Christian Watson caught six passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns, including an 81-yard strike, and it bought Green Bay nothing. The Packers lost 39-22 to Minnesota, and their franchise quarterback spent the afternoon running from the pocket or picking himself up off the turf.
Jordan Love finished 21-of-42 for 387 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Those raw numbers will get called fine. They weren't. Love took four sacks for 34 yards, fumbled twice, lost one, and posted a 54.7 QBR against an 88.1 passer rating, about as wide a split between volume and actual quarterback play as you'll find. Matt LaFleur, after reviewing the film, called out "protection busts that should not and cannot happen." He's right, and the fix isn't subtle.
Look at what the pressure did to everything else. MarShawn Lloyd carried 13 times for 37 yards, 2.8 a pop. Chris Brooks went 7 for 29, 4.1 a pop. The ground game never made the Vikings pay for sending extra rushers, so the extra rushers kept coming.
Matthew Golden drew a team-high 12 targets and turned them into 6 catches for 95 yards. Tucker Kraft saw 6 targets and made 3 for 65. Jayden Reed saw 7 targets and produced 20 yards on 3 grabs, a 6.7 average that says he was running into coverage because the pocket was collapsing around him. Bo Melton gave the offense real field position with four kick returns for 124 yards, a 31.0 average and a 59-yard long. Green Bay kept starting drives with room and kept wasting it.
My read: Watson is a locked-in weekly start, and Golden's 12 targets make him a volume play in PPR even without a touchdown. Reed is a fade until the protection holds, because a slot receiver can't separate from a defender who's already in the backfield. Kraft is a streamer with a decent floor.
The football fix matters more than the fantasy one. Green Bay has to keep a back or a tight end in to chip on early downs, even if it costs a route, until Love stops getting hit. Run empty protection again this week and the same film session happens Monday.
Marco Wexler
