The Green Bay Packers (1-1) are determined to play at the level of their competition, for better or worse, in 2026. It happened once again in Week 2 as Coach Matt LaFleur's bunch overcame their usual sloppiness and makeshift offensive line to survive a rainy trip to MetLife Stadium and emerge with a 20-17 overtime win over the New York Jets (1-1).
Green Bay became the first team in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to win a game with under 200 total yards (199), 10-plus penalties (14 for 133 yards) and no takeaways, per CBS Sports Research. Teams in this exact situation prior to the Packers' Week 2 overtime win on Sunday were 0-38. It's truly a miracle the Packers aren't trudging back to Lambeau Field to host the Atlanta Falcons on "Thursday Night Football" with a 0-2 record. And it's enough for LaFleur to start feeling some pressure.
The Packers' six-game losing streak dating back to Week 15 at the Denver Broncos last season, when All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons tore his ACL, is finally over. But it ended mostly thanks to the efforts of return man Skyy Moore rather than anything LaFleur and the offense did. Moore accounted for 92 punt return yards on four returns, including a 63-yarder that set up Trey Smack's game-tying, 34-yard field goal with 3:03 left to play. He also added an efficient 116 kick return yards on four returns, including a 43-yarder.
Wide receiver Jayden Reed (neck) and right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele (knee) were carted off on the third and fourth plays of the game. But Green Bay still had enough talent on the field with quarterback Jordan Love, tight end Tucker Kraft, wide receiver Christian Watson and 2025 first-round pick wide receiver Matthew Golden to move the ball on offense. That seemed like a tall task for LaFleur's bunch, as Green Bay didn't move the chains for a first down until the last play of the first quarter. At the end of the first half, Green Bay was 0-4 on third down with six penalties for 75 yards, and it fumbled twice, recovering both. The Packers finished the game just one of nine on third-down conversion attempts, and they fumbled five times, recovering four.
On a single drive in the second half, Kraft and left tackle Jordan Morgan were both penalized for holding, and fill-in guard Donovan Jennings surrendered a strip-sack. An illegal hands-to-the-face penalty on Jets edge rusher Kingsley Enagbare gifted his former team new life, but the offense couldn't move the ball and punted.
Perhaps the most maddening sequence of events for the Packers — outside of the Reed and Bako-Bewele injuries — came early in the fourth quarter. Green Bay linebacker Edgerrin Cooper sprung free to sack New York quarterback Geno Smith for a loss of 10 on third-and-17 to force a punt. On Moore's ensuing punt return to the Green Bay 28, defensive tackle Chris McClellan committed an unnecessary roughness penalty that pushed the Packers back to the 14. Running back MarShawn Lloyd fumbled on the first play of that drive, and the Jets recovered for the takeaway. The Jets hit a field goal on the ensuing drive, which pushed them out to a 10-point lead, their largest lead of the day.
Love and Co. made just enough plays in overtime to win. Their biggest gain in extra time (30 yards) came after an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Jets following a 15-yard catch-and-run by running back Chris Brooks. Suddenly, the Packers found themselves at the Jets' 22. After an eight-yard gain on a throw from Love to Golden, Packers rookie Trey Smack drilled the game-winning, 26-yard field goal.
Love finished the afternoon with 145 yards passing and two touchdowns on 16-of-29 passing. Former first-round pick edge rusher Lukas Van Ness saved the day for Green Bay with nine tackles (career high), one-and-a-half sacks (career high), three tackles for loss (career high) and four quarterback hits (career high). One of those TFLs came on a fourth-and-1 stuff of Jets running back Braelon Allen at midfield with 1:20 left in regulation, and the half-sack came in overtime.
Playing down to a New York Jets squad that is very much rebuilding and starting a washed-up Geno Smith at quarterback isn't something for Green Bay to celebrate. There's a case that LaFleur isn't even starting his best five offensive linemen available, even with injuries. Reports said 2026 fifth-round rookie Jager Burton outplayed undrafted veteran Donovan Jennings and 2024 fifth-round pick Jacob Monk. However, Jennings started at left guard to fill in for an injured Aaron Banks in Week 1, and Monk started at right guard in Week 2. Plus, entering the Week 2 Sunday afternoon games, the Packers' 26 penalties lead the NFL.
"The ones that are really mind-blowing are the false starts, jumping offsides and lining up offsides," LaFleur said postgame, via ESPN.
The lack of discipline, as indicated by the penalties, and the general offensive ineptitude should have LaFleur feeling some heat, despite signing an extension this past offseason. He'll need to tighten things up on his football team, and if not, Green Bay and their coach likely won't have much to celebrate going forward.
"We can't let a win mask our problems," Kraft said postgame, via The Athletic. "We have to get back to the chalkboard. We have to be aggressive. We have to look in the mirror and set a standard for ourselves as a team and as each individual."
