-minute drive before the half to give the Packers a 19-10 lead at the break.

Green Bay entered the fourth quarter with a 22-17 lead, and that familiar theme from training camp was put into practice for the first time. The Packers had to finish.

A big turning point in the fourth quarter came when Matt LaFleur took three points off the board after Minnesota was ruled to be offsides.

Jordan Love was stopped on a quarterback sneak and Minnesota took over. Both on downs, and in the game.

The Packers looked like they had gotten off the field three separate times, but a sack, a quarterback knockdown, and an interception were negated by penalties.

Old friend Aaron Jones scored a touchdown, and the subsequent two points conversion gave the Packers a 25-22 deficit in a game that felt like they were dominating.

They had to mount a comeback in a hostile environment against Brian Flores’ defense.

Instead, the offense collapsed on itself as Jordan Love was sacked twice, including a fumble that gave the Vikings the ball in scoring position to put the game on ice.

It was another memorable finish for all the wrong reasons for a Packers team that has had a lot of those lately. That starts with the man in charge. That's why he leads off our list of winners and losers.

Loser: Matt LaFleur

The buck stops at the head coach. The reality is the Green Bay Packers have now lost six consecutive games dating back to last year. They’ve had second half leads in four of those games. They’ve had double digit leads in three of those games, including Sunday.

The biggest decision of the game came when LaFleur took three points off the board in an effort to get a first down to try and take control of the game.

The result and the play call were both poor. The process? That’s a different story. It’s hard to blame LaFleur for being aggressive when a criticism of him has been that he’s too conservative with a lead.

That being said, the Vikings outscored the Packers 22-0 after LaFleur chose to take the points off the board. It was an avalanche reminiscent of Green Bay's collapse in Denver a season ago.

The bigger concern, however, is the trend that reared its ugly head again in Minnesota. LaFleur’s team blew another second half lead. They talked all training camp about finishing, and failed miserably in their first test against a team playing a backup quarterback for the majority of the game.

LaFleur is not in any danger of losing his job at this point, he was given a contract extension after the fifth of what is now six consecutive losses, but the product on the field is not good enough. LaFleur needs to figure out a way to stop the bleeding.

Loser: 2025 Free Agency Class

Nate Hobbs was given a 4-year $48 million deal to play cornerback for the Packers last season and solidify their secondary in what they hoped was one of the finishing touches on a championship defense.

Hobbs was unavailable and ineffective for the duration of the 2025 season in Green Bay, and was released after one forgettable season.

On the other side of the ball, the big money was spent on the offensive line. After the Packers were beaten up by the Philadelphia Eagles in the postseason, they wanted to add some size to their offensive line.

Enter Aaron Banks, who was given a 4-year $77 million deal to become the enforcer on the left side of their offensive line. Banks spent most of his first season banged up, which affected his play on the field. He was solid down the stretch once he appeared to finally shake off the nagging lower body injuries.

The hope was coming into his second season, Banks would be healthy to start the season, and prove Gutekunst right on giving him a big contract, and doubling down on it during the offseason.

Instead, Banks missed most of training camp with knee tendinitis. He noted that it was hard for him to participate in football activities without pain. He told Packers on SI on Thursday that he was likely to be a game time decision. That decision turned out to be that Banks was not going to be able to play, forcing the Packers to shuffle their offensive line.

The Packers clearly believe in Banks. They stood by him this offseason in hopes that he would be healthy, but it’s hard to envision him ever being trustworthy enough to stay on the field. Can the Packers afford to count on him as a starter even when he is healthy enough to play? Banks’ situation feels like that of a ticking time bomb that could go off at any moment.

On the other hand, can they really afford to put a $77 million player on the bench? There are no good solutions, largely because the were no good decisions made in free agency in 2025.

Loser: Offensive Line

The offensive line was the discussion throughout training camp as the position group that could be the one that sinks Green Bay’s ship.

That was before the Packers pulled a rabbit out of their hat before Sunday’s game against Minnesota.

