The Good, Bad and Ugly From Green Bay Packers’ Week 1 Loss to Minnesota Vikings

On it's own, it was a terrible collapse—the kind you have a hard time stomaching. The type you don't see coming and the type you have a hard time coming back from.

The Green Bay Packers held a 22-10 lead against the Minnesota Vikings early in the third quarter and they were up, 22-17, early in the fourth quarter. For much of the Week 1 contest at U.S. Bank Stadium, they were the better team. 

They ended up losing, 39-22.

How do you deal with a loss like that, especially to a divisional rival?

Unfortunately for the Packers, this is a familiar spot. Going back to last season, this is Green Bay's sixth straight loss, including the playoffs, and these late game collapses are becoming all too familiar.

Are these Packers and their head coach, Matt LaFleur, chokers? 

"I think it's going to be a topic of conversation for all you guys until we do it," LaFleur said after the game, per Rob Demovsky of ESPN. That's the bottom line."

The bottom line is that this was a terrible loss in a string of terrible losses for the Pack. Where there some good things that happened in this game? Of course there were. Remember, at one point they were up, 22-10, on the road against a divisional opponent.

It doesn't matter if you don't finish, though, and these Packers seemingly can't finish.

With that said, here's a look at some of the good, bad, and ugly from Green Bay's 39-22 loss to the Vikings in Week 1.

The Good:

For much of the game, quarterback Jordan Love looked like one of the elite players in this league. He finished this game having completed 21-of-42 passes for 387 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

He averaged 9.2 yards per pass and had big connections with Christian Watson, Matthew Golden and Tucker Kraft throughout the game. 

Speaking of Watson, he's seemingly picked off where he left off last season. He caught six passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns and looks every bit of the WR1 the Packers paid him to be. Kraft, coming off a torn ACL, caught three passes for 65 yards, averaging 21.7 yards per catch.

Lastly, rookie kicker Trey Smack went 3-of-3 on field goals, including a long of 59. 

The Bad:

The offensive line came into this season as a known weakness, and they were exposed in several different ways in Week 1.

Love was sacked four times and was hit 15 times. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is known to be aggressive, but he didn't have to scheme much up against this offensive line. He simply had to turn his defense loose. Per ESPN, the Vikings had a pass rush win rate of 90.6 percent, which is the highest by any team since 2022.

The line was not much better against the run. In fact, as a team, the Packers rushed for just 66 yards on 21 carries. That's 3.1 yards per carry, which isn't going to get it done.

MarShawn Lloyd led the way with 13 carries, but he could only average 2.8 yards per attempt and he finished with just 37 yards.

The running back situation, in general, is fraught until the situation with Josh Jacobs resolves. Chris Brooks is a great depth player, but he is not a starting running back.

The Ugly:

Well, there was the collapse, but it's also the bigger trend with this team.

The Packers were outscored 22-0 in the fourth quarter while giving up 29 unanswered points. 

Again, let's look at the bigger trend.

The Packers were up 23-14 in the third quarter in Week 15 of the 2025 season against the Denver Broncos and ended up losing that game, 34-26. In Week 16 against the Chicago Bears, they were up 16-6 with 5:03 in the fourth quarter and lost that game, 22-16. In the NFC Wild Card game against the Bears, they took a 21-3 lead into halftime and boasted a 27-16 lead with 6:36 to go in the fourth quarter.

They lost that game, 31-27.

This is a problem. A big problem. It all starts with LaFleur, who looks confused and shocked on the sideline whenever his team hits adversity, but everybody involved must take responsibility in order for the Packers to turn this around and play up to their true potential.

"We need to figure this out ASAP," linebacker Edgerrin Cooper said. "We got to take what we did on the field, correct the things we need to correct and prepare for next week."