On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Carolina Panthers by a score of 33-30.
While the offense excelled thanks to another fantastic effort from Jordan Love, who was complemented for the first time this season by a healthy Aaron Jones, the Packers defense continued to suffer.
The Packers were effective on offense in the first half, scoring on their opening four possessions to take a 23-10 lead into halftime. That should have been enough of a buffer for the defense, especially against a rookie quarterback with the second-worst QBR in the NFL, trailing only Zach Wilson of the New York Jets, but Joe Barry’s squad let Bryce Young have a career day.
Young completed 23-of-35 passes for 312 yards and two touchdowns on the day.
Even after Love and company pulled together an outstanding drive around the two-minute mark that resulted in the game-winning field goal, the Panthers offense came dangerously close to tying it up and forcing overtime.
Young stopped the clock with a 22-yard pass to Chark on the sideline, then passed over the middle to Thielen for 22 yards. However, due to a lack of timeouts, the Panthers were unable to spike the ball before time expired.
Simply said, the Carolina Panthers had not scored 30 points all season and had only scored more than 20 points in three games prior to the game against the Packers.
Joe Barry is wanted by Green Bay Packers fans and the media right now.
Despite the victory over a clearly inferior opponent, Packers supporters and media did not hold back in demanding that the organization fire their defensive coordinator immediately.
“Packers win because the Panthers ran out of time to keep embarrassing the Packers defense,” Packer Report’s Andy Herman wrote on X. “Green Bay triumphs.” Matt LaFleur must take action. At this time, there are no excuses.”
Herman was not the only member of the media who stated that the moment for LaFleur to act is now.
“The most points scored by the Panthers this season,” The Leap’s Peter Bukowski remarked on social media. “Joe Barry is not going to be the #Packers defensive coordinator by Christmas.” I simply cannot do it.”
Others, like Aaron Nagler of CheeseheadTV, were too frustrated with the Packers’ defense to keep rehashing arguments they’d been making for weeks.
“Just reused my rant about the defense from last week,” Nagler posted on X. “I’m too tired.”
Can Matt LaFleur continue to support Joe Barry as Green Bay Packers head coach?
As Green Bay fans have seen, LaFleur has remained staunchly devoted to Barry despite the fact that anyone with two eyes and a brain can see his defense isn’t working.
If the Packers want to win their final two games and make a run in the playoffs, it appears that a change is almost required at this time.
LaFleur backed Barry following his performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, in which Baker Mayfield threw for 381 yards and four touchdowns, becoming the first visiting quarterback in Lambeau Field history to do so.
“If I thought [firing Barry] was the best solution today, we’d make that decision,” LaFleur stated at a press conference on December 18.
The communication in Carolina did not improve on Sunday, casting doubt on LaFleur’s promise to the media six days earlier.
But, as The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman noted out after the awful defensive performance against one of the worst teams in the NFL, would LaFleur change his mind?
To make the playoffs, the Green Bay Packers must win their next two games against the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears. If they don’t improve their defense, they might easily lose one of those games, and LaFLeur will be blamed.
He’s unlikely to make a change at this time, but practically everyone who cares about the Packers believes he should.
