The Green Bay Packers' defense needs a bounce-back game in the worst way 

It's time for the Green Bay Packers to move on from their 40-40 tie with the Dallas Cowboys in Week 4, but one last look at the tape for evaluation purposes may not hurt anything. In fact, you can be certain that head coach Matt LaFleur and defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley spent a ton of time evaluating what went wrong for the Packers in that one.

Previously, the addition of Micah Parsons to the roster seemingly gave the Packers an elite defensive unit. They shut down the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders in Week 1 and Week 2, respectively, and even in a loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 3, they had given up zero points through three quarters.

We hadn't seen a Packers' defensive unit look so good in many years, so the excitement was bountiful. Parsons seemed to bring the players around him an energy and confidence. There was legitimate talk about Green Bay potentially having the best defense in the NFL.

And then, the Packers gave up 40 to Dak Prescott and the Cowboys. It was a shock to the system to see a unit that was flying around the field for the first three weeks of games look almost helpless against the Cowboys.

Prescott completed 31-of-40 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns. He was sacked just once (by Parsons, at least) and the Packers missed multiple tackles. Green Bay gave up 436 total yards. To put that in perspective, the Packers gave up just 476 yards against the Lions and Commanders combined.

So which is the real defense? Is it the wrecking crew from Weeks 1-3 or the swiss cheese unit that showed up in Dallas?

Packers insider  Wes Hodkiewicz doesn't quite know the answer to that question just yet, but he had an interesting take on the performance. 

"Hopefully, it was a hiccup," Hodkiewicz wrote in a recent fan mailbag. "Dak Prescott is playing like a serious MVP contender right now. So yeah, hopefully, the Packers' defensive performance in Dallas was somewhere between a hiccup and a wake-up call."

If the Packers have found themselves stuck 'somewhere between a hiccup and a wake-up call" over the last two games, the bye week couldn't have come at a better time. That's when you're able to get your team healthy and get your team mentally right.

That's exactly what the Packers have needed, so the hope is that going into Week 6's game with the Cincinnati Bengals, they come out looking hungry and focused. This defense needs to feast against a Bengals' squad that has talent, but hasn't been able to put it together this season.

Joe Flacco beat the Packers once. They can't let it happen again. 

If it's more than a hiccup, though (and we'll figure that out against the Bengals) there may be some real problems in Green Bay.