GREEN BAY, Wis. – The grades are in, and they are all over the map. The Green Bay Packers looked like they were going to cruise to victory when they took a 27-10 lead in the third quarter against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night.

As has been the case in Green Bay for most of the season, nothing can be easy. The Packers continue to find ways to make things interesting. A Jordan Love interception gave the Panthers some life. The lack of run game gave the Panthers some hope.

Ultimately, Jonathan Gannon’s crew suffocated the Panthers’ offense in the biggest spots of the game, allowing the Packers to escape Lambeau Field with a 5-3 record.

Pass Offense

Jordan Love had one major blemish on the night. His interception early in the fourth quarter took away the chance for the Packers to kick a field goal for what would likely have been an insurmountable 30-13 lead. Had he led Matthew Golden on the play, or seen a wide-open Christian Watson on the other side of the formation, the Packers may have had an even bigger night offensively.

“That’s really the play that is going to haunt me from that game,” Love said. “We had a concept with mirrored goes on the outside. I wanted to take a shot to MG and I saw him go inside on the route and just really a bad decision by me. I left it way inside and the safety was able to come over and make an interception that was really easy.

“In that situation, third down, in field-goal range, I’m really sick about that decision. That’s where I got to be better so we can put a team away and be able to go up multiple scores.”

Before that? He was excellent. He completed 17 of his first 20 passes and all three incompletions could have been called drops.

Watson’s toughness was on full display. He had 100 yards before going to the hospital after suffering a broken rib and coughing up blood, then returned and made a key third-down conversion late in the game.

What a night for Christian Watson. He had 100 yards before he was injured, wound up in the hospital for testing, and then made a key catch late in the game.

How did he do it, and why? @JacobWestendorf explains both. ⬇️https://t.co/aLlVfB2TSX

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 30, 2026

Love’s 30 completions went to seven different receivers, including a touchdown apiece of Tucker Kraft, Matthew Golden and Josh Jacobs.

Do the Packers need to figure out a way to ask their quarterback to not be superman every night? Yes. Can they rest assured knowing they have a chance in any game they play because of the way Love plays on a weekly basis? Also yes.

The offensive line stinks, though it at least didn’t give up a sack. The receivers lead the league in drops, with two more for Golden giving him a league-worst nine. The run game is nonexistent. None of it matters. Love continues to play high-level football. If they can eliminate some of the mistakes, the offense can reach new heights.

Grade: B

Rush Offense

Everything felt like it was in line for a big night for the Packers’ ground game. Or at least something resembling a breakout.

Josh Jacobs was back for his second game and facing the worst rushing defense in football. Instead, the Packers finished with 66 rushing yards and a 2.5-yard average. The only real burst came on a reverse to Savion Williams, which picked up 18 yards. The traditional run game managed 50 yards on 25 carries.

Jacobs wound up with 39 yards on 21 carries. In the first half, he carried 10 times for 14 yards with a long rush of 4. He did create a touchdown essentially on his own when he danced around a would-be tackler at the goal line for a touchdown that gave the Packers a 13-10 lead in the first half.

Jacobs may still be shaking off some rust after missing six weeks of action, but his return has not fixed all that ails them on the ground. The Packers cannot simply rely on their passing game to move the ball as the games get more important.

The Packers became the first team in NFL history to have a winning record through eight games despite having fewer than 500 rushing yards.

“I think that’s an area we’ve got to keep getting better at,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “Keep finding what’s working, but we’ve got to improve because, especially late in the game, you’ve got to be able to lean on that. We did some really good things and I think, obviously, late in the game, it wasn’t good enough. We weren’t able to finish the way we wanted so that’s something we’ve got to improve on, clean up as an offense and be better there.”

If they cannot move the ball on the ground against Dallas or Carolina, the two worst rush defenses in football, it’s fair to ask if they ever will.

Grade: F.

Pass Defense

The Packers’ pass rush came back to life against Bryce Young and Co. Panthers left tackle Rasheed Walker did not have the revenge game he was hoping for in his return to Lambeau Field as the Packers piled up six sacks from six different players and pressured Young on nearly half of his dropbacks.

Brenton Cox, Dani Dennis-Sutton and Lukas Van Ness combined for 16 pressures. Along with Barryn Sorrell, all four edge players had a sack. Devonte Wyatt had a big one to kill the Panthers’ opening drive, which began at the Packers’ 29 following a fumbled kickoff return.

