After a spectacular start to the season, weeks three and four poured a bit of cold water on the optimism around the Packers and their Super Bowl hopes in 2025, but with a bye week to decompress and assess, it remains clear that Green Bay is a true championship contender.

Starting with the offense, the Packers look as high powered as ever and have not even fully hit their stride yet.

In the first two games, they were efficient, but it seemed there was more meat on the bone. The Cleveland game was a disappointment, but against Dallas, Jordan Love and the Green Bay offense showed what they can do against a bad defense, putting up 40 points.

The end of game sequence which saw the offense almost run out of time, as well as the sluggish showing against the Browns the previous week has left a sour taste in the mouths of Packers fans, but zooming out, the offense as a whole has been terrific.

They currently rank 5th in the NFL in expected points added (EPA) on offense and 3rd in EPA per pass play. Perhaps the biggest reason for optimism is that Love looks to be taking the step to become a borderline elite quarterback.

He was not asked to do too much in the first two weeks, and like the offense in general, struggled versus Cleveland, but Love was lights out against Dallas last week.

Love’s overall performance this season has been somewhat overshadowed by two big mistakes, one in each of the last two games which contributed hugely to the Packers failing to win those games, but on a play to play basis, he has been fantastic.

The pass catchers are back to, well, catching the ball again after an horrendous 2024 in that regard.

Despite missing Christian Watson to start the year and Jayden Reed from the second quarter of week two onwards, they have more than enough in that department and should only improve as the season goes on as Watson and Reed return, and Matthew Golden gains more experience.

The run game has been a slog early in the year, at least in part due to the offensive line, but found its groove against the Cowboys, with Josh Jacobs and Emanuel Wilson both putting on impressive performances. MarShawn Lloyd should return soon to add some extra juice to that room.

In terms of weaknesses of the offense, we have essentially learned that if the offensive line is not healthy and they face an elite defensive line, the Packers can be held down as they were in Cleveland.

Even still, they would have won that game if not for Love making his only real mistake of the game, the exact one he could not afford to make in throwing an interception and setting up the Browns in scoring position, at the worst possible time.

The offensive line was a real problem in that game, but Matt LaFleur and the offense worked around it successfully when it was compromised in the Washington and Dallas games.

Based on Green Bay’s track record of consistently fielding one of the best lines in the NFL year after year, it would be somewhat shocking if they do not return to that form once healthy. A banged up O-line feels like the only thing that could truly derail the Packers offense in the playoffs.

On defense, the vibes were at an all time high until an uncharacteristic breakdown in Dallas last week, but there is no need to worry that it could be a sign of things to come for the group led by Micah Parsons.

Frankly, Dak Prescott deserves endless credit for essentially playing a perfect game. He made impressive throw after impressive throw on crucial downs, and frequently got the ball out just before Packers rush could get home.

The pressure was still there consistently, although Devonte Wyatt’s exit with injury certainly seemed to have a real impact on Green Bay’s defense as a whole. On an inexperienced defensive interior, he may be the jenga piece the Packers cannot afford to lose come playoff time.

The Packers cornerbacks have received plenty of criticism for that game, and it was not their best outing, but it was well known this was a group dependent on the pass rush truly getting home and impacting the quarterback, and Prescott simply handled it extremely well.

There is a risk the top tier of quarterbacks could burn Green Bay’s defense when crucial postseason games arrive, as Prescott did, but the Packers also tackled uncharacteristically poorly versus Dallas, which exacerbated things.

The needle opposing offenses are going to have to thread to consistently score on the Packers defense is still extremely small, Prescott and the Cowboys just managed to pull it off.

In the last two weeks, one side of the ball let down the other at times, but they still win both games if they just avoid making an absolutely crushing mistake or two. Love’s pick versus Cleveland, his strip sack versus Dallas and the blocked kicks in both games were killers.

Part of the blame can absolutely be put on LaFleur for how he approached certain situations, but for the most part these are one off, freak moments that unfortunately swung two close games massively.

If they had happened in week one or two, the Packers could have survived. These are the types of random and unfortunate moments that happen to teams every week in the NFL, it just so happened they were very costly for Green Bay rather than a footnote.

While that should give Packers fans comfort that on offense and defense, these types of things are not going to regularly occur and impact outcomes of games, the legitimate area for concern is special teams.

LaFleur had it right when he said that when special teams make a mistake, it’s usually catastrophic. Rich Bisaccia has said multiple times that his unit only gets one down to get a play right, and too often, they have got it wrong.

There is every reason to believe the offense and defense will get the job done when it matters most, but unfortunately, it is probably going to be a case of just hoping the special teams does not make a huge blunder in the postseason, and if they do, that it does not sink the Packers.

Ultimately, like every team, there are flaws that could prevent the Packers from reaching the ultimate goal, but the only recurring problem that should be cause for real apprehension is on special teams.

Plenty of teams with bad special teams units have won the Super Bowl before, Green Bay just needs them to be competent at the right time. They have until January to get their act together.

They are not a perfect team, but at least from scrimmage, they have the ingredients on offense and defense to win it all.