5 Takeaways From Packers 29 – 31 Vikings: Jayden Reed Continues to Shine

The Packers and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad first half

It is no exaggeration to say the first half of Sunday’s was the worst Green Bay has played in the Matt LaFleur era. It was utterly abject and embarrassing on both sides of the ball.

Jordan Love was clearly rusty upon returning from his knee injury, and he too often asked his receivers to pluck the ball off the Lambeau Field grass, and this set the tone for Green Bay’s poor first two quarters

But everything the Packers did well in the previous two games to rally around backup QB Malik Willis; receivers making plays, the defense holding up their end of the bargain, went completely out of the window.

A lack of execution and composure plagued the Packers in the first half, as the team once again committed a laundry list of untimely penalties, including a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct flag thrown on LaFleur, a bizarre situation caused by the officials failing to notice him asking for a timeout.

Regardless of how Green Bay responded in the second half, a performance like the one the entire team put on tape in the first half, in a massive divisional matchup at home, simply cannot ever happen.

Jordan Love toughs it out

Approaching half time, it was fair to question why the Packers would even bother allowing Love to continue playing and putting himself at risk of injury in a game which was essentially over, but the team was vindicated in keeping their QB1 in.

Love gradually played better and better throughout the game, and fought like hell to overturn the massive deficit. Unfortunately, he made one critical error after managing to pull Green Bay back within two scores, heaving a deep ball which was intercepted and effectively ending the game.

This evoked memories of his ill-advised pass on the final drive versus the 49ers back in January, which brought the Packers’ season to an end. In both situations, there was still enough time on the clock that the pass did not need to be forced.

After arriving for the game wearing a Brett Favre jersey, a tribute to the former Packers quarterback who recently announced he has Parkinson’s Disease, Love ended the game with a stat line fitting of Favre: 32 of 54 passing with four touchdowns and three interceptions.

Despite the heroic comeback attempt coming up short, he will have benefitted from getting back into the flow of a real game, taking hits and getting back up again. Expect him to look more fluid and consistent against the Rams next week.

Defense steps up in the second half

Jeff Hafley’s unit was put in disadvantageous situations at times in the first half, and had Isaiah McDuffie not dropped an interception on Minnesota’s first drive, the entire game could have been different.

But on the whole, the defense was well below par in the first half, offering very little pass rush or resistance towards the Vikings offense of any kind.

That changed in the second half, as the Packers defense allowed just three points and forced two turnovers, including Xavier McKinney’s fourth interception in as many games, helping to keep hopes of a comeback alive right until the end of the game.

It was always going to be a tough task to slow down Minnesota’s potent attack, especially with Jaire Alexander sidelined through injury and Devonte Wyatt also going down during the game. But Hafley can be proud of how his group competed in the second half.

Jayden Reed continues to shine

There is no doubt about it, Jayden Reed has made the ‘second-year leap’.

After leading the team in receiving as a rookie, the former Michigan State wideout is now up to 427 total offensive yards and three touchdowns through four games of his sophomore campaign.

Reed had his best receiving game of the young season on Sunday, tallying 139 yards and a touchdown on seven catches. For a smaller receiver, Reed plays big, fighting through contact to haul in a score which finally got Green Bay on the board.

There might still be questions over who is the Packers’ ‘WR1’, whatever that means, but it sure seems like Reed is simply their best receiver.

The Packers will be okay

There were times during the first half of Sunday’s game where it became fair to question the professionalism of the operation LaFleur was running, but in the second half, his team showed what they are made of.

They never folded and kept fighting until the clock hit triple zeroes. Despite making endless mistakes throughout the game, they put up 465 yards of offense against arguably the best defense in the league to this point.

Much like the Eagles game in week one, this loss was mostly self-inflicted, and should not leave Packers fans worried about their team, rather excited about what this young group can do once they stop shooting themselves in the foot.

A 2-2 record after enduring the challenges Green Bay has in the first month is nothing to be ashamed of, and this team figures to improve as the season goes on.

They will almost certainly be a playoff team and be a match for anyone in the postseason, everything before that is just jostling for position.