The Green Bay Packers are officially trending in the wrong direction. After a truly impressive start to the season in which many heralded them as the best team in the NFL, the Pack have now had two poor showings and have failed to win two very winnable road games.

Question marks now surround both the offense and the defense, specifically head coach Matt LaFleur and defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, as the team many felt were strong Super Bowl contenders are now looking nowhere near the level they showed to start the season.

Green Bay Packers Riddled With Question Marks After Confusing Tie Versus Dallas Cowboys

To end the game, Green Bay seemed to be more focused on draining the clock than advancing down the field.

Ultimately, it left the team with no timeouts and their backs against the wall to end overtime, The Packers were fortunate that Jordan Love’s final pass fell incomplete with one second left on the clock, which allowed Brandon McManus to tie the game and avoid a second-straight loss.

NFL experts are using the questionable operation down the stretch as a means to invalidate Green Bay’s title hopes, with YaHoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor saying LaFleur is the problem.

All true. And didn’t go for the win at the end of the fourth quarter. Hard to view the Packers as a serious contender with LaFleur as head coach. https://t.co/fSCy6iVFEb

— Kevin O’Connor (@KevinOConnor) September 29, 2025

ESPN’s Benjamin Solak was puzzled by the Packers being so focused on eating the clock instead of simply driving the ball down the field.

Packers were so happy to eat all that clock on their drive and ended up only throwing the ball into the end zone once, and that throw was a frantic heave to stop the clock.

I understand the need to ensure the Cowboys don’t get a third drive, but playing for the tie is poor imo

— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) September 29, 2025

Overall, the offense ending on such a concerning note really dampened what was a big-time bounce-back game from Love, who recovered from a poor showing in Cleveland last weekend to throw for over 300 yards and 3 TDs.

Former Green Bay quarterback Kurt Benkert let loose some scathing remarks and blamed LaFleur for not allowing Love to go win the Packers the game.

That was disgusting.

Never even gave yourself a chance to win that game.

Miserable play calling at the end of the game. No real plan.

Tie.

— Kurt Benkert (@KurtBenkert) September 29, 2025

Handcuffing your $55m QB is certainly a choice in OT.

Especially after he’s gotten you 37 points up until now.

— Kurt Benkert (@KurtBenkert) September 29, 2025

Defensively, Jeff Hafley’s unit had their worst outing of the season. Hafley’s unit ranked in the tops of the league in almost every category heading into the game, but allowed a Cowboys offense that was playing without their top weapon in Ceedee Lamb to run rampant, giving up 436 yards and over 6.5 yards per play.

The two best offensive performances of the season so far based on EPA per drive:

1. The Cowboys tonight
2. The Packers tonight

Yes, that also means that those were the two *worst* defensive performances of the season. Your eyes did not deceive you.

— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) September 29, 2025

The stars did not shine for Green Bay. Micah Parsons failed to have a huge impact in his return to Dallas, and the pass rush failed to truly disrupt Dak Prescott.

The secondary that had been surprisingly good so far was torn to shreds by George Pickens and Jake Ferguson. The rushing defense has now surrendered over 4.7 yards per carry in the last two weeks.

Parsons later admitted that after the game, he apologized to Love and the offense for not playing well enough to compliment their strong effort.

One week after the offense was the letdown despite a strong defensive day, the defense has now left the offense hanging.

Green Bay Packers Disappoint in Primetime

Green Bay entered the evening as big favorites over Dallas, but ultimately had some uncharacteristically poor defensive play and some near-disaster mistakes down the stretch when managing the game on offense.

Popular YouTuber Brett Kolllmann is referencing one of the strangest NFL games in recent memory, where Seattle and Arizona played a wild and sloppy 6-6 tie with multiple bizarre mistakes, special teams disasters, and uncharacteristic play.

The promise that Packers fans felt early in the season has now evaporated and been replaced with worry, confusion, and a lot of questions that need answering.