The Green Bay Packers got a win in Week 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road. Winning as the away team in the NFL is hard.

Throw in the fact that it was hot and humid at Raymond James Stadium and it would have been easy for the Packers to have gotten demoralized and thrown in the towel — especailly when linebacker Edgerrin Cooper went down with a non-contact Achilles injury.

That's the trend we've seen from this team in the past year, at least. That's been the greatest complaint and accusation against head coach Matt LaFleur.

His team has a tough time fighting through adversity and coming out victorious on the other side.

That wasn't the case in Tampa, though, where the Packers lost Cooper and fumbled and threw away (literally) two possessions in the fourth quarter that could have iced the game on offense.

Instead, it was safety Evan Williams and the defense that had to stand up and make a play. 

Rookie undrafted quarterback Jalon Daniels had a chance to tie the game for the Buccaneers or even win it on the final drive. Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon seized on the big moment to be aggressive, though, and he deployed safety Evan Williams as a blitzer multiple times off the edge.

It worked, to the tune of a six-yard sack on second down and a fourth-down pressure that helped the Packers win the game.

"When you got play calls that your number is called, you can't shy away from that moment," Williams said after the game, per the team website. "I was excited definitely hearing that call. He called it three straight times. Again, to be able to get your number called in the biggest moments means everything. You've just got to capitalize."

In the moment, it was a nice moment for the Packers.

The issue is that, in the grand scheme of things, this was one of those wins that felt like a loss in the end.

Not only was Cooper likely lost for the year after looking like an All-Pro over the first four games of the season, but even a football layman watching this game could have seen that this was not a contest between two playoff-worthy teams.

This was two bad teams scrapping it out to pull out a much-needed victory, but very few positives came out of this game. There were some, of course, but this does not look like a vintage Packers team.

Making the playoffs as a seventh-seed and getting bounced would be the absolute ceiling for this unit as it's currently constructed. In the summer, we were talking about a Super Bowl window.

Of course, it's not all their fault. You can't just lose several star players in the same campaign and hope to tread water in the NFL.

Once it's confirmed that Cooper will be lost for the year, he'll join star right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele and star wideout Jayden Reed on that list. Also, it's worth remembering that superstar pass-rusher Micah Parsons hasn't played yet this season and he's slowly worked his way back from a torn ACL suffered in December of 2025.

From Super Bowl windows to barely staying afloat, even the win in Tampa can't take away the feeling that this is starting to seem like a lost season for the Packers.

And yet, Williams and the rest of his teammates know that they must persevere. The NFL is a "next man up" league, and the Packers have no choice but to keep on fighting.

"You can't let that affect the way you play," Williams said of the injury bug. "It's just about doing your job and trusting the man next to you, even though that's not going to be Coop. I've got trust in all the guys in this locker room. We put in a lot of time in training camp to get to this point right here. Regardless who it is, we're going to ride with him all the way."