It was a tale of two performances for the Packers on Sunday. The same team that took a 28-14 lead into halftime lost by a field goal 34-31 in overtime. 

Perhaps surprisingly, given the loss, the players and head coach are more confident in the team than they’ve maybe been all season. 

“Today actually gave me a lot of confidence in our guys,” said quarterback Aaron Rodgers after the game. “That might sound weird and we lost and we turned the ball over four times, but there was a different type of energy this week in practice. I thought it carried over to today.”

The turnovers did tell part of the story, with Green Bay losing the ball four times on a botched handoff, interception, fumbled kick return, and fumble in overtime, but the Packers were able to battle back through most of that and force two turnovers from the Colts, too. 

“They got six points off those four turnovers, and we cashed in on their turnovers,” said Rodgers. “So our defense deserves a lot of credit for making some good stands there when we turned the ball over.”

He added that the four turnovers were “uncharacteristic” based on the team’s first nine games, where they never exceeded two turnovers and also had six games with zero.

For Head Coach Matt LaFleur, he said there were elements of really good football play throughout the entire game. 

“I thought the energy, the effort, the focus was all there all throughout the week,” he said. “I thought it was there throughout the game. We have to execute better in all three phases, and it’s gotta be more consistent.”

Consistency and complementary football were the themes of the post-game pressers.

“I thought the first half was pretty good complementary football,” said LaFleur, and with good reason. The team’s four touchdowns came in the first half, with three through the air and one on the ground. 

“I feel like today, especially the first half, I felt we were playing really complementary football in all three phases,” said Rodgers. 

The quarterback had 311 yards on 27 attempts with three touchdowns and one interception, good for a rating of 110.7. 

Against a stout Colts defense, the offense was able to spread the ball around, with six different players catching two or more passes, but once again the running game sputtered. The Packers left Indianapolis with only 66 total yards on the ground, the lowest rushing total of the season to date. 

“We’ve gotta do a better job of being a little bit more consistent, but I’ve got a lot of confidence in these guys,” said LaFleur. 

While he didn’t put up a ton of yardage in his return to the field (two receptions for 18 yards), LaFleur said you could feel receiver Allen Lazard’s presence having him back in the lineup and the energy he brings to the football team. 

For Marquez Valdes-Scantling, it was a boost to the offense having the receiving core back at full strength. 

“It hasn’t been all of us back out there since I think Week 2, so being able to have all the guys back out there and be productive in every aspect and not just in the passing game but in the run game, blocking for each other, I think that’s what we all take pride in.”

Valdes-Scantling actually had the highest run-blocking grade of the day, including offensive linemen, per Pro Football Focus. 

While his fumble in overtime cost the Packers a chance to sustain a drive and potentially win the game, everyone in the locker room was quick to point out that the team wouldn’t even have made it to overtime without his 47-yard reception on Green Bay’s final drive. 

“I have a lot of love for Marquez. I see the guy every single day. I see how much he cares about it. And it happens, unfortunately,” said Rodgers, adding that he’s had his fair share of fumbles and it was just bad timing, and that MVS had his fair share of big moments in the game, too. 

It was the first fumble of Valdes-Scantling’s NFL career, it just happened to come at a tough moment. 

"That's what brotherhood is all about,” Valdes-Scantling said of his team rallying around him. “No one's ever going to be perfect and obviously me taking it to heart with that costly mistake at the end of the game, it hurt, but I've got my brothers to support me, and that's the family that matters.”

Defensively, the Packers got some of their best performances of the season from key contributors, with safety Raven Greene forcing a fumble and inside linebacker Christian Kirksey snagging his first interception. This was Kirksey’s second career game with 10-plus tackles and an interception. He led the defense with 11 tackles total, with Greene in second with eight tackles. 

“The best run defenses swarm the football,” LaFleur said, adding that there were moments of that on Sunday from his defense but it was too inconsistent. 

“We’ve just gotta get better,” said Kirksey of the defense as a whole. “This group of men in this defensive room, we’re going to get there. We’re going to keep believing, we’re going to keep fighting, and we’re going to keep getting better.”

At 7-3, the Packers remain in first place in the NFC North with a two-game lead over the second place Chicago Bears. And coincidentally, the two teams will meet for the first time this season on Sunday Night Football. 

“We’re going to need that same type of effort, we’re just gonna need better execution,” LaFleur said of the energy the team had for the Colts and what they’ll need this Sunday against the Bears. 

The 5-5 Bears have lost four straight after a promising start to the season, and despite boasting one of the worst offenses in the NFL, the defense remains one of the best. 

Division matchups are always challenging, and the Packers know what’s at stake Sunday with the opportunity to take a three-game lead in the North with only five games remaining. 

“I just think we need to be an all three phases football team to go as far as we want to go. I still feel really good about our chances, our squad,” said Rodgers.