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Winning Ugly Is Ok, It’s Still Winning
The Green Bay Packers have ended their six-game losing streak (dating back to last season) and, even more importantly, avoided the dreaded 0-2 start. I have seen some discourse since the end of the game in Packers Nation about how they struggled with the Jets or barely beat the Jets, but when times are tough, you never should apologize for a win. Maybe this team just continues to win ugly, and that would be OK.
After blowing several fourth-quarter leads toward the end of last season and then against Minnesota in Week 1, the Packers found themselves in another game where things were going sideways late. Instead of folding again, they responded. That does not erase what happened against the Vikings, but it does show that this team can respond when adversity hits.
There will be plenty of time to talk about the penalties (there were a lot of them). There will be plenty of time to dissect the offensive struggles and the potentially season-altering injuries to Jayden Reed, Zach Bako-Bewele, Aaron Banks and Donovan Jennings. For one Sunday, though, the Packers should simply take the win.
Good teams do not always play their best football. Sometimes they have to find a way to survive. Throughout Matt LaFleur's tenure as head coach of the Packers, he and his teams have come under fire several times (rightfully so) for wilting at the end of games and not being able to finish. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, if you will. If the Packers want to be a good team (let's hope they do), they will use this experience as a launching pad for the rest of the season.
Down 17-7 with 11 minutes left, it looked like Green Bay was staring 0-2 directly in the face. Love was able to find enough time in the pocket to target Matthew Golden down the field, draw the pass interference penalty and turn things around. From that point on, Green Bay went on a 13-0 run over those final 11 minutes of the fourth quarter and five minutes of overtime and finished strong. After several injuries, miserable weather and a short week coming up against Atlanta on Thursday night, it would have been easy to pack up, head home and try to beat up on a bad Falcons team in Week 3.
That is a stark contrast to last week, when they were up 12 points, firmly in control of the game and wound up losing by 17. That team played not to lose the game; they played tight and scared. The team out on the field yesterday understood it wasn’t going to be pretty but knew they needed to come away with a win. Style points do not matter in the NFL.
“It’s a huge win,” Jordan Love said postgame. “It’s one of those games where you just have to keep fighting. It wasn’t pretty a lot of that game.”
The goal now is to use that grit and determination they found in the final 11 minutes of that game to build upon for the rest of the season. Bad losses can linger into the next week or even derail an entire season. What about a gritty win? Can Green Bay transform into a team that drags out games and wears down their opponents? Instead of an “All Gas, No Brake” mentality, maybe they just continue to win in ugly ways.
With winnable games coming up against the 0-2 Falcons and the 0-2 Buccaneers, the Packers very well could be entering the Bears game at 3-1 with a returning Micah Parsons. All along, I think people thought once Parsons returned, they would look like the dominant Super Bowl team we all aspire for them to be. That might be the case, but it also might not be. They might continue to struggle throughout games, but as long as they win, that’s OK.
Winning football games is all that matters at the end of the day. Would it be nice to have a relaxing Sunday where the Packers win 40-0? Sure it would. That just might not be who this football team is. They might be a win-in-the-final-minutes, ugly-football type of team, and that’s OK, as long as they win.
I’m not condoning bad or slopping play. I just think as fans we need to keep things in perspective. It is very hard to win in the National Football League. Check in on your Los Angeles Charger friends this morning and ask them how they would feel with a win like this. Yes, the Packers clearly have things they need to work on, things they need to fix and players that they need to get healthy if they want to be able to make a real run at a Super Bowl.
Maybe this win is what was needed to finally realize what was wrong and they'll be able to fix it. But even if they don't and all they are able to do is continue to just grind out wins every week thats ok, as long as they win. It all counts the same at the end.
Filed Under: FeaturedGreen Bay PackersDan Saia
-Dan Saia
NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Packers Week 2Packers vs Jets
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