Packers' penalty problem, Xavier McKinney's fast start and more from loss to Vikings

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers have a penalty problem.

Through four games, they rank tied for third in the NFL in penalties against with 34 after another eight Sunday in a 31-29 loss to the Vikings.

Almost two-thirds of those 34 penalties have come on offense, according to nflpenalties.com, with the Packers’ 22 infractions on that side of the ball ranking second worst in the NFL. Green Bay’s 10 defensive penalties rank tied for eighth most and the two special teams penalties rank tied for 21st.

A couple of penalties the Packers committed against the Vikings were backbreakers, including tight end Tucker Kraft’s holding penalty that negated Emanuel Wilson’s 23-yard run to Minnesota’s 11-yard line late in the third quarter with the Packers trailing by 21 (Green Bay turned the ball over on downs later in the drive). That was the Packers’ only second-half penalty, but ones like cornerback Eric Stokes’ first-quarter defensive pass interference infraction against wide receiver Justin Jefferson at Green Bay’s 3-yard line on a third-and-2 incompletion proved costly early since the Vikings scored a touchdown three plays later for a 14-0 lead.

Others, like head coach Matt LaFleur’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in the first half (more on that below), didn’t cost the Packers as much since quarterback Jordan Love found wide receiver Jayden Reed for a 15-yard touchdown on the next play. Still, you never want to gift the opponent free yards, and the Packers are doing that far too often this season.

“We’ve had repeated mistakes, whether it’s false starts, whether it’s guys jumping offsides … those things will drive you nuts and ultimately cost you games,” LaFleur said Monday. “When you look at it, we’ve had two tight games that we’ve lost. We’ve got to make sure that we don’t put ourselves in those positions where they do cost you.”

Here are other takeaways from Sunday’s game as the Packers look ahead to this week’s visit to the Rams.

X marks the spot

On a day when there was more bad than good for the Packers, safety Xavier McKinney made history in a good way with his NFL-leading fourth interception. McKinney tracked Vikings running back Aaron Jones out of the backfield as he ran a corner route and picked off what would’ve been a touchdown, maintaining control inbounds as he fell just in front of the goal line. McKinney is the first player in team history with four interceptions in his first four games with the Packers.

“But it don’t mean nothing when you lose,” McKinney said. “So we just gotta be cleaner. I gotta be better. We just gotta be better as a unit and as a team.”

Xavier McKinney has his FOURTH INT in the first FOUR games!

📺: #MINvsGB on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/LjBauScE2D

— NFL (@NFL) September 29, 2024

Jump around

LaFleur’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty came after he angrily jumped up and down while trying to grab the ref’s attention to call a timeout after wide receiver Romeo Doubs’ catch short of the goal line late in the first half. LaFleur said crew chief Bill Vinovich told him he was being “too demonstrative.” LaFleur added that he didn’t swear at any official. The Packers eventually got a timeout with 20 seconds remaining in the second quarter, but their second-and-goal from the 1-yard line became a second-and-goal from the 15-yard line. Perhaps Love’s best pass of the day bailed the Packers out, as he found Reed on a fade the next play and the second-year receiver made an impressive contested catch through the arm of cornerback Byron Murphy to cut Green Bay’s deficit to three scores before halftime.

“I’m absolutely embarrassed that I got an unsportsmanlike,” LaFleur said. “And when you expect composure from your team and then you’re doing that, that’s a bad look. I think we all can be better, myself No. 1 at the forefront of that.”

Matt LaFleur appears to be irate on the sidelines pic.twitter.com/gmD8hvxRzH

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 29, 2024

Missing piece

In what should surprise nobody, playing without an All-Pro-caliber cornerback against arguably the best wide receiver in football isn’t the best recipe for success. First, a caveat: It’s sometimes difficult to determine who is most to blame for certain defensive plays without knowing exactly what the calls and responsibilities are for each player. It’s not always the closest player to the ball. That being said, Justin Jefferson still got his on Sunday with six catches on eight targets for 85 yards and a touchdown. He’s put up gaudier stats against the Packers, but they didn’t exactly hold him in check.

