With game-time temperatures in the low 40s, about 10 degrees above normal highs in December, one can say it was downright “balmy” in Green Bay; Jordan Love should have been more mobile than he was last week in New York. The Packers were facing the Buccaneers, who also had a 6-7 record, but were in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC South. The Buccaneers’ starting quarterback, Baker Mayfield, has a reputation as a head case, but unlike people like Ryan Leaf he has managed to let his play on the field do most of his “talking.”
Mayfield may be too much of a head case to be a “winner,” but his numbers have looked adequate enough to make him a better option than some others, especially if he has weapons to play with, like Chris Godwin and Mike Evans. As for the Packers, they are still without Christian Watson, and AJ Dillon is out as well—which is probably the reason why the Packers didn’t wait to activate Aaron Jones for the game.
The Buccaneers opened things up with a field goal, but the Packers drove right down to the Tampa Bay 4 before losing the ball on downs. It didn’t matter; a sack-fumble gave the Packers the ball right back at the same spot and took the lead on a Love TD pass to Tucker Kraft. But Mayfield was on “fire”—completing 4 of 4 for 61 yards and a TD to Evans to retake the lead 10-7. But like last week, defense was in short supply in the first half, and after an Anders Carlson field goal tied the game, it was only to be answered again as the Buccaneers retook the lead 13-10 on a Chase McLaughlin field goal in the closing seconds.
The Packers trailing at the half is never a good sign. Mayfield was 12-14 for 187 yards, and going into the second half the Packer network game announcers remarked that Mayfield was having a “career” game, or at least up to that point. Unfortunately for the Packers, Mayfield continued to shred the Packer secondary. The third quarter started with a three-and-out by the Packers and Mayfield proceeded to throw for 64 yards and a TD pass to Rachaad White. But the Packers tried to keep up, answering after recovering from a first-and-20 with a 17-yard TD pass from Love to Jayden Reed on third-and-14.
But again came back Mayfield and the Buccaneers. Despite being sacked for the fourth time, Mayfield connected with Godwin for 21 yards on second-and-18, on the way to completing four passes for 67 yards and a TD to Ko Kieft to make it 27-17 at the end of three quarters. Mayfield threw for 131 yards in the third quarter alone for 318 yards and 3 TDs at that point. Not that Love was playing poorly; by the time the Packers answer with a field goal to make it 27-20 early in the fourth, he was 25-32 for 242 yards, 2 TDs and no interceptions.
But would the Packer defense hold just one time? The defensive line managed to do its job, recording its fifth sack of the game, but where was the defensive backfield? A 52-yard pass to David Moore briefly was possibly a fumble out of the end zone, but instead the ruling on the field stood and it was a touchdown to make it 34-20 with 6:30 to play. At that point Mayfield was 22 of 28 for 381 and 4 TDs. Incredible, but then again he has Godwin and Evans, and the Packers don’t, and although Dontayvion Wicks was giving it a good shot, Romeo Doubs was mostly a ghost.
But give Love some credit, he continued to be a gamer. But on fourth-and-ten at the Tampa Bay 30, Love couldn’t do what Russell Wilson was famous for doing, running away from defenders 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage and lofting miracle passes (yes, we remember that two-point conversion in the 2014 NFC Championship game where the Packers blew a 19-7 lead with 5 minutes to play against the Seahawks). Love was sacked for a 19-yard loss and fumbled. Mayfield didn’t throw a pass the rest of the game and didn’t need to; Packers used up all their timeouts and allowed a fourth-down conversion to ice the game for the Buccaneers. Mayfield finished with a perfect 158.3 passer rating, and Godwin caught 10 passes for 155 yards.
The Packer defense was awful, I mean really. The Buccaneers came into the game averaging 304.4 yards of offense a game, ranked in the bottom third of the league, and in this game gained 452 yards, and were 7 of 11 on third down conversions, and punted just once. But most of the blame was on the defensive backfield, still playing without Jaire Alexander, and this is another performance that calls into question defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s continued employment after the season.
As bad as the Packers rushing defense has been this season (allowing over 200 yards to the Giants last week), they were actually in the top-10 in passing yards allowed, but not in this game; Mayfield’s 381 yards was the second best of his career, and the 353 net passing yards was the most the Packers have allowed this season. But against Mayfield?
Love finished 29 of 39 for 284 yards and 2 TDs for a respectable 111.5 rating, but Jones was a non-factor, and Love’s fumble was predictably devastating to any chance the Packers had of making a comeback. The loss equaled by score the Packers previous worst game this season, against the Lions, and both losses were at home. The Packers are now 6-8 and their playoff chances—let alone avoiding a losing season—are now somewhat doubtful.
So after beating three teams on their “toughest” stretch of the season, the Packers have lost to two teams they “should” have beaten. But they are a “young” team, we are told, and they still have to learn how to handle “success.” The Packers now go on the road to play a terrible Panthers team that somehow won just its second game of the season by a 9-7 score against the Falcons. The Packers will then go on the road to play the Vikings still starting a backup and then at home against the Bears. Easy wins, right? We shall see.
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