As the old saying goes, Super Bowls aren’t won in September. For the 2025 Packers, that’s really good news because they didn’t even win the North in September. Despite through-the-roof expectations following the unexpected Micah Parsons trade, and despite a blistering 2-0 start to the season, the Packers find themselves trailing the 4-1 Lions after a late game collapse in Cleveland and a disappointing tie in Dallas. 

Sitting at 2-1-1, many fans are disgruntled and their ire has been swift and unsparing. Some of that frustration is reasonable. Blocked kicks in back-to-back games certainly raises some accountability questions. And to hear LaFleur describe his own clock management at the end of the Dallas game – “It was like watching a slow-motion car crash in front of your face” – you’d think he was watching the game on a couch with the rest of us, and not, you know, on the sidelines with a headset. 

Will the Packers’ special teams tighten up? Will the 2-minute drill become more organized and efficient? Those situations will be a weekly test for these coaches, and we’ll soon see if they’re able to make the necessary corrections.

However, it’s not just the coaches. Players have made costly mistakes, too. In Cleveland, another valiant game from the Packers defense began to slip away when Jordan Love threw a brutal interception with just 3:18 remaining in the game. In Dallas, a Love fumble in Packers’ territory right before the half set Dallas up for a quick touchdown – and a 16-13 lead (despite Green Bay scoring the game’s first 13 points). After the fumble, broadcaster Chris Collinsworth noted that the Cowboys had made it clear that they felt Love was “a little loose with the ball” due to his long extension. 

Will Love learn from these situations? Let’s hope. Obviously, we haven’t seen the last Jordan Love interception, but his situational awareness – knowing the score of the game, and calculating risk on throws and activity in the pocket – that can be improved through repetition. I’m entirely confident Love will work on all of it. 

Another early mistake for this Packers team was hubris. After the Thursday night win against the Commanders, with the entire sports media world gassing them up, some of the Packers began to chug that Kool-Aid. Asked about the team’s hot start, tackle Rasheed Walker said, “I think we can go undefeated, honestly. Pound for pound, I look at these teams, and I don't really see who's better than us, honestly. That's why I can say that so confidently."

We all know how that story ended, and you can bet Walker and many of his teammates learned a valuable lesson in humility, focus, and what it takes to be consistently great in the NFL.

The Packers’ up-and-down start has also contained some adversity in the injury department. The team’s key off-season additions, guard Aaron Banks and cornerback Nate Hobbs, haven’t really gotten going yet, largely due to injury. Banks’ absence was exacerbated by an early injury to Zach Tom and now rookie Anthony Belton is out. The Packers also lost Jayden Reed to a fractured clavicle, which will keep him out for a significant stretch of time. Perhaps most significantly, Packers defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt is week-to-week with a knee injury, and may not be able to go vs Cincinnati. Prior to his injury, Wyatt had been playing tremendous football, which was critical following the departure of Kenny Clark in the Parsons trade. 

Certainly, injuries are part of the game and every team deals with them. Next man up and no excuses, but clearly injuries have been a significant part of the early story for this Packers team. 

In yesterday’s press conference, Coach Hafley was asked, “How much can you learn about your team in the first quarter of a season, that you don’t learn or don’t know during camp?” Hafley’s response [begins at 4:25] was both real and terrific. Discussing the Dallas game, and how the defense had made errors throughout the second half, Hafley zeroed in on a critical three-down stretch of overtime where Dallas had moved the ball inside the Packers' 10 yard line and were poised to score. Instead, the Packers unit stiffened, and held Dallas to a field goal. Even though the team ended up with a frustrating tie, and wasn’t close to satisfied, you could tell, at least through Hafley’s eyes, that this was a “moment” for this unit. Something they would be able to draw upon in the future.

That’s really how NFL seasons unfold. Almost never do teams cruise through a season to Super Bowl victory. More often than not, it’s a slog. It’s small victories within a game. In fact, the last time the Packers won a Super Bowl, they did so as a 6-seed. That 2010 team had an 8-6 record after week 15, and it took two wins in weeks 16 and 17 to even make the playoffs. It’s not always pretty. 

Still, it’s fair to wonder: Who are these 2025 Packers? Are they the team that absolutely dismantled two of the best teams in the NFC? Or are they the team that sputtered in Cleveland, and leaked in Dallas? The correct answer is that, like most teams, the Packers are still finding themselves. But there remains a lot to like in Green Bay, and through some of this early adversity, a young team may be learning what it takes to win.