With Aaron Banks sidelined, Donovan Jennings was the choice. Not Jager Burton, who had repped at left guard throughout camp when Banks was sidelined. Not Anthony Belton, who had repped at right guard with the first team early in camp.

Instead, it was Jennings. Perhaps predictably, Jennings struggled. If there is a way to mismanage personnel on the offensive line, the Packers will certainly find a way to do it.

They looked ill prepared for Minnesota’s blitz packages, especially in the second half after Minnesota started to build their lead.

The result, was every fear from the offseason coming to light. As good as Jordan Love is, he won’t have any hope in finding receivers down the field if he’s on his back, or running for his life. He was doing far too much of both Sunday.

Up next, the New York Jets led by Aaron Glenn, who is plenty familiar with the Packers’ offense from his days with the Detroit Lions.

Loser: Run Game

The talking point throughout the offseason is that Green Bay is going to eschew their run game in favor of letting Jordan Love cook.

That does appear to be Green Bay’s best bet to scoring points, because their run game is not effective at all through one game of the 2026 season.

Whether it was Marshawn Lloyd or Chris Brooks, there was not a lot of room to run for Green Bay’s run game.

As much as Green Bay may have wanted to throw the ball, they cannot have a completely ineffective run game. The lack of ability to run the ball allowed the defense to simply tee off while running after Jordan Love, who was hit on seemingly every dropback in the second half.

Love may be the engine that drives the offense, but LaFleur is going to have to figure out some creative ways to cobble together some semblance of a ground game.

Winner: WR Christian Watson

There was a lot of discourse in the offseason surrounding whether Watson was going to be worth the gaudy contract extension he received in the offseason.

Those who were against the extension were either box score watchers, fantasy football players, or some combination of the two. Watson’s impact on the offense is obvious every week that he plays, even if it does not show up in the box score every week.

Christian Watson 81-yard catch-and-run!

GBvsMIN on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/SVOKajdaok
— NFL (@NFL) September 13, 2026

In his first game after the extension, Watson had the box score stats to go with the significant impact. He scored both of Green Bay’s touchdowns in the first half, and added a 32-yard reception while he was being interfered with during Green Bay’s two-minute drill.

With little time to throw in the second half, the Packers could not find a way to get Watson the ball. At the four minute mark in the fourth quarter, Watson made his first catch of the second half.

Yes, Love was under siege for the majority of the half, but it’s up to the coaching staff and the quarterback to figure out a way to get the ball into their best players’ hands. They did not do a good enough job on Sunday.

Winner: LB Edgerrin Cooper

Who is going to be the star on defense without Micah Parsons? Edgerrin Cooper is someone who certainly tried to stake a claim on Sunday afternoon.

Had it not been for an illegal contact penalty, Cooper would have had sacks on back-to-back plays.

In coverage, Cooper looks fast and fluid, while flying to the ball to make tackles.

He finished the game with one sack, two TFL’s and six solo tackles. He was a bright spot, that could have been even brighter if they had caught a few more breaks.

Winner: CB Keisean Nixon

The most popular player in the Green Bay fan base wasted little time making an impact in 2026. The first play of the game resulted in Nixon tackling Aaron Jones for a loss. The second play was Nixon’s first interception of the season, equaling his total from a season ago.

Keisean Nixon intercepts the first pass of the game

GBvsMIN on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/rV7m8xe3TQ
— NFL (@NFL) September 13, 2026

Big plays were a theme throughout the game on offense, but Nixon made the first big play of the season on defense. After a summer that was tumultuous, including Nixon stating he was being punished for being placed in a competition during training camp, Nixon had as good of a start to the season as he could have hoped for.

Winner: The Rest of the NFC North

There are three teams in the NFC North who won on Sunday. None of them were the Packers. Chicago exploded for 60 points against the Carolina Panthers. The Lions picked up a close win against the New Orleans Saints.

The Vikings were the beneficiaries of Green Bay’s collapse, and picked up a massive win in a game that they played nearly the duration with a backup quarterback.

The Packers? They’re 0-1, and blew another game that they had no business losing. They’ll have to rebound quickly.

Add us as a preferred source on Google