3 Takeaways from Packers' Week 7 Loss vs. Broncos
The Green Bay Packers turned in a lackluster performance out of their bye in their Week 7 defeat to the Denver Broncos.
Jordan Love only threw for 180 passing yards and no wide receiver had more than 30 yards in the 19-17 defeat.
The loss displayed the growing pains that are still ahead for the team in transition.
The Green Bay defense failed to force a turnover for just the second time this season and it allowed its second-highest yardage total of the campaign.
The Packers were still in a position to win in the fourth quarter thanks to a late surge from Love, but they blew that advantage after just five minutes in the lead.
Green Bay must use Sunday as a learning experience so that it can take advantage of a stretch with three home games in the next four contests.
Unacceptable Slow Start out of Bye Week
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The Packers stumbled out of their Week 6 bye with no cohesion on offense.
Green Bay punted on its first three series of the game and missed a field goal on the one solid drive it had in the opening two quarters.
The slow start was unacceptable from a team that had more than a week to prepare for the contest in Denver.
Green Bay showed no urgency on its opening three drives, and then once it grabbed some momentum, it stalled out at the Denver 25 and missed a field goal.
The Packers offense woke up with three scoring drives in the second half, but the lack of production in the first half forced them to chase and it sent the wrong message out of the week-long break.
Packers Lacked Consistent Wide Receiver Production
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Green Bay got a pair of touchdown catches out of its young receiver group, but that does not tell the whole story about Sunday's game.
Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed deserve credit for making catches in red-zone situations, but that is about all they did.
Doubs only had one other catch on four additional targets, while Reed managed just 21 yards on his three catches.
Running back A.J. Dillon finished the game as Green Bay's leading pass catcher with 34 yards on two receptions.
The lack of consistency and explosiveness was affected by Christian Watson's knee injury, but at that point, the Packers should have had one of their young players step up.
Instead, they were left with two touchdown catches that patched over a less-than-inspiring box score.
Green Bay will need more out of Doubs, Reed and Dontayvion Wicks at home over the next few weeks to beat the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams.
Defense Needed to Do More to Help Offensive Struggles
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Green Bay needed more out of its defense to flip the momentum in the contest.
The Packers only sacked Russell Wilson once and did not force a turnover for just the second time in six games.
The defense held the Broncos to three field goals in the first half. That would have been a commendable achievement if they did not allow a touchdown on Denver's first series of the second half.
Denver went 75 yards in seven plays to counter Green Bay's first scoring drive of the game. That was a point in the game in which the Packers needed a stop to shift the complexion of the contest.
Green Bay got one stop in between its offense's two touchdown drives, but it immediately let up a scoring series after the offense took the lead.
Denver used a nine-play, 41-yard drive to take close to five minutes off the clock and set up the game-winning field goal right after Reed's go-ahead touchdown catch.
The Packers had an okay game on defense, and it would have looked so much better if they slowed down at least one of Denver's responses to their scores.
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