As loyal as the Wisconsinites in Lambeau Field are to the Green Bay Packers, Thursday night became a test of their patience. The team entered their home opener against the Atlanta Falcons knowing they would have their hands full. They no longer have Josh Jacobs, which has put them at a league-worst 64.5 rushing yards per game. On the defense, they also did not have Micah Parsons to undo the wrongs. What they did have was the support of 76,955 fans in Lambeau Field and their trust in their young quarterback Jordan Love. By the end of the first half, they didn’t even have that much. And there’s an explanation why.

After the 35-14 “butt whooping,” as head coach Matt LaFleur called it, he also confessed that for the first time in his eight years in Wisconsin, he has no clue what their offense is good at. It was pretty visible when the team broke multiple records for all the wrong reasons. But when it came to putting the gun on someone’s shoulder, LaFleur also did not mind taking his shots.

“I don’t wanna put all the blame on the offensive line; I mean, there’s plenty of land to go around,” head coach Matt LaFleur said during the post-game press conference. “We gotta catch the ball better; certainly, there are some throws that I think (Jordan) Love would love to have back, just like there are some play calls that I would love to have back.”

The Packers entered Week 3 after losing two offensive linemen to injury in last week’s win at the New York Jets. That translated into 12 quarterback hits on Love with one sack. But that wasn’t the only problem holding their offense back.

In the first three games, Love has completed just 52% of his passes, which accounts for the second-lowest for the team in the last two decades. And even though he was having a rather disappointing performance, LaFleur’s plays weren’t the best either.

The biggest one came on the opening drive of the second half. With 10:05 on the clock, the Packers were trailing 17-7 and were facing a 4th & 1 on the Falcons’ 7-yard line. And despite knowing how poorly their offense was doing and how Love was overthrowing, LaFleur chose to keep playing. The play was doomed from the start…

Love, trying to find someone open in the end zone, scrambled to his right. All this while, the Falcons’ Gervon Dexter Sr. had been shadowing him. Under pressure, Love threw the ball right in the middle of the end zone — to nobody.

LaFleur could’ve chosen to run the ball or opted for a QB sneak for the one yard and gotten a 1st & goal. An even safer play could’ve been a field goal. Any which way, they could’ve closed the huge 17-7 gap. But by opting for a long play and targeting Christian Watson in the end zone, they instead made things worse because Love’s throw was nowhere close to his wide receiver.

But Love was under constant threat from the Atlanta defense, getting pressured on 42% of his dropbacks per Next Gen Stats. As a result, he threw 28-of-53 for 312 passing yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. His pass-run ratio was alarming, posting 54 dropbacks against 9 pressures. However, he was sacked only once, despite such a bad O-line showing. And that’s what he is taking away from last night.

Jordan Love gives his take on the home washout while LaFleur disagrees with his take

The Falcons entered their first game with their QB1, Michael Penix Jr., under center, and he could not find his footing to begin the game. But looking at how his defense answered Love’s first touchdown, he found his rhythm. Love and his offense, meanwhile, disappeared. But the quarterback is only taking the positives from the game.

“We’re very frustrated tonight with the performance,” said Love. “But I think the positive is knowing that there’s still a lot of ball out there for us, and I think as a unit, we’ve all got to stick together.

“I think we always look back to the 2023 season, my first year starting, it didn’t start well that season as well. And we started figuring stuff out, started getting rolling, and we got hot. So there’s still a lot of ball out there in front of us. No one’s throwing in the towel at all. It’s just, we’ve got a lot of work to do to get better as a team and as an offense. So, it’s just about continuing to find the positives of what we’re doing.”

The offensive struggle was also in their running game. The Packers rushed for 17 yards — tied for the third-fewest by the franchise in more than 90 years– against the Falcons’ 242 yards. They only ran the ball nine times: four each by running backs MarShawn Lloyd and Kaleb Johnson and one scramble by Love. Their passing was no good either. Naturally, that’s exactly what concerns LaFleur right now.

“I think we’ve got to continue to work with these guys and try to figure out what we do well,” LaFleur said. “Because right now I don’t know what we’re doing well offensively.”

The Packers were booed after the game, and without a doubt, there are plenty in the fanbase who want to see some changes in the staff after this performance. LaFleur is part of that list too, but no one is under greater scrutiny than O-line coach Luke Butkus.

LaFleur answers disappointed fans about any coaching changes after tough facts come out

Injury bug became an issue for the team. Love was without a good target in Jayden Reed, who was out injured. And then there’s the banged-up offensive line, which sorely missed Aaron Banks and Zach Bako-Bewele. As such, the fans want coaching changes in the building. And understandably so, just look at these facts:

• Thursday was their first home opener loss since 2012.
• The Packers have only 146 rushing yards so far, which is the fewest by any team through three games since the 2019 season.
• Their league-worst average of 64.5 rushing yards per game in the first two weeks now stands at 48.7.  
• The Packers have not lost more than eight games in a season since 2018. They are now 1-2 for the season.
• The team is tied with the Arizona Cardinals for the third-toughest schedule this season and is set to face a handful of offensive powerhouses in the next few weeks.

However, the head coach is still rallying behind his men. He outright refused to answer the question of whether he would make changes to the O-line coaching staff.

The Packers are set to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, a team coming in with a 0-2 record, with Baker Mayfield having a bigger chip on his shoulder than ever. Whether LaFleur wants to change the dynamics in his coaching staff or not, he certainly needs to find an answer to the team’s struggles, and soon.