Jordan Love subtly calls out Packers teammates after loss to Vikings

NFL analysts predicted it all week. It even became a topic of discussion on social media. Yet, for some reason, Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers didn’t see it coming.

LaFleur said the Packers weren’t prepared well enough for the Minnesota Vikings’ heavy man-coverage game plan, and it sure looked that way as they struggled to put up points against Brian Flores’ unit through three quarters. By the time the Packers found rhythm in the passing game, it was too late, and they lost their fourth division game of the season.

According to Next Gen Stats, the Vikings played man coverage on 47.1 percent of the Packers’ dropbacks (h/t Zach Kruse), and the offense had no answer for it.

LaFleur admitted the Vikings “played a little bit more man than we were anticipating” despite the fact they had featured more man-to-man looks in recent weeks.

So, the Vikings had shown more man coverage but LaFleur just assumed the Packers wouldn’t face much of it? OK, then. In any case, the Packers needed to find ways of getting open against it, which Jordan Love spoke about postgame.

Jordan Love gets honest about Packers’ offensive struggles vs. Vikings

Love gave an honest answer about Green Bay’s struggles against man coverage on Sunday.

“When they’re playing man coverage, it comes down to winning that one-on-one as a receiver. As a quarterback, you’ve got to have great ball placement and make plays,” said Love, via Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “But it’s one-on-one coverages, so guys just got to go win. We didn’t do a good enough job of that, but it’s on everybody. There’s not one guy that it falls on. It’s a whole team thing.”

Love wasn’t throwing his teammates under the bus and put plenty of the blame on himself, but he was subtly demanding more from his receivers, and he’s not wrong.

The receivers have to do a better job of getting open against man-to-man coverages, and LaFleur needs a better plan. Love has shredded zone looks in recent weeks, and teams will test them with man coverages more if the Packers continue to struggle against it.

Losing Christian Watson didn’t help, and the Packers failed to get Jayden Reed involved despite targeting him four times. He made just one catch for six yards.

The Packers figured things out late in the game and can learn a lot from this performance, but they need to make key improvements on both sides of the ball to make a deep playoff run. Whether it’s a rematch with the Vikings, Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, or all the above, the Packers must show better consistency and have answers for what their opponents throw at them.

That begins with the game plan. LaFleur failed to identify the potential heavy-man looks they would face. It also comes down to execution and the receivers getting open, no matter what coverages they come up against.

Love needs to play better, but he didn’t get much help in Week 17 and was spot-on with his postgame comments. The Packers need to learn and improve, and fast.