Young was only able to muster 209 passing yards on 41 pass attempts. That gets knocked down to 176 net passing yards with the sacks.

The Packers’ pass rush has been inconsistent for most of the season, but they have proven themselves to be good at defending opposing passing games.

That’s true despite missing some premier players on the defensive side of the ball. Their fourth preferred linebacker, Ty’Ron Hopper, started in place of Zaire Franklin and had a huge night. He blasted Bryce Young early in the game, chased Young down for a sack, had an impressive pass breakup and was rewarded with an interception after Lukas Van Ness got into his face for pressure.

The only blemish was a 26-yard touchdown to Jalen Coker in which Evan Williams and Keisean Nixon missed tackles on his way to the end zone.

Other than that? It was a big night. Now, Parsons perhaps is set to return to the practice field as the Packers face the biggest test of their schedule starting next week in Foxborough against the New England Patriots.

Grade: B

Rush Defense

Chuba Hubbard was the focal point of Carolina’s attack but managed only 81 yards on 22 carries. Green Bay continues to slow down opposing ground games to earn the right to rush the passer.

When they earned the right, they unleashed hell on Bryce Young. The Panthers’ ground game is no slouch, and the Packers were in control most of the night against Hubbard.

Outside of one really bad game against Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson, this group in general has been excellent all season. The Packers have been a mirage before in terms of stopping the run. They’ll be tested in the near future, and as the calendar turns to December with Buffalo and Chicago on their schedule in particular.

If they can continue to slow down opposing ground games when Parsons returns, that will make defense more fun for Jonathan Gannon to call.

Grade: B.

Special Teams

It was not exactly a banner night at the office for the Packers’ special teams.

The first quarter alone featured Coleman Owen fumbling on the opening kickoff return, which Carolina recovered and turned into a field goal. Following a touchdown pass from Jordan Love, Trey Smack had a pair of errors, starting with a league-leading eighth missed kick and his third missed extra point of the season.

Smack followed that up with a kick into the end zone for a touchback, gift wrapping the ball to the Panthers at the 35. That drive ended in a touchdown to give the Panthers a 10-6 lead.

Smack received a couple of Bronx cheers from the almost-77,000 fans as he made his other two extra-point attempts in the first half. That’s the situation the Packers’ kicking situation finds itself in at midseason.

If you want any sort of glimpse into how everyone is feeling about the kicking situation in Green Bay, Matt LaFleur told you everything you needed to know.

A long field goal would have given the Packers a 30-19 lead that would have been insurmountable with 30 seconds left in the game. Instead, LaFleur never hesitated in sending the punting unit out onto the field.

Smack is a problem, and that could be a bigger issue as the games get bigger down the stretch.

Grade: F.

Coaching

One of the conversations surrounding Matt LaFleur is that he’s often too conservative, to a fault.

This week, his biggest decision came in whether to be aggressive and go for a kill on a field goal late in the game, or to punt and let his defense try to finish the game.

LaFleur never hesitated in sending Daniel Whelan out onto the field. The punt resulted in a touchback, and the Panthers had less than 30 seconds to try and score a touchdown and two-point conversion.

That’s a conservative decision. It’s also unequivocally the right one. Trusting Trey Smack in that spot would have been coaching malpractice considering how he has kicked for most of the season, but especially the last three weeks.

LaFleur’s offense continues to operate without a run game, but finds a way to move the ball enough through the air.

Defensively, Jonathan Gannon may be the best hire that LaFleur has ever made. His defense gave up 19 points on less than 4 yards per play. Two Packers turnovers were converted into only three points by the Panthers.

They held Tetairoa McMillan to 58 yards receiving on 11 targets. He was quiet for most of the night. They had six sacks from six different players. Gannon has been a gift to Green Bay’s defense.

“With the scheme, we feel confident and JG feels confidence in each of us, which is big,” safety Evan Williams said. “In those big plays you want a coordinator that’s not playing scared. He’s a guy that in the biggest of moments, he’s calling different people’s numbers.

“You can kind of see the joy, I feel like, from a lot of guys out there. We’re playing free, playing fast and letting instincts take over.”

Grade: B-Plus.

Matt LaFleur had the perfect six-letter word for his defensive coordinator, Jonathan Gannon, following the Packers' win over Carolina. ⬇️https://t.co/aCM9sVLN52

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 30, 2026