Thoughts on Week 9 (2025): Green Bay Packers vs. Carolina Panthers

Well, that game couldn’t have gone worse for Green Bay. Entering this game on Sunday, the Packers were looking to add to their winning streak and stay on top of the NFC North. In their way was a Carolina Panthers team that was looking to rebound from a 40-9 loss to Buffalo in Week 8. The Packers were debuting their new 1923 throwback uniforms (which looked great on the field) and were celebrating Jordan Love’s 27th birthday. Unfortunately, the game ended up being awful in a number of ways. Not only did they lose on a walk off field goal, but the Packers suffered some key injuries to their team (specifically on offense). Let’s get this game out of the way.

The Packers started this game on the defensive side of the football. At first, it looked like the defense gave up a conversion on fourth and 1 from the Carolina 36. However, the Panthers were called for a holding penalty, forcing them to punt to Green Bay. Romeo Doubs took the ensuing punt to the Green Bay 28. From there, the Packers offense were able to get into scoring range on their first possession. It was a very productive drive until it ended on a bad play. On first and 10 from the Carolina 16 yard line, Savion Williams caught a screen pass from Jordan Love. He proceeded to run into his own blocker and lost the ball, which was recovered by Carolina. The Panthers would proceed to play keep-away on a drive that lasted nearly 9 minutes of game time. During the drive, rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan made a great catch on second and 10 from the Carolina 45 that got the Panthers into Green Bay territory. Later in the drive, the Packers messed up on an opportunity for a fumble recovery. On first and 10 from the Green Bay 18, Xavier McKinney got a strip sack on quarterback Bryce Young. Nobody on defense was able to get the ball before running back Chuba Hubbard got it and went to the 12 yard line for a 6 yard gain. 2 plays later, Bryce Young threw a pass into the end zone that was picked off by McKinney. After the interception and touchback, the Packers started their second drive of the day at their own 20 with 12:55 left in the second quarter. On third and 12 from the 18 yard line, Jordan Love found Christian Watson, who made a great leaping catch for a gain of 52 yards to the Carolina 30. Two runs by Josh Jacobs that totaled 12 yards gave the Packers a first and 10 at the Carolina 18. A combination of two false starts, a sack, and an incomplete pass forced the Packers to settle for a 49 yard field goal. Brandon McManus made the kick, giving Green Bay a 3-0 lead with a little under 8 minutes left in the second quarter. The defense was unable to stop the Panthers from going on yet another time-consuming drive (which was somehow interrupted by a beach ball late in the drive). Rico Dowdle, who has had a couple of great games running the ball this season for Carolina, finished off the drive with a 5 yard touchdown run that, with the extra point, gave the Panthers a 7-3 lead with a little over 2 minutes left in the half. After a nice kickoff return by Savion Williams, the Packers started their next possession at their own 42 yard line. On first and 10, Josh Jacobs ran for 8 yards to midfield. After the two minute warning and a holding penalty called on Sean Rhyan, the Packers faced a second and 12 from the Green Bay 40. Love connected with Tucker Kraft for a 10 yard pass completion that set up a third and 2 from midfield. Josh Jacobs ran for two yards and a first down to keep the drive alive. After a holding penalty and an incomplete pass, the Packers faced a second and 20. Love connected with Romeo Doubs for a 30 yard pass completion that gave the Packers first and 10 at the Carolina 28. Chris Brooks then caught a short pass that he took 16 yards to the 12 yard line. In the end, the Packers had to settle for a field goal after an incomplete pass to Romeo Doubs on third and 6 from the 8 yard line. McManus made the 27 yard kick, cutting the lead to 7-6 at halftime.

