The Packers couldn’t overcome another slow start with a loss to Vikings – Twin Cities

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Once again, the Green Bay Packers offense showed up late to the party.

The Packers failed to score a first-half touchdown for the fifth straight game and lost 24-10 to the Vikings at Lambeau Field on Sunday, their fourth straight loss

After scoring three times on their first four possessions, the Packers only scored once in the first half when Anders Carlson hit a 30-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to make it 10-3 Revision.

Carlson hit the right post on his first attempt, but Minnesota’s Jay Ward lined up in the neutral zone. The second-chance field goal means the Packers have been outscored 73-9 in the first half of the last five games instead of 73-6.

“We have to find a way to convert a third down early in the game so you can move your offense forward,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “We run the two-minute offense for half the game. You don’t even think about what you’re working on and planning all week. You can’t even get into your normal rhythm because you’re not moving the chains.

“That’s the disappointing thing,” LaFleur said. “You put so much time and effort into something, you make a plan and you don’t even give yourself a chance to implement it.”

Green Bay (2-5) totaled 98 yards of offense before halftime, including 73 on its final 14-play scoring drive. The Packers didn’t get their first first down until just over four minutes before halftime.

The Packers were also penalized eight times for 69 yards before halftime.

“You can go back and look at it, we didn’t make any plays the first couple series,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said. “We had chances. We had a couple drops, a missed throw, the running game…we had a third-and-one. It’s these little plays that we don’t make and don’t capitalize on.

“It’s obvious. It’s not like, What are we doing wrong? That’s clear in the film,” Love said. “We’re just not executing it.”

The Packers, entering Sunday, ranked last with an average of 4.3 points per game in the first half, but are leading the way in the second half with 17.3 points per game. In each of the previous two losses, Green Bay came back in the second half to take the lead before losing, but the Packers couldn’t do that against the Vikings.

Minnesota extended its lead to 24-3 with two touchdowns in the third quarter, the second set up by an interception by Love, its fifth straight game with at least one pick.

Green Bay finally got on the TD scoreboard when Love hit Romeo Doubs with a 1-yard touchdown pass on fourth down with 2:39 left in the third quarter to get within 24-10.

The Packers came up empty on two opportunities in the red zone in the fourth quarter.

After Greg Joseph’s 44-yard field goal attempt was blocked, the Packers attempted second-and-5 at the Vikings’ 10-yard, but Love threw three straight incompletions.

After Vikings starting quarterback Kirk Cousins ​​left with an injury, backup Jaren Hall fumbled a strip sack, giving Green Bay a first down on its 15th.

After a 1-yard run by AJ Dillon, Love was sacked for a 7-yard loss, threw an incompletion, and then was stopped a yard short of a fourth-down scramble.

Love completed 24 of 41 passes for 229 yards with one touchdown, one interception and a passer rating of 72.1. Love has thrown four touchdowns with seven interceptions in the last four games.