On Saturday, January 22nd, 2022, the Packers found a new and frustrating way to lose yet another playoff game at the hands (once again) of the San Francisco 49ers.

Since that time, there have been numerous moving puzzle pieces that included a trade of Davante Adams, Aaron Rodgers’ decision to stay a member of the Packers and sign a new contract, a free agent class that included Sammy Watkins, Jarran Reed, and Pat O’Donnell, some key free agents who re-signed, including De’Vondre Campbell, Robert Tonyan, and Rasul Douglas, and a fresh and exciting new draft class.

The team changed, and after a full offseason of movement and hope, fans finally got their first glimpse of the on-field product on Sunday. Hope sprung eternal throughout the course of the offseason, and the belief was that the Packers’ defense would lead the way.

After months of waiting and anticipation, the opening kickoff was sent down to running back Kene Nwangwu, and the season was officially under way. As for that new and improved Packers’ defense, they immediately allowed an opening drive touchdown and a 7-0 Vikings’ lead.

Clearly it would get better for the Packers – right? On the Packers’ opening offensive play, Aaron Rodgers found Christian Watson who schooled Patrick Peterson with a quick move on a vertical route to burn past the veteran corner. All he needed to do was secure the catch and it was a 75-yard touchdown and a tie ballgame. Instead, the rookie dropped the pass, and it immediately felt like it was going to be that type of day.

It wasn’t all terrible for the Packers, but it certainly felt that way for the majority of the day. There were some signs, especially on defense, and the special teams showed marked improvement from last years’ 49ers debacle. But on the whole, the opening game did not live up to the offseason hype.

While there are plenty of individual performances to discuss, the game was lost by Packers’ mistakes. The Vikings were able to come up with the big plays and avoid the big errors. The Packers weren’t able to do either.

On numerous big Justin Jefferson plays there were misplays, missed communications, and missed assignments. Believe it or not, Joe Barry didn’t call the “don’t cover Justin Jefferson” defense.

Aaron Rodgers held the ball too long and threw another ball completely up for grabs which led to a Vikings interception and fumble recovery.

Christian Watson’s drop cost the Packers seven points and probably even more psychologically.

And on a key fourth and goal from the one, the Packers executed everything poorly and the Vikings took over on downs.

With better communication, one less drop, and some better decision making, this had the makings of a very entertaining game. On re-watch it didn’t feel like the Vikings were distinctly better (besides Justin Jefferson who is a bonified top-10 player in the league). It just felt like the Packers made far too many mistakes and errors.

On the offensive side of the ball, the offensive line was abysmal. On the defensive side, the communication and errors in the defensive backfield, via a slew of veteran defensive backs was completely unexpected and disappointing.

The good news is that it didn’t feel like this was a team that was lacking in talent, it felt like they were a team that didn’t go out and execute the way they were capable of executing. For Packers’ fans, it should feel very familiar to Week 1 from 2021. In actuality, it graded far worse. Last years’ blowout loss to the Saints had an overall grade of -5.50. This years’ grade was -9.50. But just like the Packers’ bounced back and won a Week 2 divisional matchup with the Lions last year, I expect another bounce back against the Bears this week. They just need to avoid the same mistakes they made in Week 1 against an inferior opponent.

One game does not a season make, but as far as first impressions go, the Packers’ 2022 team made an incredibly poor one. Now it’s on to Chicago.

A.J. Dillon +0.75 Aaron Jones +0.30 Marcades Lewis +0.30

Christian Watson -2.10 Royce Newman -1.70 Jake Hanson -1.55

Kenny Clark +1.85 Quay Walker +0.50 Dean Lowry +0.25

Adrian Amos -1.40 Eric Stokes -0.70 Jonathan Garvin -0.65

Since Matt LaFleur made his way to Green Bay, the mantra has been the same – “best five guys.” This, of course, is in reference to the Packers’ always putting their best five offensive linemen out on the field. Add in some veteran free agent additions, some key draft picks, and players like David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, and Corey Linsley over the years, and it’s been a philosophy and approach that’s worked very well.

Even in games where the Packers’ have been decimated by injuries, the Packers have been able to cobble a line together that’s always been serviceable and able to get them through games. Last season, Bakhtiari remained injured, Jenkins was out, and Linsley was gone, yet Adam Stenavich and Luke Butkus were able to keep putting out lines that mostly got the job done.

Going into the game against the Vikings, it was unknown (at least to the public) if David Bakhtiari or Elgton Jenkins would play. Both players were listed as questionable. Ninety minutes before kickoff we would learn that both players would be inactive. The Packers went with their standard line of Yosh Nijman – Jon Runyan Jr. – Josh Myers – Jake Hanson – Royce Newman.

On paper, it didn’t look great, but the Packers have won with similar lines in the past, so it felt necessary to give them the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, the line was even worse in the game than they looked on paper.

For the week, the offense had a grade of -8.60, my lowest offensive grade since Week 12 of 2019 (-9.10). Of that -8.60 grade, -6.00 was from the offensive line. Royce Newman and Jake Hanson had -1.70 and -1.55 grades respectively. Yosh Nijman’s -1.15 grade, Jon Runyan’s -0.85 grade, and Zach Tom’s -0.65 grade were also bad. The only player who had an ok game, was center Josh Myers who still graded in the negative with a -0.10 grade.

