The Green Bay Packers can’t run the football, no matter who’s blocking or carrying the ball. They can’t rush the passer, unless it’s by Jonathan Gannon’s design.

Those two things should take any talk about the playoffs, let alone a championship, off the table.

Is it possible these Packers can defy conventional wisdom?

On Sunday, the Packers beat the New England Patriots 45-27. It was their fifth win in six games. This wasn’t edging the Buccaneers without Baker Mayfield or blowing out the Bears without Caleb Williams.

This was beating the defending AFC champions. At their place. With their quarterback, 2025 MVP runner-up Drake Maye.

This was Jordan Love cooking.

This was Matt LaFleur stepping on the gas.

This was Gannon outfoxing Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels at every turn.

No Asterisks

Yes, the Patriots played without their starting receivers. But the Packers were down to their third and fifth linebackers after backup-turned-starter Ty’Ron Hopper was injured early in the game. The Packers were down to their fourth and fifth running backs with Josh Jacobs injured and MarShawn Lloyd inactive and Chris Brooks on injured reserve. Micah Parsons is a couple weeks away from playing in a game.

What the Packers had was Love. In the first half, he was 11-of-16 passing for 219 yards. He had 372 yards and three touchdowns in the first three quarters.

“Man, it’s definitely up there,” he said when asked if this was his best game ever. “It felt great, you know. So, we’ll look at it, but it definitely felt like just a real fun game to be a part of. When everything’s flowing, we’re putting up points and everybody’s making plays, it’s definitely very fun to be a part of.”

What the Packers had was Matthew Golden running circles around Pro Bowl cornerback Christian Gonzalez to the tune of seven catches for 150 yards and one touchdown in the first half.

What the Packers had was Christian Watson, broken rib and all, making plays down the field.

Through three quarters, they combined to catch 17-of-18 targets for 335 yards and two touchdowns. It was absurd, like an elite Madden player dicing up some rando. They are on pace to finish with more than 3,100 yards.

What the Packers had was Gannon calling the shots. And safeties Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams producing turnovers by the bushel.

Flawed But Incredibly Dangerous

A team that can’t run the football – though it did hit the 100-yard mark for the first time this season – and can’t really rush the passer without Gannon sending blitzers from here, there and everywhere, shouldn’t be able to go on the road and win games against good teams.

But, shoot, who knows. The Patriots are a good team. They’ve got a really good coach and a really good quarterback. They’ve got one of the best cornerback tandems in the NFL. They’ve got a good running back, good defensive tackles and a good overall roster.

And the Packers wiped the floor with them. They had four takeaways – a sixth consecutive game with at least two. McKinney had two interceptions, tying him for the league lead with five. They went 4-of-5 in the red zone. Embattled rookie They Smack made every kick.

The smackdown was so thorough that coach Matt LaFleur got to clear the bench for the final 9-plus minutes.

“I think against a really good team like this, you can’t take your foot off the gas,” he said. “In fact, I was a little hesitant to pull our guys as early as we did.”

Packers Are On the Rise

This version of the Packers, who fell apart in Week 1 at Minnesota, barely won at the Jets in Week 2, got crushed at home by Atlanta in Week 3 and barely beat a backup quarterback at the Buccaneers in Week 4, might have beaten every team in the league with the way they played on Sunday.

The Packers are on the rise. They are a team with sizable flaws but are so good at what they’re good at that it didn’t matter against the defending AFC champions. They will host the Vikings on Sunday; Minnesota is 6-1 heading into Monday’s home game against Buffalo. Then comes the faux-bye week before their Thanksgiving Eve game at the Rams that could mark Parsons’ return to the lineup.

After a game at the Saints, the Packers will close the regular season with four home games in a span of five weeks.

The sky is the limit for the Packers. Love might not win MVP – though he surged to fourth on the board at FanDuel Sportsbook – but it’s impossible to argue that any one player is more valuable to his team than Love.

Love, who entered the game having accounted for a league-high 82.0 percent of the team’s yards, absolutely shredded the Patriots with a near-perfect 153.2 passer rating and an eighth game this season with multiple touchdowns.

“Flowing. That’s what it feels like,” Love said. “Feels like you’re just in that flow state. It’s a great feeling, and you just want to keep, you know, chasing every play and keep making big plays.”

He was 6-of-8 passing on throws 20-plus yards downfield for 235 yards.

“Those are low-percentage throws in theory, but he’s making them look high-percentage,” LaFleur said. “They’re right on the money, and our guys are doing a great job.”

The defense had four sacks and four takeaways with Parsons on the way back.

“I can’t say enough about JG, just dialing up stuff and getting pressure on the quarterback,” LaFleur said. “And then the guys up front, wreaking havoc and getting to the quarterback — that was a big thing going into this game and it allows our guys on the back end to make plays.”

The special teams fought to at least a draw against one of the best units in the league.

LaFleur knows that his team can’t rest. Now with the Vikings coming to town. Not in a week-to-week league.

But if this is the standard, watch out.

“It’s one game,” he said. “We’ve got a great team coming into our house, the team that’s leading the NFC North, and we’ve got to string together another great performance in order to get a win.”

Following a blowout win for the Packers against the Patriots, here are @JacobWestendorf's Winners and Losers. ⬇️https://t.co/G0P72mTX1X

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 9, 2026