Some solutions for bizarre, feast-or-famine Packers offense

The Packers offense has a first-half problem, but the unit's second-half performances offer potential solutions.

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Vance Joseph and the Denver Broncos defense tricked Matt LaFleur.

When the Green Bay Packers trotted out three wide receivers for the first series at Mile High on Sunday, their well-quaffed head coach and offensive play-caller lost a bit of shine. The Broncos matched Green Bay’s personnel with their base defense. Two runs into traffic led to a third-and-long situation and, soon after, a punt. With that, the Packers’ first possession coming out of the bye was scuttled, a perfect encapsulation of their problems.

It’s also an ideal example of what requires fixing. After the rapturous Week 1 win over the Chicago Bears, I warned that the Packers had to get their early down offense in gear. They haven’t. In the first halves of games, they really haven’t, putting together a historically inept offensive performance compared to the Packers teams dating back to the 1990s.

“As a play-caller, I feel 100% responsible for when it’s not working,” LaFleur said after the game, even taking the blame for quarterback Jordan Love’s game-sealing interception.

But he had a plan in the second half and it worked.

“I thought we got a little bit more aggressive in the second half with some of the play-action stuff that we were doing,” LaFleur said Monday, adding, “We know that chunk plays lead to points. That’s how this league works. It’s hard to take those 3-, 4-, 5-yard gains and consistently march the ball down the field. We know we have to find ways to generate explosives.”

But the Packers haven’t been able to calibrate the offense yet.