Packers defense lets Jordan Love, offense down — and change will have to wait

Green Bay Packers

Published Dec. 17, 2023 5:29 p.m. ET

The bend-don’t-break Green Bay defense is broken.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hung 34 points on the Packers on Sunday, winning the Week 15 game to improve to 7-7 on the season and tighten their grip on the NFC South. Quarterback Baker Mayfield completed 22 of his 28 passing attempts for a whopping 381 yards, four touchdowns and a 158.3 passer rating. Mayfield is the first visiting quarterback to ever post a perfect passer rating at Lambeau Field.

Clearly, the run defense wasn’t the only thing the Packers needed to worry about.

Bucs wide receiver Chris Godwin had over 100 receiving yards before the first half was over. He finished with 10 catches for 155 yards. Tampa Bay had 353 total passing yards. Five different Bucs receivers had 44 or more receiving yards and all four of Mayfield’s touchdown passes went to a different player.

Green Bay’s defense is built to allow yards on the ground to prevent explosive plays through the air. On Sunday, they simply had no answers. Tampa Bay scored on four straight possessions to finish the game. They converted seven of 11 third-down attempts.

In the middle of the Bucs’ scoring frenzy, Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love made his attempt at a comeback. The Packers offense was able to answer three of Tampa Bay’s scoring drives over the course of the game, including back-to-back scoring drives at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth. But Joe Barry’s defense couldn’t get a stop to help Green Bay’s offense catch up. The Bucs had over 10 plays of over 20 yards — their 99 rushing yards opened up explosive passing plays throughout the game and kept the Packers defense on its heels.

It comes the week after a sobering loss to the Tommy-DeVito-led New York Giants. Love and the offense managed to give the Packers a late one-point lead after being down 21-13 headed into the fourth quarter of that game. The defense couldn’t hold it and the Giants won with a walk-off field goal.

The Bucs game wasn’t quite as close, but you can’t deny there were opportunities to limit points by stopping even one play. The 52-yard catch-and-run touchdown to wide receiver David Moore, who had one catch for 11 yards this season coming into the game, comes to mind. Green Bay was down just one score before that touchdown and could have closed the gap offensively with a stop.

We can also examine the third-and-12 situation Tampa Bay found itself in during the third quarter. Instead of stopping the Bucs on their first possession of the second half, the Packers defense allowed Mayfield to convert a throw to Godwin for 15 yards. The Bucs finished the drive with a 26-yard touchdown by running back Rachaad White and it put Tampa Bay up two scores for the first time, which proved to be the difference in the game.

The worst part might be that the Packers are just stuck where they are defensively. Asked if he would consider a coaching change at defensive coordinator, head coach Matt LaFleur said, “Now’s not the time for that.”

He’s right, too. The system is the system right now, regardless of Barry calling it. Green Bay’s defense has been built to operate this scheme and most, if not all, of the defensive assistant coaches were brought in by Barry himself. There wouldn’t be much of a reason to make a change now, save for maybe an initial spark that we’ve seen elsewhere.

But that usually isn’t sustainable change. And as much of a confidence boost as it would provide for the Packers to make the playoffs in Love’s first year as starter, it isn’t essential. It likely isn’t possible with the defense in its current state.

With as much talent as resides on that side of the ball, the defense was supposed to be a reliable unit as Love develops. The young QB has taken steps forward. He finished 29 of 49 for 284 yards and two touchdowns against Tampa. It gave him his seventh game this season with a quarterback rating of over 100.

Love’s young receiving corps is coming along, too. Dontayvion Wicks, Tucker Kraft and Jayden Reed are becoming more productive each week. But without complementary football, Green Bay isn’t going to consistently win games.

The silver lining? With change hopefully coming in the offseason, the Packers can look toward to a bright future.

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.