Thoughts on Week 6 (2025): Green Bay Packers vs. Cincinnati Bengals
- jpamandro
- 4 hours ago
- 10 min read
That game was a bit close for comfort given the circumstances. The Green Bay Packers were entering this game looking for their first win in a month, with their last three weeks being a loss to Cleveland, a tie against Dallas, and their bye week. Thankfully, they were back at Lambeau Field for the first time in a month against a Cincinnati Bengals team that has been struggling since they lost Joe Burrow to injury back in Week 2. A few days ago, the Bengals traded for former Browns quarterback Joe Flacco after seeing how bad Jake Browning performed (outside of garbage time). The Packers faced Flacco before back in Week 3 when they lost to Cleveland. That loss was not due to Flacco, as the Packers had too many self-inflicted wounds during that game. It was irritating how close this game was at times, but the Packers were able to get the win and improve to 3-1-1 on the season. Let’s get into detail on how this game went down.
The Bengals won the toss, but they deferred to the second half, which meant that the Packers started the game on offense. Savion Williams took the opening kickoff to the Green Bay 34 yard line. On the first play, Jordan Love found Romeo Doubs over the middle for a 21-yard pass completion. Three plays later, Love had to scramble for a first down to convert a third and 7, which he was able to do successfully. Later, Love and the Packers faced a fourth and 1 from the Cincinnati 26 yard line. They decided to go for it and successfully did a QB sneak to get the first down to extend the drive. Unfortunately, the drive ended three plays later when Love rolled to his right and threw a pass that was intended for Romeo Doubs. The ball deflected off of his hand and into the hands of safety Geno Stone, who took the pick to the Cincinnati 36 yard line. Thankfully, the Packers defense didn’t let the Bengals get a first down on their first drive and forced them to punt. The punt was fair caught by Matthew Golden at the Green Bay 8 yard line, but a holding penalty backed the Packers offense up to their own 4 yard line. Even with that bad field position, the Packers were able to move the ball down the field on their second possession. A 9-yard pass completion to Dontayvion Wicks was followed by two straight 7-yard runs by Josh Jacobs (who was under the weather on Sunday). After those plays, an end-around run by Matthew Golden resulted in an 8-yard gain and a first down on second and 3 from the Green Bay 27. Two plays later, Love found Matthew Golden for a 20-yard pass completion that gave the Packers a first and 10 at the Cincinnati 44 yard line. After a couple of nice plays, the drive ultimately stalled for Green Bay when Love ran for only 2 yards on third and 8 from the Cincinnati 27. That forced the Packers to settle for a 43-yard field goal. Due to a quad injury, Brandon McManus was unable to play for the Packers. Thankfully, the new kicker named Lucas Havrisik (who signed with the team on Saturday the 11th) made the kick, giving Green Bay a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter. The Packers did allow a 14-yard pass completion from Joe Flacco to Tee Higgins, but they were able to force another punt after that thanks to pressuring Flacco to throw three straight incompletions. The ensuing punt was caught by Romeo Doubs, who ran it to the Green Bay 16. Green Bay’s ensuing drive ended in a three and out after a short pass to Emanuel Wilson on third and 2 ended in a loss of 4 yards. The punt return gave the Bengals the ball at their own 37. The Bengals did nothing with it as they went three and out on their next possession and punted the ball back to Green Bay. The punt went into the end zone for a touchback, giving Green Bay the ball at their own 20 yard line. On third and 6 from the 24 yard line, Love connected with Dontayvion Wicks for a 6-yard pass that was just enough for the first down. After missing Luke Musgrave on a deep pass opportunity on second and 10, Love redeemed himself by finding Matthew Golden down the left sideline for a 35 yard pass completion that gave the Packers a first and 10 at the Cincinnati 35. On the next play, Josh Jacobs caught a short pass and took it to the 6 yard line. Following a defensive holding penalty, Josh Jacobs ran it in from three yards out for his first touchdown of the game. The extra point kick by Havrisik was good, increasing the lead to 10-0 with a little over 4 minutes left in the half. Even though the ensuing kickoff return only got to the 25 yard line, Ty’Ron Hopper somehow committed an unnecessary roughness penalty that gave the Bengals the ball at the 40 yard line. The Packers defense was still able to force a three and out even with that disadvantage. Romeo Doubs took the ensuing punt to the Green Bay 17. The drive started with a 24 yard pass completion to Tucker Kraft and a 12-yard run by Josh Jacobs. After that, the drive stalled and the Packers had to punt the ball back to the Bengals. Cincinnati’s offense was able to move the ball down the field just enough for Evan McPherson to attempt a 67-yard field goal (somehow). The kick bounced off the crossbar and went in, but Matt LaFleur called timeout before the snap. The second attempt was short, which gave Keisean Nixon a chance to return the missed kick. He only got to the Green Bay 32 yard line, ending the half with the score being 10-0 in Green Bay’s favor.