Savion Williams took the opening kickoff of the second half to the Green Bay 32 yard line. From there, the offense got to work and moved the ball down the field in the hopes of taking the lead back. Two early Josh Jacobs runs set up a third and 1 from the 41 yard line. Jordan Love converted the third down by finding Romeo Doubs for an 8 yard pass completion. Two plays later, Jacobs was able to run for a gain of 18 yards to give the Packers first and 10 at the Carolina 31. During that play, Tucker Kraft collided with another player and went down in pain. He had to be helped off by a couple of trainers and eventually got carted back to the locker room. Three plays later, the drive stalled and the Packers had to settle for a field goal. This time, the kick by Brandon McManus went wide left, keeping the score at 7-6 in Carolina’s favor (yikes at that missed field goal). Thankfully, the Packers defense was able to force the Panthers to punt back to Green Bay. The ensuing punt was fair caught by Romeo Doubs at the Green Bay 11 yard line. From there, the Packers offense (now without Kraft, Matthew Golden, and Aaron Banks) started their next drive. That drive ended quickly as Jordan Love threw a deep pass intended for Christian Watson that was intercepted by Tre’von Moehrig. The interception was then returned to the Green Bay 38 yard line. From there, the Panthers were able to take advantage of the turnover and put more points on the board. On third and goal from the Green Bay 4 yard line, it looked like the Packers defense forced the Panthers to settle for a field goal. However, Keisean Nixon was called for a pass interference penalty that gave the Panthers an automatic first down. Rico Dowdle then finished off the drive with his second touchdown run of the day. Due to his celebration, he was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play. That penalty forced the extra point kick to be from 48 yards away. Ryan Fitzgerald missed the extra point kick, resulting in the score being 13-6 in Carolina’s favor with a little over 2 minutes left in the third quarter. After the kickoff return by Savion Williams, the Packers started their next possession at their own 29 yard line in the hopes of getting a touchdown of their own. During the drive, they faced a third and 9 from the 30. Jordan Love found Romeo Doubs for a 28-yard pass completion that got the Packers into Carolina territory. Later in the drive, they decided to go for it on fourth and 4 from the Carolina 36. Love found Chris Brooks for a short pass that went for 8 yards and another first down. They were able to get all the way to the 8 yard line before the drive went downhill. Needing only three yards to get the first down, the awful play call involved a bubble screen pass to Emanuel Wilson that went for a loss of 5 yards (plus boos from the crowd). On fourth and 8, they decided to go for it rather than take the points. Love had to run around due to not so good protection from the offensive line. The receivers were running around trying to find an opening, with Romeo Doubs going out of bounds in the process. Love chucked up a prayer of a pass that was thankfully dropped by a defender hoping for a pick. After that disaster of a play, the Panthers took over on downs. The Packers defense was able to force them to punt back to Green Bay, with Romeo Doubs fielding the punt at the Green Bay 29 yard line before going out of bounds at that same spot with 7:24 left in the fourth quarter. On first and 10, Love found Luke Musgrave for a 21 yard pass completion that got the Packers to midfield. Later in the drive, the Packers faced a fourth and 2 from the Carolina 43. Love found Malik Heath for an 11 yard pass completion that kept the drive alive. The drive ended in points when Josh Jacobs was able to get the ball to the goal line for a touchdown. Initially ruled short of the goal line, Matt LaFleur threw the challenge flag and was successful with that challenge. The touchdown, plus the extra point kick by McManus, tied the score at 13-13 with 2:32 left in the game. Unfortunately, the Packers defense was unable to get a stop and allowed the Panthers to get into scoring position. Even after LaFleur took a timeout to “ice the kicker”, Ryan Fitzgerald was able to make the kick from 49 yards out as time expired, giving Carolina a 16-13 win. With this inexcusable loss, the Packers are now 5-2-1 on the season.

(Here are the “lowlights” of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube channel. Click on “Watch on YouTube” if you’re curious.)

