The Green Bay Packers scored 20 points and comfortably beat the Brett Rypien-led Los Angeles Rams by 17 points on Sunday at Lambeau Field, but all the missed scoring opportunities from both the first and second half — eight in total, counting the squandered touchdown chances — must serve as valuable learning moments as the young Packers offense keeps developing and growing this season.
During one stretch in the second half, the Packers scored on three of four possessions to turn a 7-3 lead into a commanding 20-3 win. But missing good opportunities to score is generally a good way to lose games against better competition, as the Packers have found out too many times already in 2023.
Let’s run through all the misses from Sunday:
— First drive, the Packers are penalized for offsides on 4th-and-1 from the 41-yard line, negating a successful quarterback sneak. The Packers punt.
— Third drive, quarterback Jordan Love underthrows Christian Watson on what should have been a 38-yard touchdown pass. The Packers punt.
— Fourth drive, the Packers are penalized again for offsides on 4th-and-1 from the 49-yard line, negating another successful quarterback sneak. The Packers punt.
— Fifth drive, Malik Heath drops a pass inside Rams territory, Love takes a sack, Jayden Reed false starts, and Anders Carlson misses a 48-yard field goal.
— Sixth drive, Dontayvion Wicks fumbles after making a catch at the Rams’ 42-yard line. It comes one play after a 51-yard kickoff return by Keisean Nixon.
— Seventh drive, Aaron Jones fumbles after a 9-yard run on first down to the 36-yard line.
— Eighth drive, Love is sacked by Aaron Donald on 3rd-and-2 from the Rams’ 4-yard line. The Packers kick a field goal from the 8-yard line.
— Tenth drive, A.J. Dillon is stopped for no gain on 3rd-and-1 from the Rams’ 16-yard line. The Packers kick a 34-yard field goal.
That’s eight drives in 11 possessions where the Packers had a chance to score but either gave up the ball or failed to score the maximum number of points, including two failed trips inside the red zone.
In one way, all the scoring opportunities represent a step in the right direction. The Packers consistently moved the football (only two three-and-outs) and were in position to score. Bad luck is a real thing, and the Packers were dinged by two odd and rarely called alignment penalties and two lost fumbles after not losing any fumbles during the first seven games. Love missed a touchdown pass to Watson and the offense also failed in two short yardage situations inside the red zone.
Moving the ball consistently is a good start, especially after all the recent struggles, but the goal moving forward must be improving the conversion rate on scoring opportunities. The Packers face strong defenses and/or teams that have terrific quarterbacks and can score over the next four games: at Steelers, vs. Chargers, at Lions, vs. Chiefs. Matt LaFleur’s team can’t expect to squander eight scoring chances in games against those teams and win. But if the Packers start hitting a higher percentage? This offense might finally get interesting.