The Packers defense was unable to stop the Bengals on their first drive of the second half, which lasted over 10 minutes of game time. It was an instance of the Bengals offense, led by Joe Flacco, paper-cutting the Packers defense to death for 17 plays. Even a sack by Lukas Van Ness, who would leave the game later with a foot injury, didn’t stop the Bengals from finishing the drive with a touchdown pass. Flacco connected with Tanner Hudson for a 2-yard touchdown that, with the extra point kick by Evan McPherson, cut the lead to 10-7 with 4:46 left in the third quarter. Savion Williams returned the ensuing kickoff to the Green Bay 34 yard line. From there, the Packers offense went to work and answered back with their second touchdown of the game during a 9 play drive. It was a very productive drive as they didn’t have to worry about converting a third down. Right at the start of the fourth quarter, the offensive line created a hole big enough for Josh Jacobs to run for a 14-yard touchdown that, with the extra point kick by Lucas Havrisik, got the lead back up to 10 points. The Bengals offense tried to answer back with a touchdown of their own on their next drive, but Green Bay was able to keep them to only a field goal. Evan McPherson made the kick from 45 yards out to decrease the lead to 17-10 with a little over 10:40 to go in the fourth quarter. After the kick return by Bo Melton, the Packers offense started their next possession at their own 38 yard line. Jordan Love started the drive with a 15-yard pass completion to Romeo Doubs that gave Green Bay a first down inside Cincinnati territory. Three plays later, Love made a great play with his legs and scrambled for three tough yards and a first down to convert a third and one. After a Josh Jacobs run that went for 16 yards, Tucker Kraft finished the drive with a 19-yard catch and run touchdown. He did a chest bump with a lot of players to celebrate the score. The extra point was good, increasing the lead to 24-10 with a little over 7 and a half minutes left in the game. Once again, the Packers defense was unable to stop the Bengals from scoring on their next drive. It was yet another drive where Flacco was able to get the ball to his receivers. Even with this success, the Packers defense was able to force the Bengals to go for it on fourth down deep in Green Bay territory. Flacco connected with Ja’Marr Chase, who made a great catch in traffic for a 19-yard touchdown. Rather than kick the extra point, the Bengals went for two. Flacco completed the pass to Chase Brown, cutting the lead to 24-18 with a little over 4 minutes left in the game. All the Packers needed to do on their next possession was get a few first downs and seal the game. They nearly did so as they got into scoring position with a chance to seal the win. On third and 2 at the Cincinnati 21 yard line, Love (who slid two yards short on the play before to avoid a big hit) was blitzed and had to throw the ball away to avoid a sack. That incomplete pass forced Green Bay to settle for a field goal. The kick was good by Havrisik from 39 yards out, increasing the lead to 27-18 with less than 2 minutes left. Cincinnati was able to get into field goal range, but McPherson missed the 56-yard kick to the right, sealing the Packers’ first win in a month. With the win, the Packers are now 3-1-1 on the season.
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube channel. Click on “Watch on YouTube” if you’re interested.)
