Week 2, bring on the Jets!
Or...maybe watch out for the Jets?
Hard to say. But I don’t know about you, Packers fans, but my hand is definitely hovering over the panic button.
There are bad games, and then there’s whatever the Packers’ offensive line put on tape against the Minnesota Vikings. Jordan Love spent most of Sunday running for his life. The run game struggled to find room, and Marshawn Lloyd looked timid at best when he did find open space. Communication breakdowns turned into free rushers, and even when Green Bay appeared to know who it was supposed to block, actually blocking them proved to be an entirely different problem.
It was ugly.
Now, am I ready to smash the panic button after one game? Not yet. For right now, I’m somewhat in Offensive Coordinator Adam Stenavich’s corner. But I’d be lying if I said my hand wasn’t hovering over it. After all, it’s Stenavich who has our collective hands over it in the first place. The Packers spent the better part of two months trying to identify their best five. Whether the final decision belonged to Stenavich, Head Coach Matt LaFleur, or some combination of the two, somehow they arrived at Morgan/Jennings/Rhyan/Monk/Bako-Bewele, less Aaron Banks. For an offensive staff that spent the entire offseason preaching competition, versatility, and finding its “best five,” Week 1 looked a whole lot more like five guys who had just met in the parking lot for some backyard football.
Now, for what it’s worth, Brian Flores also happens to be one of the NFL’s most aggressive defensive coordinators, and his Vikings have made plenty of offensive lines look stupid over the years. There’s no shame in getting outschemed occasionally...But ONLY occasionally.
There is, however, plenty of reason for concern when you get outschemed, outcommunicated, and physically whipped at the same time. That’s when one bad Sunday starts looking less like an anomaly and more like a warning.
Which brings me to a player who wasn’t even in the building when he should have been.
Darian Kinnard.
Now, did Kinnard have a great preseason? No. But just like we saw with Keisean Nixon, the preseason is just that...the preseason. And to be fair, Kinnard was battling an ankle injury that kept him from putting his best foot forward. Literally. But the Packers already knew what they had in Kinnard. He was serviceable in 2025, which led Green Bay to reward him with a $1 million signing bonus this past offseason. Apparently, the Packers had money to burn, because they jettisoned Kinnard only to field Donovan Jennings and Jacob Monk on opening day.
And well, we know how that went. While I was highly skeptical of Jennings from the outset, he did alright based on what I saw on tape. Monk, however, looked like the same ol’ Monk we’re used to seeing: dazed and confused. And don’t get me started on why Jager Burton was on the bench instead of out on the field. Even when the Packers went into the locker room at halftime, they came back out with zero changes up front. Perhaps the lead they had gave LaFleur more confidence than he should have had. And now here we are.
The Packers signed former Bengal Cordell Volson to their practice squad, but it will probably be at least two or three weeks before he even has a chance to sneeze the active roster. Is he an upgrade? Slightly. But I’d much rather have Kinnard, who spent all summer here and an entire season in Green Bay before that. The problem is Kinnard is now on the Giants’ practice squad, which means bringing him back would require signing him to the Packers’ active roster. Shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Well, Green Bay already has plenty of roster Tetris to play. Micah Parsons will hopefully be back by Week 4, and then there’s Savion Williams, Luke Musgrave, and Collin Oliver likely to get activated at some point this season. But objectively, the Packers brought this on themselves. Whether it was LaFleur, Stenavich, Gutekunst, or some combination of all three, Green Bay chose to move on from a player who already knew the offense, had starting experience, and at least gave them a serviceable option when called upon. Sometimes the hardest roster decision is admitting you made the wrong one. So absolve yourselves of your sins from a couple of weeks ago.
Cut your losses. Bring Darian Kinnard home.
I don't know about you, but I didn't expect to see Jordan Love hit 18 times until at least Week 8. I don't know how much more he and the franchise can take. And while we won't see Kinnard tomorrow afternoon, let's hope we see something other than what we saw last week.
#GPG
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Joseph has been an avid fan of the Green Bay Packers since 1997, citing an affinity for dairy products during his childhood and his favorite color, green. Born in Jacksonville, FL, Joseph currently is an Active Duty servicemember in the U.S. Armed Forces. Joseph considers himself a lifelong fan of the game of football, competing since his youth well into adulthood. When it comes to the Pack, Joseph is particularly impassioned about the NFL Draft and collegiate scouting process, and will contribute regularly on CHTV.com leading to that year's upcoming Draft. You can follow him on Twitter at @joeyreyallday.
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