Green Bay Will Go As Far As Love and the Defense Can Take Them

Green Bay Packers Green Bay Will Go As Far As Love and the Defense Can Take Them Photo Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images By Mitch Widmeier - November 10, 2026 A good run game will always travel, but as the Green Bay Packers have learned the hard way this year, you need a ground game in the first place. Special teams can be special, or they can leave you demoralized, as they did last year when the Packers lost in the Wild Card round partly due to three missed kicks. In Sunday’s win over the New England Patriots, the ground game was better, and Trey Smack was solid in the kicking department, but this team clarified its true strengths. Green Bay will go as far as Jordan Love , and this defense takes them. Love put on one hell of an aerial display against New England, throwing for 372 yards and three touchdowns. Perhaps most impressive was that every team, including the Patriots, knows Love will try to beat them deep downfield. Despite their strategy being no great secret, Love still connected on six of eight passes that traveled 20 or more yards downfield. To Matt LaFleur’s credit, he did a hell of a job finding enough balance in the offense. The box score is misleading because it shows the Packers ran it 32 times, not just 29 passes from Love. However, 13 of those 32 runs came on the final three drives, when Green Bay was milking the clock and leading by three scores. The box score will also show the Packers had 129 rushing yards on 32 attempts, by far their most productive showing in what feels like an eternity. It’s worth noting that Love and wide receiver Savion Williams accounted for 26 of those 129 yards, and 34 came from one run by Kaleb Johnson . Don't let Kaleb Johnson get hot!!! He sees it so much better than Lloyd. pic.twitter.com/bexQyn2V9u — Hayden Winks (@HaydenWinks) November 10, 2026 The final tallies might not be a sign of things to come. The Packers led comfortably because of Love and the passing game doing a marvelous job of carving up New England’s secondary. That likely won’t change. Even if it’s not a typical recipe for success come playoff time, the Packers have no choice but to ride Love’s right arm and hope to the high heavens that their No. 32-ranked rushing game finds some success along the way. LaFleur is taking the little victories with the ground game, as he should . “It was great to kind of get the run game in a better direction,” LaFleur said. “I still think we’re far from the finished product, but to get over 100 yards rushing against a pretty stout defense, I thought was pretty good.” He’s right that the run game is far from a finished product, or at least they better hope it isn’t. It’s also true the Packers churned out over 100 yards on the ground against a stingy run defense. After not cracking 66 yards in games against two of the worst run defenses in the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers earlier in the year, there was doubt whether the century mark was achievable. Jonathan Gannon’s group put on another clinic. Don’t let the 27 points posted by the Patriots fool you; 13 of them came in mop-up duty when the game was already decided. Gannon’s group forced four turnovers, including picking off Drake Maye three times, and sacked New England’s quarterback four times. Maye had turned a corner since Week 4, looking more like the quarterback who was a runner-up in the MVP voting just a year ago. It was a harsh return to reality against the Packers as Gannon unloaded blitzes and constantly changed the look for Maye. Green Bay’s defense has been brilliant for most of the season. There was a hiccup against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 3, and short fields due to offensive turnovers in Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings inflated some numbers. Outside of that, it’s been a group that has suffocated the opposition, and they’ve done it all without Micah Parsons playing a single snap yet. The sample size now looks large enough to suggest that Gannon’s defense is real this year, and the addition of Parsons will only enhance it. Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said after the game that the turnovers were frustrating because he knew Gannon’s defense has feasted off them this year. The turnovers are disappointing because, first of all, that’s what they’ve done all year, so that’s not a surprise. Seventeen percent, eighteen percent of their drives end in a turnover. We’ve just added to that. So, between the pressure, I think probably a little bit of scheme, and a lot of execution on their end. Guys made plays. I thought there were some positive plays that we had, and then certainly some ball placements and decisions that certainly have to be better. After beating the Patriots, the Packers’ odds to make the playoffs bumped up to 59%. If they make the dance, how far they go will depend on Love and the defense. Mitch Widmeier Mitch Widmeier covers the Green Bay Packers for Zone Coverage. Mitch comes over from FanDuel Sports Network where he was in the content department. Follow his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@Mitch_I_Am and at @m_widmeier on Twitter. All Articles