Matt LaFleur
Just when everyone was telling the Green Bay Packers how good they are, they went out and laid an egg, falling to the Los Angeles Chargers 26-11 on Sunday afternoon, bring to an end their four-game winning streak.
Packers fans out-numbered Chargers fans in a visiting stadium, but the Packers played their worst offensive game of the season and the defense and special teams weren’t much better.
The Packers had no answers for the Chargers defensive pressure and any adjustments came way too late to make a difference.
The Packers offense had been making steady progress and playing at a high level. Then they got their top receiver, Davante Adams, back from a turf toe injury that saw him miss four games.
The Packers only had three possessions in the first half and they stalled out for a number of reasons, including penalties.
“We did have a lot of stuff in for him (Adams), we just couldn’t get to a lot of it, unfortunately,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “But we also had stuff for Jones that we didn’t really get to. It was playing behind the sticks for most of the day and penalties and negative-yardage plays that took us out of our plan.”
The Packers had no answers for the Chargers pass rushers either. Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram combined for three sacks and six quarterback hurries.
The Packers didn’t have any luck until they chanced to a no-huddle, short passing game. That led to Aaron Rodgers driving the Packers 75 yards for their only touchdown. But it came with 6:13 left in the game and a two-point conversion made it 26-11. Too little, too late for the Packers to mount a comeback.
The Packers left for California a day early, Friday instead of the normal Saturday. Coach Matt LaFleur said he wanted his team to get acclimated to the time change after a long flight, not to mention the warmer weather.
Rodgers suggested after the game that the change could have been a part of the problem. Rodgers was very vague in his words, but one could certainly interpret that perhaps some of the players didn’t handle the time in California the right way.
“We’ve got to be honest about our routine and decisions we made the last 48 hours and make sure that our heads are in the right place the next time we come on a big road trip, which will just be in three weeks,” Rodgers said, making reference to the Nov. 24 game at San Francisco.
Rodgers said they weren’t locked in from the start and that’s a little disappointing.
The loss dropped the Packers to 7-2 and saw them miss an opportunity to move two-games in front of the Minnesota Vikings atop the NFC North after the Vikings lost at Kansas City 26-23.
Rodgers finished with just 161 passing yards on 23 of 35 passing with a touchdown. Aaron Jones was held to 30 yards on 8 carries and the Packers as a team rushed for just 45 yards on 11 carries.
Davante Adams led the Packers in receiving with seven receptions for 41 yards. Jamaal Williams caught the only Packers touchdown pass and finished with six receptions for 39 yards.
“It was a frustrating day,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “But certainly, we had a poor (offensive) performance to open up the season, as well. We’ve just got to, we got to hit the restart button, like we say every week, win, lose or draw and get back to the drawing board and be more prepared for these situations.”