The excitement and hype surrounding the Green Bay Packers when the 2025 NFL season started has petered out a bit after their shocking 13-10 loss to the dismal Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
While the Browns are a solid defensive team, they aren’t exactly a team that one felt had a real shot at beating the Packers going into Week 3. But they did so by mucking up the game and overcoming a 10-0 deficit with less than four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, which made this loss all the more frustrating.
Green Bay still has a 2-1 record, but Sunday’s defeat could be a bit of a red flag moving forward. To that end, star safety Xavier McKinney tried to get his teammates to keep their heads up with an encouraging message.
“It’s just one [expletive] game,” McKinney said. “It ain’t going to make or break. We just gotta keep moving forward and figure out what we need to do better. I’ve been playing long enough, a lot of these guys been playing long enough to know it’s hard to go undefeated.”
Read more: Packers Slammed for Reason Behind Browns Loss
Green Bay’s defense has been excellent to start the year. It ranks first in points allowed, and while newcomer Micah Parsons has had plenty to do with that, McKinney, who made the Pro Bowl and the All-Pro First Team last year, has also played a large role.
GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN – SEPTEMBER 11: Xavier McKinney #29 of the Green Bay Packers gives a speech in a team huddle prior to an NFL football game agains… | Logan Bowles/Getty Images/Logan Bowles/Getty Images
But while the team did a fairly good job on Cleveland quarterback Joe Flacco, who completed 21 of 36 pass attempts for 142 yards and didn’t throw any touchdown passes, it allowed running back Quinshon Judkins, a second-round pick in April’s draft, to log 94 rushing yards on 18 attempts.
The question may be if the Packers’ offense is capable of becoming good enough to deliver the franchise its fifth Vince Lombardi Trophy.
While QB Jordan Love has played well to start the season, the jury is still out on whether he’s truly a championship signal-caller. The Packers also may not have a true game-breaking wide receiver on their roster yet.
The biggest negative right now for their offense is the injuries to wide receiver Jayden Reed, who just underwent surgery on his collarbone and foot. In addition, wideout Christian Watson is still recovering from a torn ACL.
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Next up for Green Bay is a road game versus the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday evening as Parsons returns to his old stomping grounds. After that, the team will have its bye week before hosting the floundering Cincinnati Bengals at Lambeau Field.
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