Stokes’ defensive pass interference against Jefferson near the goal line probably cost the Packers four points. There was the 14-yard touchdown catch against cornerback Keisean Nixon, who didn’t have bad coverage but couldn’t prevent a perfect throw and catch that put the Vikings up four scores in the first half. After the Packers cut their deficit to six points in the fourth quarter, Jefferson caught two passes for 44 yards on the ensuing field goal drive, one when Nixon couldn’t stick with him on a crosser for 17 yards and one when Stokes got caught up in a tight end crosser from the other side of the line, leaving Jefferson wide-open for another 27 yards.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley implied last Thursday that cornerback Jaire Alexander would more likely than not follow Jefferson, so it’s a fair assumption that the Packers would’ve fared better against Jefferson had Alexander not been an injury scratch.

Injury updates

Speaking of Alexander, who didn’t practice Friday after suffering a groin injury in practice Thursday, LaFleur said he didn’t think the injury to his star cornerback was “anything too significant or too long term.” His status for Sunday’s game against the Rams remains unclear. Wide receiver Christian Watson and defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt left Sunday’s game against the Vikings with ankle injuries and didn’t return.

Watson’s injury happened late in the first quarter on Love’s first interception, when he targeted Watson over the middle but linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill tricked Love into not seeing him by dropping off a through route in Tampa 2 and picking him off. Watson’s left foot got caught under Grugier-Hill’s left leg and twisted awkwardly, and he had to be carted off. LaFleur didn’t have an update Monday on Wyatt and said of Watson, “I would assume he’d probably be out most likely at least a week or so.”

Five notables

1. Reed certainly looks like the Packers’ true No. 1 wide receiver through four games. Against the Vikings, he caught seven passes on eight targets for 139 yards and a touchdown. His 336 receiving yards rank fifth in the NFL and his 19.8 yards per catch rank third. He also has three total touchdowns, two receiving and one rushing, while averaging 15.2 yards per rush on six carries.

Love to Jayden Reed gets the @Packers their first points!

📺: #MINvsGB on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/IUURto84Ii

— NFL (@NFL) September 29, 2024

2. Kraft is normally good in yards-after-catch scenarios — he got 13 YAC on his touchdown catch Sunday while breaking one tackle and plowing through another while skillfully staying inbounds — but he has to protect the ball better than he did fighting for extra yards in the fourth quarter. Murphy punched it out at Green Bay’s 44-yard line with the Packers trailing by nine and under five minutes remaining, and the Vikings recovered.

“That’s not something I see myself doing,” Kraft said. “I feel like I run with the ball pretty tight. It just breaks my heart that we had to put the defense back out there when we had enough time to drive down and score. I get it. Mistakes are going to be made all throughout the game, but I’m going to take that personally and I’m going to be better for it.”

3. One of the biggest missed opportunities for the Packers on Sunday was linebacker Isaiah McDuffie’s dropped interception near Green Bay’s sideline early in the first quarter. Defensive end Lukas Van Ness flushed Sam Darnold out of the pocket and McDuffie nearly secured a diving pick in front of Jefferson. Instead of the Packers taking over at their 46-yard line, the Vikings kept possession and scored three plays later to take a 7-0 lead.

4. Punter Daniel Whelan is a weapon. His 59-yard bomb that flew over Jalen Nailor’s head and forced a muff that the Packers recovered at Minnesota’s 3-yard line late in the second quarter was a beauty. So, too, was the 60-yard punt out of his own end zone that had, by my count, 5.36 seconds of hang time. Whelan is off to a hot start this season, so at least they have one part of their kicking and punting operation playing well.

5. The Packers pressured Darnold on 33.3 percent of his dropbacks, according to TruMedia. The league average in that category is a shade below 35 percent. Even when the Packers pressured Darnold, he completed 4-of-6 passes for 54 yards and ran three times for 23 yards. That’s why sacks are more important, and the Packers’ sack percentage of 6.7 percent against the Vikings was far less than their 19 percent clip during their eight-sack day against the Titans in Week 3. The Packers blitzed on only 21.2 percent of Darnold’s dropbacks and, while pressuring him on 71.4 percent of those plays, didn’t record a sack while blitzing. LaFleur said of the pass rush, “It wasn’t up to our standard. No doubt about it.”

“They had a lot of chips and some screens that were slowing us down,” defensive end Preston Smith added. “But when we’ve got the opportunity to get to the quarterback, we’ve got to be sure we maximize it.”