In what ended up becoming the second highest scoring tie in NFL history, Sunday night’s 40-40 draw between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys featured a wild back-and-forth scoring spree that finished with nine straight possessions ending in points, including a game-tying field goal from Brandon McManus that allowed the Packers to escape AT&T Stadium with a tie and not a second consecutive stunning loss.

The Packers will go into the bye believing they should be 4-0. But mistakes are punished harshly in the NFL, and an offensive meltdown in Cleveland, a defensive meltdown in Dallas and massive special teams errors during both road games spoiled an electric start to the season.

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Matt LaFleur’s team is now 2-1-1 after many believed the Packers were cemented among the NFL’s elites following impressive wins over the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders over a five-day stretch to open the season.

Here’s what went right, what went wrong and what it means for the Packers moving forward:

What went right

— The offense generated seven scoring drives, 11 third down or fourth down conversions and three go-ahead scores in the second half.

— Despite playing behind an offense live with two starters missing, Jordan Love calmly completed 31 passes — while completing all 28 thrown 10 or fewer yards down field — and produced over 300 passing yards and three touchdowns. He also had a key scramble in the second half for 25 yards, setting up another score. The quarterback played winning football and the Packers won’t lose (or tie) many games when Love plays as well as he did Sunday night.

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— It was a grind at times in the run game, but Josh Jacobs finally got going. He had a 19-yard run and an 18-yard rushing touchdown, and he also caught four passes for 71 yards, including two explosive plays over 20 yards. His 26 touches produced 157 yards and two scores. Add in Emanuel Wilson’s production, and the Packers’ top two backs created 238 total yards.

— The start was terrific. The Packers marched down the field for an opening touchdown, forced back-to-back punts and then were an extra point away from taking a 14-0 lead in the second quarter. One big missed opportunity from the offense came after the score was 13-2 and the Packers had the ball near midfield. An incompletion on 3rd-and-5 brought in the punting unit.

— Despite countless double teams, Micah Parsons still finished with seven or eight pressures (based on the tracking site) and three quarterback hits. Facing any lesser of quarterback, he might have finished with two or three sacks and possibly a turnover-causing play. But Dak Prescott was excellent under pressure and avoiding pressure.

What went wrong

— The blocked extra point returned for two points sent the Packers into a spiral to end the first half. After going up 13-2, the Packers allowed a 95-yard touchdown drive and then handed the Cowboys seven more points with a strip-sack inside their 20-yard line. What was a 13-0 lead to open the contest turned into a 16-13 deficit fast to end the second quarter.

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— With two legitimate chances to win the football game, Matt LaFleur got conservative and settled for field goals. Sure, the Packers defense couldn’t get a stop, and Brandon Aubrey has range to possibly 70 yards. Those are legitimate fears in a late-game scenario. But the Packers played slow and didn’t give themselves an opportunity to win the game to end regulation and overtime. In fact, they almost threw the game away to end overtime. It’s fair to wonder if Matt LaFleur didn’t fully trust his patchwork offensive line and didn’t want a big negative play to wreck either scenario. But the Packers played not to lose, which cost themselves a chance to win.

— The defense couldn’t get stops or get a game-changing takeaway or negative play. After punting on back-to-back possessions to open the game, the Cowboys consistently and methodically marched the ball down the field the rest of the night. The Packers didn’t have a sack until overtime and finished with just one tackle for loss. And for a third consecutive game, the Packers didn’t have a meaningful takeaway — Xavier McKinney’s gift of an interception to finish the first half in Cleveland hardly counts as a takeaway given the circumstances. The Packers have two takeaways in four games; they had 12 in the first four weeks last year.

— It will be very interesting to track missed tackle numbers coming out of this game. And by interesting I mean the numbers will be horrific for the Packers defense.

— Nate Hobbs allowed a big play to George Pickens and a pair of touchdown catches before exiting for a concussion evaluation. Carrington Valentine promptly allowed a go-ahead touchdown catch to Pickens late in the fourth quarter. Keisean Nixon gave up the big play in overtime. Even without CeeDee Lamb, Dak Prescott and the Cowboys picked on the Packers cornerback group over and over again, often in big spots.

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— The Packers took a 34-30 lead with 1:45 to go, and the Cowboys needed to score a touchdown to retake the lead. The special teams promptly allowed a 45-yard return to KaVonte Turpin, giving Dak Prescott a short field. It almost turned out to be a blessing because the Cowboys scored so fast, and Jordan Love had a chance to get the game tied at the end of regulation.

What it means

The Packers are nearly impossible to evaluate after four games. There’s been a mix of everything, with two dominant, comfortable wins at home over good teams, a late-game collapse against a very good defense and a defensive meltdown against a very good veteran quarterback. The Packers will face very good defenses and very good veteran quarterbacks in the postseason (assuming they qualify), so Matt LaFleur’s team must decide if they are closer to the complete, complementary team that cruised past the Lions and Commanders or the combustible, high variance team capable of collapsing in any of the three phases in an given week.

What’s next

The bye week has already arrived for the Packers, who are dealing with multiple injuries along the offensive line and now need to re-group defensively. This is an important week for self reflection and healing — the Packers will play games during 13 straight weeks to finish the season. Matt LaFleur’s team welcomes the Cincinnati Bengals — who don’t have quarterback Joe Burrow — to Lambeau Field for Week 6 coming out of the bye, and the Bengals will be coming off tough games against the Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions leading into Week 6.

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Breaking down Packers’ tie with Cowboys: What went right, wrong on ‘SNF’