After three weeks of the 2026 NFL season, the Green Bay Packers are 1-2, coming off an embarrassing 35-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in primetime, and their issues are clear.
Quarterback Jordan Love was pressured from literally the first offensive snap of the season, to the end of it. Thursday Night Football game against Atlanta at home. The numbers and charting data backed that up, as through the first two weeks Love was pressured on 44.4% of his dropbacks, behind only Bryce Young, Caleb Williams, and Deshaun Watson, according to Pro Football Focus’ chart.
And on those dropbacks, Love completed just 36% of his passes for 300 yards, zero touchdowns, and a pair of interceptions.
That led to several additions along the offensive line, as the Packers came off a Thursday-night loss and entered a mini-bye week. Green Bay added Laken Tomlinson, Mekhi Becton, and Kevin Zeitler, a trio of veterans, to help bolster the group.
Tomlinson entered the starting lineup for Green Bay’s Week 4 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, starting at left guard. Although he was the only one of three additions to see the field — Becton remained on the practice squad and Zeitler, who was active for Week 5 against the Chicago Bears, was behind Travis Glover on the depth chart for that game — the offensive line appears to have turned the corner.
Consider this. While Love was one of the most pressured quarterbacks in the NFL until Week 3, since then the narrative has completely changed. Through Weeks 4 and 5, Love was pressured on just 13 of his 65 dropbacks, or 20%, according to Pro Football Focus.
Of the 34 quarterbacks who played in Weeks 4 and 5, that’s the lowest percentage rate in the entire NFL.
And it’s not as if Matt LaFleur and the Packers’ coaching staff suddenly leaned into a horizontal passing game, trying to get the ball into Love’s hands quickly. In these last two games, Love has attempted 13 passes of 20 yards downfield or more, deeper route concepts that require more time in the pocket.
Only Jameis Winston has tried yet.
To drive this point home, consider the very first play the Packers ran on Sunday against the Bears. Backed up in their own end of the field, where Love literally lined up in the shadow of the end zone and the goalposts, LaFleur and offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich called for a … slow-developing flea-flicker that ended with a screen to tight end Tucker Kraft:
Not exactly a lack of confidence in protection when you have it on top of the game script.
Here’s what Stenavich had to say about that play Tuesday when he met with the media in Green Bay:
The Packers reach the end zone first on this deep throw to Christian Watson, who is making a play-action. We’ll come back to that point in a moment but first, watch Tomlinson on the interior, first by helping center Sean Rhyan, and then helping out on the left to tackle Jordan Morgan, holding on in protection:
The Bears really get the pressure on this play, getting both Tyrique Stevenson and Jaylon Johnson out on the edges, but the line is just enough for Love to make Chicago’s defense pay.
Love punished Chicago’s defense again with this vertical shot to Watson, splitting two deep safeties. The route concept, with a trio of vertical routes on the left side of the formation, linebacker D’Marco Jackson works to “carry” Watson’s vertical route, and help the Cover 2 safeties in the middle of the field as the wide receiver splits them.
The quarterback, after a quick throw fake, sees the coverage and focuses his eyes on Watson, while the defense is in front of him:
Now as mentioned above, it’s time to get back to the play-action elements that work here. All three of these examples contain some level of run action — a flea-flicker, a run fake, and then a throw fake on the third snap.
Through the first three weeks of the season, Love and the Packers used play-action on 18.8% of his dropbacks, which ranked just 35th out of 37 qualified passers. Only Jalen Hurts and Cooper Rush used play-action less in Weeks 1 through 3, according to Pro Football Focus’ chart.
Love used play-action on 30.6% of his dropbacks, which ranked 13th in the league over that stretch. And on those plays, Love completed 25-of-32 passes for 424 yards (78.1% completion percentage) and three touchdowns, with no interceptions. He also averaged 13.3 yards per attempt, second only to Lamar Jackson over the past two weeks.
Against Chicago alone, 41.2% of his passing plays were on play-action, and Love went 12-for-14 for 245 yards and a touchdown.
So these concepts are, apparently, helpful.
But sometimes, you just need to block some guys, and your quarterback needs to finally get comfortable moving up in the pocket:
The Bears are carrying a … we can call it a slow-growing stunt here. But the offensive line picked it up, Love stepped comfortably into the pocket (something that had been missing earlier in the season) and the Packers were in the end zone again on a full heat-check of a throw.
After a rough start, the Packers seem to have found their feet, especially up front along the offensive line. And they have also identified some concepts in the passing game that have helped to slow down the rush in front of them, and create some explosive plays in the passing game.
And they’re looking for their best five to put out there in front of Jordan Love:
There’s an old saying about the NFL, that you find out what you’re not doing well in September, fix it in October, and get ready for a stretch run in November and December.
It looks like the Packers have checked off those first two items on the to-do list.