On offense, the Packers were not perfect by any means. On the first possession, which should have at least ended in a field goal, ended with a Jordan Love interception that was tipped by Romeo Doubs and into the hands of safety Geno Stone. Stone was also the one person who was able to sack Love later in the game. There were a few plays that didn’t work, including some WR screens that got blown up due to blocking errors (those screen passes should leave the playbook). The offensive line was a bit rusty in the first half, but they were able to get better in the second half. It helped that Zach Tom and Aaron Banks were back and that Trey Hendrickson missed the second half due to a back issue. The offensive line did a solid job protecting Love from too many sacks and giving Josh Jacobs room to run. Jordan Morgan deserves plenty of credit for helping Josh Jacobs score his first touchdown (and get Jacobs to 93 yards on 18 carries). The whole line blocked spectacularly on Jacobs’ second touchdown run as Jacobs was barely touched at all. Thanks to the offensive line, Love was able to get the ball to plenty of targets, including Romeo Doubs, Matthew Golden, Tucker Kraft (who had that great catch and run touchdown), and Josh Jacobs. He did miss Luke Musgrave on a deep pass opportunity, which I hope he can connect on with Musgrave soon. In addition to the throwing, Love was able to scramble for some good yards on Sunday. Doubs and Golden made some clutch catches on Sunday. Golden had a great catch down the left sideline that went for a 35-yard gain. I’m sure that Golden wants to get that first receiving touchdown of his NFL career. With Christian Watson returning soon from his knee injury, maybe that will happen sooner rather than later. Watson’s return can help this Packers offense hit another level of efficiency as they get ready for tougher opponents later in the season. Hopefully the Packers offense keeps getting better and better.
On defense, the Packers were also not perfect. They were able to keep the Bengals scoreless in the first half, even though they almost gave up a field goal before halftime (thank you, Matt LaFleur, for that timeout). In the second half, the defense did not play as good as they allowed a couple of long scoring drives. The first drive of the second half by the Bengals lasted over 10 minutes as the Packers defense struggled to stop the Bengals. I give credit to Flacco for playing better than when the Packers defense last played against him in Week 3 at Cleveland. However, I was disappointed that the pass rush was only able to get one sack courtesy of Lukas Van Ness (who then left the game with a foot issue). The interior defensive line struggled at times with Devonte Wyatt still out with the knee injury that he suffered against Dallas in Week 4. I really hope that he can come back soon to help the interior defensive line. Micah Parsons was not invisible as he was able to get a few pressures. For once, there needs to be a flag thrown when Micah is basically getting choked by the offensive lineman who is blocking him. Micah is due for a multi-sack game, which hopefully happens soon. What is also irritating is the inability to get turnovers. The Packers were not able to pick off Flacco once as he was able to get the ball to the likes of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tanner Hudson. Chase made a great catch in traffic for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, and I give major credit to him for that catch. The turnovers will come in bunches at some point for the defense. It wasn’t pretty for Jeff Hafley’s unit, but they performed better than when they gave up 40 points in Dallas, so there’s that. Hopefully they get even better against both the run (number one against the run) and the pass as the weeks go by.
On Special Teams, the Packers played surprisingly well given the circumstances. Yes, there were two penalties, but there were no turnovers or blocked kicks this time. Brandon McManus missed the game due to a right quad injury that he suffered in practice, and the Packers had to rely on a new kicker. His name was Lucas Havrisik, and he answered the call by making each and every kick, including the field goal that helped seal the win in the end. Daniel Whelan punted only twice, with one of them being fair caught inside the 10 yard line. There were some decent kickoff returns that helped the offense start their drives in good field position, with none of them being called back due to penalty. On the other side, the kickoff return coverage unit did a much better job than in Dallas in Week 4. Overall, I am relieved that the special teams unit under Rich Bisaccia was not responsible for a colossal mistake this time around. They better keep that going for the rest of the season, for my sanity.
Overall, I’m happy that the Packers got back in the win column for the first time in a month. The game wasn’t pretty at times, but the Packers got the win in the end and made everyone at Lambeau Field happy (other than some Bengals fans who showed up even though their season is falling apart). At this point, the Packers need to stack up the wins to stay on top of the NFC North (and the NFC in general). Next up for Green Bay is a trip to Glendale, Arizona to take on a Cardinals team that, even if Kyler Murray doesn’t play, can be a tough team to play against for odd reasons. It is on the road, but I have a feeling that the stadium will be filled with plenty of Packers fans. Hopefully everyone gets healthy before that game. Regardless of the outcome, I’ll be back for the recap of that game. In the meantime, I’m celebrating a Victory Monday. Have a great week, everyone. Go Pack Go!
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