The new era of Green Bay Packers football has not been a fun one. Matt LaFleur's latest chapter on Sunday in Week 10 was playing on the road at Pittsburgh. Green Bay outgained the Steelers by 75 yards, limited penalties to just five for 32 yards, and didn't play all that badly if you look at the box score.
The Packers lost, 23-19.
Since Jordan Love took over at quarterback, this Packers team has had a multitude of issues. Obviously, the quarterback can't control a defense that has struggled, but it's also seemed like Green Bay has been its own worst enemy at times through the first nine games.
Now sitting at just 3-6 overall on the season, there needs to be some changes. Specifically, the Packers need to consider benching or firing some of the key figures for the team, even if the benching is only temporary. These four Packers certainly come to mind.
4. Jordan Love, QB
We already know that general manager Brian Gutekunst isn't sold on Jordan Love as his franchise quarterback because he said as much. And when you see a game like the former first-round pick played on Sunday at should-still-be-called-Heinz Field, it's not hard to see why the brass in Green Bay aren't convinced.
As has often been the case, Love wasn't a complete disaster against the Steelers, an admittedly talented defense, though they were without Minkah Fitzpatrick. Love did throw for 289 yards in the game and threw a pair of touchdown passes. There were also some truly eye-popping throws that showed off the talent that made the Utah State product a first-rounder.
Then there were the bad parts. Not only did Love have two interceptions on the day, one on the final play of the game to seal the loss, but he barely completed over 50% of his passes on the day as well (21-of-40).
That's really been the bugaboo for Love to this point. You're going to see plenty of flashes, but the in-between moments and overall lack of consistency are far from pretty, and possibly even far from passable or acceptable as well.
Given that the Packers are still in the evaluation stage with Love to determine his future with the franchise and the franchise's future at quarterback, there's almost no chance he actually gets benched. At the same time, though, he's playing like a young player who needs some sort of reset right now. Whatever it takes to do that, whether it's sitting or something else, that's what Love needs.
3. Christian Watson, WR
After the way last season ended for Christian Watson in his rookie year, Packers fans came into the 2023 campaign hopeful that the sophomore effort from the North Dakota State product would be special. Considering he averaged 16.6 yards per catch on 33 grabs and scored seven touchdowns over the final eight games of the season, that seemed reasonable.
Instead, Watson has pretty much been a non-factor and a non-difference-maker for this offense, which is furtherer hindering the young first-time starting quarterback, Love.
Against the Steelers was an egregious example for Watson. He was targeted seven times in the game , but ended the day with just two receptions for 23 yards. Yes, not all of that is on him if targets aren't actually on target. Then again, you would expect WR1 to be in enough of a position to make plays more than 2-of-7 times when the quarterback looks his way.
Earlier in the season, it was easy to look at Watson's lack of consistency and production as him being slow to recover from a hamstring injury. Well more than a month since he started the season inactive, though, Watson has just one game in six starts with more than 37 yards, a 91-yard outing against the lowly Raiders in which he had a 77-yard reception.
This is an exceptionally young receiving room for Green Bay overall, so they need guys like Watson with more experience than some to step up and be a playmaker and a reliable presence. The loss to the Steelers was a continuation of him not being that player in the passing attack.
2. Aaron Jones, RB
Another offensive weapon who has struggled with injuries this season, there have been far more weeks to this point in which Aaron Jones has been less than 100% or just simply inactive than we've seen him at full strength. However, if a player is out there -- especially a player with a capable backup -- you should expect him to at least be effective.
Jones has been nothing of the sort, or at least he wasn't against the Steelers. The former UTEP star led the team with 13 carries but managed only 35 yards (2.7 per carry) and consistently was bottled up. He also didn't make much of an impact in the passing game despite getting six targets. Jones caught four of the balls thrown his way, but managed a measly 19 yards on the day.
That only looks worse, though, when consider just how effective Jones's backup, AJ Dillon (Quadzilla himself) was when he got his opportunities. Dillon only rushed nine times, but managed 70 yards, good for 7.8 yards per carry. He also took his one reception in the loss for 11 yards, just simply making him overall a more efficient and effective player than Jones, outgaining him by 27 yards on seven fewer touches.
Jones has just been overall underwhelming this season as he's struggled to stay healthy. He's yet to eclipse even 75 yards rushing in any game this season and has averaged under 4.0 yards per carry in three of his six games he's been able to play this season.
If he were fighting through this injury as the team's best option, this would make some sense as he guts this out to give his team the best chance to win. With Dillon on the roster, though, it makes less sense to have an ineffective version of Jones leading the shares of touches.
1. Joe Barry, DC
But more than anyone on the offense, the Packers need to get Joe Barry out of Green Bay yesterday.
Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett did not have a great day throwing the football. The second-year signal-caller completed 14-of-23 passes on the day for just 126 yards. It might be a credit to Barry that they were able to limit the Pittsburgh QB in that manner -- except for the fact that we've seen Pickett be that routinely this season and that's just the Steelers' M.O. at this point offensively.
What they have been reliant upon is the run game in Matt Canada's offense. I knew this, anyone who's watched Pittsburgh this season knows this. And yet, Joe Barry didn't seem to know this. At no point did he consistently stack the box or disguise run blitzes to limit the Steelers backs. The result was Jaylen Warren rushing for 101 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries and Najee Harris rushing for 82 yards and a score on 16 carries.
This isn't anything new for Barry, though. Whether it's boneheaded decision-making such as this (or a number of other instances), personnel decisions that make no sense, generally bad play-calling, or just looking the part of a bad defensive coordinator, it's all familiar territory for Packers fans who have been calling for him to be gone for some time.
At some juncture, however, there has to be a tipping point. This week in a season already trending downward may not look like that. However, with games against the Chargers, Lions and Chiefs on deck for the Packers, the defense simply can't perform as poorly as it has recently if Green Bay wants to have a chance. Barry is the common denominator of the deensive struggles, and it's past time he was cut loose.
