Packers will have to fix their slow-start problems in big games by the playoffs

In Green Bay's four divisional losses this season, the offense has failed to hit double-digit scoring in the first half of any of them. That won't work in the playoffs.

The reputation of early Matt LaFleur teams was that they couldn’t take a punch. The real problem wasn’t their inability to punch back, but the team’s failure to punch first. This flaw trailed the team from Aaron Rodgers into Jordan Love’s tenure as slow starts scuttled a slew of games in Love’s first year as the starter. It’s been a fatal flaw this season in big games, and if the Packers want to make a run in the playoffs, they’ll have to find answers fast.

In four losses this year, the Packers’ first half scoring has been appalling, particularly for an offense that has ranked in the top five most of the season.

Vikings 1st time: 7

Lions 1st time: 3

Lions 2nd time: 7

Vikings 2nd time: 3

Green Bay got in gear in the second half of all of these games, needing one stop late to give the offense a chance to win it but coming up short. That can’t be a knock solely on the defense though because had the offense been effective to open the game, perhaps that late stop would have been to win the game outright.

Dig under the hood a little deeper though and this is where the concern grows. In the 2019 season, the Packers playoff run ended in Santa Clara thanks to a drubbing at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers. It’s remembered as a game where the defense got dog-walked, and for good reason.

Rodgers, Davante Adams, Aaron Jones and company managed to get 20 points on the board in a 37-20 loss, but all of them came in the second half. It was a 27-0 game at halftime.

A year later, MVP Rodgers and one of the best offenses of this decade put a 10-spot on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home through two quarters. They trailed 21-10 at halftime. They made it a game late, needed one stop, and couldn’t get it.

Sounding familiar?

Another MVP Rodgers team scored a single solitary touchdown against the 49ers at home the following season, the game that codified DeMeco Ryans as a head coach candidate. He stuffed Rodgers and LaFleur into a locker on their home field. This same Packers team had scored 30 points on the regular season matchup between these two, but in the playoffs, Ryans had every answer.