The Green Bay Packers know (or ought to know) the NFL is a week to week league. The Cleveland Browns have been 0-2 and coming off a 41-17 loss earlier than coming again to beat the Packers in Week 3, whereas the Dallas Cowboys have been 1-2 and coming off a 31-14 loss earlier than tying the Packers in a shootout in Week 4. There aren’t any “cupcakes” within the NFL and groups should play nicely to win each single week.
All that stated, Matt LaFleur’s crew will get an opportunity to get proper coming out of the bye week when the struggling Cincinnati Bengals go to Lambeau Field on Sunday.
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The Bengals misplaced beginning quarterback Joe Burrow in Week 2 and have misplaced three straight video games with backup quarterback Jake Browning, who has thrown eight interceptions in 4 appearances, together with three picks in Sunday’s 37-24 loss to the Detroit Lions.
Over the final three video games, the Bengals have misplaced by 38 factors, 25 factors and 14 factors. And Sunday’s house loss to the Lions included falling behind 28-3 and 35-17 within the second half, and it took 21 fourth quarter factors to nonetheless lose by 13 factors.
What’s gone incorrect for the Bengals? Browning has been a turnover machine (9 giveaways), the run sport is possibly the worst in soccer (final in yards, thirty first in yards per carry), and the protection is bleeding yards (twenty eighth in yards per play, thirtieth in complete yards allowed) and struggling within the sport’s largest conditions (thirtieth on third down, twenty eighth in purple zone). It’s powerful to win with these variables after shedding your necessary participant.
The Packers, in the meantime, struggled by way of a tough two-week stretch earlier than the bye that included two essential particular groups errors and two essential turnovers. An opportunity to be 4-0 was recklessly thrown away. The Packers have accidents alongside the offensive line and wanted a week off to get wholesome, so the Week 5 bye — the earliest attainable bye — really got here at an excellent time. Rest, get well, replicate. The Packers wanted to do all three.
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The begin of a 13-week gauntlet begins Sunday. The Packers are getting a struggling soccer crew that hasn’t discovered its footing with a backup quarterback and was manhandled the final three weeks. And Sunday would be the Packers’ first house sport since Sept. 11 and the final house sport till Nov. 2 — LaFleur’s crew is on the street in Arizona in Week 7 and Pittsburgh in Week 8. So it is a sport the Packers will need to have.
Did the Browns and Cowboys train the Packers a useful lesson going into the bye? Nothing could be taken with no consideration. No crew on the schedule — particularly one with gamers like Ja’Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson — is an computerized “W.” The Packers have a golden alternative to get again on observe however should take benefit. No large errors. Finish the sport. Hard classes realized to begin the 2025 season should apply to the efficiency on Sunday.
This article initially appeared on Packers Wire: Packers to face struggling Bengals coming out of bye week