Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase (1) hauls in a touchdown catch in front of cornerback Keisean Nixon in the fourth quarter on Sunday.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
For three quarters, they’ve resembled the 1985 Chicago Bears and 2000 Baltimore Ravens rolled into one.
After that, the Green Bay Packers’ defense looks like one of the poorest in the NFL.
If the Packers knew what the problem was, they’d fix it, Instead, their 27-18 win over Cincinnati on Sunday was simply the latest example of a defense that’s been dominant early and susceptible late.
“This was the same,” cornerback Nate Hobbs said. “The same.”
The Packers have not allowed a single point in the first quarter all season. That five-game streak is Green Bay’s longest since a six-game run back in 1995.
The Packers are allowing an NFL-best 4.4 points per game in the first half, and 7.8 points per contest in the first three quarters.
From that point on, though, opponents are scoring a whopping 12.6 points per game. That includes a 10-minute overtime period against Dallas in Week 4.
Amazingly, 63 of the 102 points Green Bay has allowed this season (61.8%) have come after the third quarter.
“It’s about discipline man,” Hobbs said. “It’s about not giving a (expletive) how many plays you’re out there. Not giving a (expletive) about none of that bro. It’s lining up and doing the same thing you did last play and not getting bored, not letting fatigue take over. It’s just depending on each other and trusting each other.”
In Green Bay’s first five games, it’s held two teams scoreless in the first half (Cleveland and Cincinnati) and limited two others to just three points (Detroit and Washington). Only Dallas (16) had any first half success against the Packers.
Green Bay has allowed just 17 third quarter points, but the fourth quarter and beyond is where things have ruptured. And Sunday’s game against the Bengals followed a similar script.
In the first half, the Bengals had four first downs and 65 total yards. Cincinnati averaged just 3.0 yards per play and quarterback Joe Flacco’s passer rating was a paltry 59.0.
The Bengals scored a pair of touchdowns and added a field goal, though, on their first three drives of the second half. On Cincinnati’s fourth possession, it marched into field goal range late in the contest, but kicker Evan McPherson missed from 56 yards.
The Bengals had 16 of their 20 first downs after halftime and 203 second half yards. Cincinnati also didn’t punt in the second half.
“(Expletive), they scored. They scored,” Packers safety Xavier McKinney said. “We wanted to be better defensively, but they’re getting paid over there too and they’ve got good players too. We’ll go back in and correct, see what we can correct and do better with next time. But that’s it.”
Six weeks into the season, the Packers haven’t figured out how to stop anybody in the fourth quarter.
Green Bay’s opponents have scored on 12 of their 18 fourth quarter drives (66.7%). Seven of those drives produced touchdowns, and five others led to field goals.
The Packers have forced punts on just two of those drives, they forced a turnover on downs three times and there’s been one missed a field goal.
Those numbers are even worse in the last three games, where Cleveland, Dallas and Cincinnati have scored on nine of 11 possessions after the third quarter.
“We’ve been showing glimpses, but how can we just do it for a complete four quarters?” Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons said.
Right now, they haven’t.
And Green Bay knows until that happens, it can’t be the dominant unit it wants to be.
“It’s Week 6, right?” cornerback Keisean Nixon said. “We’re still learning to play with each other. It’s always going to be a new team every year, we’re just stacking days. We got an early bye so it backtracked us a little bit. Now we’re on a run. Now we got 12 left, right, guaranteed. Just play ball.”