All summer, members of the Green Bay Packers talked about “learning how to win” with youth scattered all across the offense and Jordan Love taking over a first-year starting quarterback.
Some called it excuse-making. Others believed it was the harsh reality of pro football. Peyton Manning won three games as a rookie starter. Aaron Rodgers went 6-10 in 2008.
Overcoming inexperience is hard, even for the greats.
Through five games, Love and the Packers are clearly still learning — oftentimes the hard way — how to win games and play winning football in the NFL.
Matt LaFleur’s team is 2-3 and riding a two-game losing entering the bye week. The optimism of a 2-1 start has given way to the disappointment of losing at home in primetime and on the road against a beatable opponent in back-to-back games.
So, when is the best time to learn how to win? Well, all the time. Every moment is a learning experience. But big moments late in games provide an especially excellent setting, and Love and the Packers have had plenty of valuable learning opportunities already in 2023.
In Week 1, the Packers gave up a touchdown drive that cut the lead to 10 points. But Love and the offense responded with a touchdown drive of their own in the fourth quarter, all but sealing the deal. This was a successful moment of handling adversity. When one team punches, punch back.
In Week 2, Love and the offense had two opportunities to extend the lead, retake momentum and put away the Falcons. Once the Falcons completed the fourth-quarter comeback, Love got one final shot to lead his own comeback drive. The 25-24 defeat in Atlanta was not a shining moment of handling adversity.
In Week 3, the Packers fell behind 17-0 in the home opener and looked primed for a big-time defeat to the Saints. Instead, Love and the Packers offense led three-straight scoring drives in the fourth quarter and took down the Saints 18-17. A week after blowing a lead, the Packers bounced back with a memorable comeback.
In Week 4, the Packers had chances — especially after cutting the lead to 27-11 and 27-17 — to get back into the game against the Lions, but a long touchdown drive and a Love interception in the red zone turned another comeback attempt into a comfortable Lions win.
In Week 5, the Packers fell behind 17-13 to start the fourth quarter in Las Vegas. Love got three opportunities to produce a touchdown drive and twice drove into Raiders territory only to throw interceptions, including the game-sealing pick in the end zone with under a minute to go.
Obviously, the results have been mixed. But shouldn’t that be expected of a team learning how to win?
The Packers are one drive in Atlanta and one drive in Las Vegas away from being 4-1. They are also one failed drive (or made field goal) against New Orleans from being 1-4. The volatility is a byproduct of a first-year starting quarterback seeing a lot of things for the first time and players all around him learning the NFL game on the fly.
The hope now is that, coming out of the bye, the Packers have grown as a team after learning valuable lessons during the first five weeks and can hit the ground running, starting next Sunday in Denver. There are still many things to learn, but the start to this Packers season is exactly what many envisioned when the phrase “learn how to win” was used to describe what challenges awaited.