And while Aaron Rodgers had a poor performance in his own right (-0.95) I’m willing to give the quarterback and running backs a lot more accident forgiveness while the line was not holding up their end of the bargain. It was easy to see Rodgers start to get more panicked as the game went along, and he’d quickly take checkdowns instead of keeping his eyes down the field. That lack of comfort in the pocket really hurt Rodgers and the offense.

As for the running backs, they were two of the only bright spots on the day. A.J. Dillon ran hard with a +0.75 grade, and Jones had a +0.30 grade of his own. Take away the Jordan Love garbage time drive, and the Packers had 25 plays/touches/targets to Dillon and Jones that ended in 155 yards, a touchdown, and 6.2 yards per play. The other 31 plays that didn’t target or hand to Dillon/Jones led to 118 yards, 0 touchdowns, 2 turnovers, and 3.8 yards per play.

Jones and Dillon were just about the only thing that worked all day for the Packers, yet somehow, they only received a total of 25 touches/targets. Matt LaFleur was critical of his play calling and not giving the backs more opportunities, but it’s tough to get your offense going when the top playmakers aren’t touching the ball enough.

The only other players who graded in the positive were Jordan Love (+0.10), Randall Cobb (+0.05), Marcedes Lewis (+0.30), and Josiah Deguara (+0.15).

It was a brutal week for the offense, and they will have their work cut out for them against a tough Bears’ defense in Week 2.

Jordan Love +0.10 Aaron Rodgers -0.95

A.J. Dillon +0.75 Aaron Jones +0.30

Randall Cobb +0.05 Juwann Winfree +0.00 Romeo Doubs -0.05 Sammy Watkins -0.20 Christian Watson -2.10

Marcedes Lewis +0.30 Josiah Deguara +0.15 Tyler Davis -0.40 Robert Tonyan -0.55

Oh, that's fabulous. Utterly fantastic. Show a power run look with Hanson pulling & have Tonyan look like like blocking down, then release him past the pulled-up LBs. pic.twitter.com/9HAiqEoMlk

Josh Myers -0.10 Zach Tom -0.65 Jon Runyan Jr. -0.85 Yosh Nijman -1.15 Jake Hanson -1.55 Royce Newman -1.70

It was a tough week of grading for just about the entire team, but one player who deserves a ton of credit for their play was Kenny Clark. Clark graded out with a massive +1.85 game, and was easily the player of the week.

Clark looked incredibly spry and reportedly dropped his playing weight a bit this season. It looks like it paid off in a major way as he could not be stopped by the Vikings’ offensive line.

Nice to see Kenny Clark still kicking ass out there... Led the squad with 6 QB Pressures vs MIN Few 'Welcome to the NFL' moments for the rookie RG... Some vicious clubs/swats pic.twitter.com/1Gny2hCMuC

Clark held up well at the point of attack, but his ability to get around or go through Vikings’ defenders in the passing game was incredibly impressive. Clark was one of the few who played well in the 49ers’ loss a season ago (+2.05 grade) and he picked up right where he left off against the Vikings.

The second highest grade went to Quay Walker who definitely made an impact prior to leaving the game with an injury. Walker had a couple coverage snaps that he’d like to have back, but overall he played fast, rallied to the football, and was a tackling machine. Maybe most impressively, you could feel Walker when he made a tackle. The Packers haven’t had a hard-hitting inside linebacker like that since Desmond Bishop.

After Clark and Walker, there were a few other minor positives, but nobody who had any sort of standout performance.

On the flip side, it was the defensive backs who really let the team down. The group of Jaire Alexander, Eric Stokes, Rasul Douglas, Adrian Amos, and Darnell Savage were supposed to be one of the true strengths of the Packers, but the five had a combined grade of -2.95.

Adrian Amos had by far his worst grade as a Packer and played one of the worst games of his career. Amos had been so incredibly reliable throughout his time in Green Bay and Chicago that it was so rare to see a performance like that from their most consistent player. Amos inexplicably misplayed the deep ball to Justin Jefferson in quarters defense, and completely missed on a tackle in the red zone on another Jefferson touchdown.

Even without those two big plays, Amos had an inconsistent day and never really looked like himself. Meanwhile, there were far too many miscommunications and mental errors, and it really was the catalyst to the Vikings’ 395-yard day on offense.

I liked the effort, intensity, and talent that the Packers’ defense displayed, but they will have to eliminate the communication and mental errors if they want to become the top defense that everyone envisioned them to be this offseason.

Kenny Clark +1.85 Dean Lowry +0.25 T.J. Slaton +0.05 Devonte Wyatt +0.00 Jarran Reed -0.15

LOVE this hustle from Devonte Wyatt. That's a 300+ pound DL ?? pic.twitter.com/5v9gWDW42m

Kingsley Enagbare +0.10 Rashan Gary +0.00 Preston Smith +0.00 Jonathan Garvin -0.65

Quay Walker +0.50 Isaiah McDuffie +0.20 Krys Barnes +0.10 De’Vondre Campbell -0.30

Keisean Nixon +0.10 Rasul Douglas -0.30 Jaire Alexander -0.50 Eric Stokes -0.70

Darnell Savage -0.05 Adrian Amos -1.40

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