On offense, the Packers didn’t play well at all. One of the only positives was that no drives ended in a punt, which meant that Daniel Whelan had an “easy” day. Due to the Panthers controlling the time of possession battle, there were not many opportunities for scoring points. They turned the ball over twice, with one of those turnovers (a fumble by Savion Williams) messing up the Packers’ first possession. The other turnover was in the second half when Jordan Love threw an arm punt to the defense. That throw was predetermined as he wanted to get a deep shot to Christian Watson. There were 5 possessions that were in the red zone, yet the Packers couldn’t capitalize on every one of them. Whether it was due to turning the ball over (the fumble by Savion Williams), penalties, or bad play calling and execution (that third and 3 play call in the fourth quarter was atrocious), the Packers could not get more than 13 points on the scoreboard. It didn’t help that Brandon McManus missed a field goal during the first drive of the second half (more on McManus later). Later in the second half, the Packers decided to go for it rather than take the points with plenty of time left in the fourth quarter. That fourth and 8 play ended up being a waste of a play that almost ended in a pick. In terms of injuries, the Packers had the worst luck on offense. Aaron Banks, Matthew Golden, and Tucker Kraft all left due to injury on Sunday. For Banks and Golden, there is no long term concern with their injuries. However, Tucker Kraft suffered a torn ACL and will miss the rest of the season. A week after having his best game as a Packer, he hurt his knee during a collision with Sean Rhyan that was totally accidental. Kraft’s absence will be felt on offense not just for the catching and yards after catch stuff. He has also done great in terms of blocking his rear end off and being a locker room leader. Matt LaFleur needs to find a way to get this offense going even with Kraft being out for the season. Some suggestions for him would be to throw away the bubble screen plays and any wide run plays. Josh Jacobs is a north to south runner. He needs to let Jordan Love throw the ball more since the run game hasn’t been as effective as it was last year. The offensive line did not play as well as in previous weeks, which played a factor in the run game being not as effective. Everyone needs to step up from here on out, from the players to the coaching staff.

On defense, the Packers did well in terms of keeping the Panthers from scoring more than 20 points. Even with the offense sputtering at times, the defense kept the scoring in check on Sunday. What wasn’t good was that the defense only got to Bryce Young for one sack, which was a strip sack by Xavier McKinney (who also got a pick). The defense also allowed their first 100 yard rusher as Rico Dowdle ran for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns on 25 carries. Micah Parsons didn’t record a single pressure on Sunday, which was a first for his entire career. Carolina did a great job of keeping the ball out of Jordan Love’s hands. With how successful the run game was for the Panthers, they were able to win the time of possession battle. Even after the Packers tied the game late in the fourth quarter, the defense could not get a stop and allowed the Panthers to get into field goal range. Colby Wooden and Nate Hobbs leaving due to injury didn’t help the defense at all on Sunday (though Hobbs hasn’t played that great this season). Hopefully the defense plays a lot better against the run when they face Saquon Barkley and the Eagles next week. Jeff Hafley’s unit needs to be ready to attack the football and get more sacks and turnovers from here on out.

On Special Teams, the Packers didn’t do anything spectacular. They had no turnovers or ridiculous penalties on that side of the football. What they do have is a problem at kicker. Brandon McManus hasn’t been at 100 percent since he came back from his quad injury. During the two games that he has been back, he has missed multiple kicks, including one to the left on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Packers have been listing Lucas Havrisik as an inactive even though he has been great for the Packers and made a franchise record 61-yarder in Arizona. I understand that McManus got a three year contract extension recently, but I think he needs to be put on injured reserve for at least 4 weeks to let him rest up his quad. Keeping McManus as the kicker could mess things up even more as the weeks go by. Daniel Whelan had an “easy” day as he didn’t have to punt at all. All he did was be the holder for field goals and, in one instance due to wind, a kickoff. No kicks or punts were blocked, and no huge returns were allowed on kickoffs. There was a nice kickoff return right before halftime by Savion Williams. However, there were no long punt returns at all. On the whole, the Special Teams unit is not really performing great. Things need to improve quickly, otherwise there will be changes (looking at you, Rich Bisaccia).

Overall, this was a pathetic loss by the Packers in front of their home crowd. The game was full of missed opportunities on all sides of the ball. The throwback uniforms looked good on the field, but the performance by the players with them on was not good at all. Tucker Kraft missing the rest of the season with his knee injury will be tough to overcome. However, there is always some hope that the Packers will overcome this situation. Everyone knows that the Packers can’t lose back to back home games. Next week will be a Monday night showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles. Hopefully they don’t mess up too much from here on out. As for me, I’m taking a break for just a few days from any sports until Sunday. Have a great week, everyone. Go Pack Go.