Three reasons to worry about the Packers in 2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will kick off a season full of Super Bowl aspirations on Friday night in Brazil against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Last year, the Packers cruised into the playoffs and beat the Cowboys in the wild-card round. They won 10 games behind a young, burgeoning offense and despite a defense that ranked second to last in interceptions and couldn’t stop the run.

Jordan Love’s late-season success made the Packers one of the biggest surprises of 2023 and fueled expectations for 2024.

High hopes? No.

Here’s why the Packers could be among the NFL’s biggest disappointments this season.

1. Josh Jacobs and the ground game

Entering Week 16 of last season, the Packers had a 6-8 record. After three straight wins against the Chargers, Lions and Chiefs (the last two games proving beyond a doubt that they could compete with any team in the league), the Packers fell flat on their face by losing back-to-back games against the Giants and Buccaneers.

However, Green Bay rallied with three straight wins it needed to make the playoffs, then crushed Dallas.

Jordan Love was magnificent in those games, but that four-game winning streak coincided with Aaron Jones’ full integration into the lineup. Finally healthy, Jones rushed for 127 yards against the Panthers, 120 yards against the Vikings and 111 yards against the Bears to get into the playoffs and 118 yards against the Cowboys.

Love threw 10 touchdowns and zero interceptions during the winning streak. With Jones running rampant, Love posted a near-perfect 155.4 passer rating on play-action passes in those four games.

That’s a lot of words to say to Jacobs, the new number one running back.

The 2022 rushing champion had a dismal 2023. Of 49 running backs with at least 100 carries, Jacobs ranked 42nd in yards per carry and 46th in yards after contact per carry. He went from 90 forced missed tackles on 340 carries in 2022 to 28th on 233 carries in 2023.

Jacobs had a good training camp. He’s motivated to prove to the world that he’s still a top-tier running back. With Love and his abundance of weapons, Jacobs should have opportunities to attack defenses that aren’t necessarily designed to stop him.

“Being a running back, obviously (having) guys that you have to respect on the outside, it makes my job easier because I’m not facing heavier boxes all the time,” he said this week. “It also makes my job easier because on any given play these guys can create a big play. It makes it a lot harder to defend.”

“When you have a special quarterback like Jordan and the way he plays and the throws he can make, I think it all goes hand in hand with everything. I’m excited. Honestly, I’m excited to see these guys work. I’m excited to see the guy. I’m excited to see the intensity when the game comes. When we get hit, how do we respond? Things like that, that’s what I’m excited to see.”

But what if Jacobs can’t take advantage of those light boxes? What if he’s worn down from 1,500 touches in five seasons with the Raiders? Can Love be the great playmaking passer he was last season without a running game to keep defenses at bay?

2. Jeff Hafley

For more than a decade, the most popular person in Green Bay has been the starting quarterback. The second most popular person has been the new defensive coordinator.

Everybody loves Jeff Hafley. His scheme is great. The way he allows the defensive front to attack is great. The way he allows the defensive backs to attack is great.

But as Mike Tyson famously said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.

Hafley could be a great defensive coordinator. He could be the missing piece in the Packers’ championship puzzle. He could be the right person to maximize a defensive roster that is loaded with first-round picks and highly paid veterans.

But who knows?

Hafley has no track record. His defenses at Boston College ranged from mediocre to terrible, but college football is a sport divided between the haves and the have-nots. The Jimmys and Joes beat the X’s and O’s, as the saying goes.

From Kenny Clark to Jaire Alexander, players seem to be thrilled with what Hafley has brought to the table. Now, he must prove he can put together a winning game plan, come up with winning adjustments and put his best players in position to win games.

When you get punched in the face, you have to hit back. Harder.

“I talk to the players and I mean it,” Hafley said last week. “We’re going to work really hard until kickoff time and my sheets are going to be in front of me and I’m going to go with it, we’re going to ask for it and we’re going to play fast and hard.”

“I’m not going to second-guess the decision. We’re going to get it over to Quay (Walker) quickly so he can see how the offense is going and we can line up and play. I trust the players. I trust the staff and I just have to go make the decision and they have to play and execute and I can’t wait for that to happen.”

3. Special teams

General manager Brian Gutekunst stood by kicker Anders Carlson through thick and thin last year. Eventually, the situation became too delicate and the Packers tested the icy waters of playoff elimination.

Carlson missed a field goal in a two-point loss to Denver. He missed an extra point at Pittsburgh, forcing the Packers to go for a desperation touchdown that could have sent the game into overtime. He missed a field goal in a two-point loss to the Giants. Finally, he missed a field goal in a three-point loss at San Francisco in the playoffs.

“We needed to get better,” Gutekunst said at the end of training camp after getting rid of Carlson and his longtime rival, Greg Joseph.

After trying out five kickers during camp, Gutekunst chose No. 6 and Brayden Narveson, a rookie with a big leg and plenty of potential. Carlson, on the other hand, also has a big leg and plenty of potential. He’s still unemployed.

“I have a lot of confidence in this team and what we can accomplish, so I want to make sure we give this team every opportunity to win,” Gutekunst said.

Meanwhile, there’s an expectation that Keisean Nixon will thrive under the new kickoff rules. That might be true, but the Packers finished 29th in Rick Gosselin’s special teams rankings for 2023. That was the seventh time in the past decade that the Packers finished 26th or worse. Rich Bisaccia’s units were guilty of a league-worst 19 fouls.

Of course, past failures don’t foreshadow future disasters. However, after year after year of sustained failure, it’s critical that Bisaccia’s special teams team not get in the way of a return to New Orleans.

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