GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers needed to bounce back against the Carolina Panthers after Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions. A win would keep them within striking distance in the NFC North. A loss would put them at risk of falling four games behind the Minnesota Vikings in the loss column.

As has become the norm for this year’s version of the Packers, sloppy football followed. They lost two fumbles and missed an extra point in the first half alone. Jordan Love’s red-hot start, however, allowed the Packers to take a 10-point lead into halftime.

The second half started with Jordan Love throwing a touchdown pass to Josh Jacobs to give the Packers a 27-10 lead that despite some of their best efforts, they would not relinquish.

He was excellent most of the night, and leads off our weekly list of winners and losers.

Winner: QB Jordan Love

How good was Jordan Love in the first half? Well, he started 17-of-20 passing. All three of his incompletions were on dropped passes by Matthew Golden and Christian Watson. Maybe you could argue Watson’s drop was a pass breakup, but the point stands. He was dealing in the first half. That performance comes behind a bad offensive line and a run game that cannot find any traction no matter the opponent.

The Packers know better than anybody what can happen when asking a quarterback to carry the entire ship.

Usually, that ship sinks because quarterbacks, like everyone else, are human. The evidence came in the second half as Love threw an interception on the second play of the fourth quarter to give the Panthers some life.

Matthew Golden on 2nd down: Drops a TD

Matthew Golden on 3rd down: Catches a TD.

Jordan Love didn't hesitate going back to him. 💯pic.twitter.com/eJwpUEg1kB

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) October 30, 2026

Apart from that critical mistake, the second half was much of the same for Green Bay’s offense. Love continued to dice apart a Panthers defense that was missing some of its stars. The first drive of the second half finished with a four-yard touchdown pass to Josh Jacobs to give the Packers a 27-10 lead.

Love finished the night 281 yards on 40 pass attempts, three touchdowns and one interception. The entire offense, as it has for most of the season, fell on him.

He looked like he was in total control of the offense most of the night. Nothing seems to faze him, no matter what happens during the game.

Yes, they were playing a Carolina defense that was decimated, but those are the teams that great quarterbacks light up.

Love lit up the Panthers in prime time and was the single biggest reason his team got to 5-3.

Winner: WR Christian Watson

In what looked straight out of a WWE script, Christian Watson left the game in an ambulance in the first half, and returned with just over four minutes to play in the third quarter.

Yes, you read that right. Watson laid motionless on the Lambeau Field grass after catching a 53-yard bomb and you could hear a pin drop in the stadium.

Christian Watson is back!! 🚨

What a moment.

(via @packers)pic.twitter.com/xOv1db19bQ

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 30, 2026

As everyone feared the worst, Watson had to leave the stadium in an ambulance for precautionary testing.

The official announcement was a chest injury, and it felt like a near certainty he’d miss the rest of the game if not more.

Instead, Watson returned to the game in the third quarter. Playing hurt in the NFL is an expectation, not an exception. Still, the toughness is admirable.

Oh, and on the field before he left the game, he was the Packers’ best receiver. He’d caught six passes for 100 yards before leaving the game in an ambulance.

His final catch of the game also helped the Packers pick up a critical first down to essentially run out the clock and avoid disaster. Watson is someone held in high regard by his teammates, and Thursday's game was a big reason why.

Winner: LB Ty’Ron Hopper

In a season full of next men up, Ty’Ron Hopper became the latest one last week after a freak injury to Zaire Franklin came to light in practice. Hopper replaced him and played solid in his debut as the Packers’ new linebacker next to Isaiah McDuffie.

Hopper had a huge first half against Carolina. On the second series of the game, Hopper was sent on a pressure and decked Bryce Young on a vicious hit that forced an incompletion and a punt.

Later in the game he was locked up in coverage on Chuba Hubbard before forcing an incompletion as Young threw the ball down the field. His biggest play was a case of being in the right place at the right time.

Lukas Van Ness batted a pass from Bryce Young into the air that fell into the waiting arms of Hopper with the Packers leading 13-10 in the second quarter.

He added a sack in the second half by chasing down Bryce Young.

Hopper is going to need to play well for the team with Edgerrin Cooper out for the season and Franklin having an unclear return date.

If he keeps making the plays he made in the first half on Thursday, the Packers may keep him on the field when Franklin returns.

Loser: OL Kevin Zeitler

Through the first month of Zeitler’s tenure in Green Bay, it made sense that Zeitler would not be ready to play due to sitting on the couch for most of the offseason.

The sense of that decision ended on Sunday in Detroit. It made less sense on Thursday against the Carolina Panthers.

Travis Glover, the person who has been starting at right guard since Zeitler signed in Green Bay, was inactive with a knee injury.

It felt like Zeitler was set to make his debut as the starting right guard. That was not to be. Aaron Banks was active, and took his place at left guard.

The starting right guard was someone who had 13,920 fewer snaps than him at right guard. Those snaps all came in 2026. Laken Tomlinson took the starting role.

Zeitler was paid real money to save Green Bay’s offensive line after a disastrous performance at the end of September against Atlanta.

He was likely under the impression he was going to play when he was ready. Zeitler has said he’s ready to play, but remains on the bench.

Nobody can seem to figure out why.

Loser: KR Coleman Owen

The Packers lost their one free possession of the game. How? Their new kickoff returner, Coleman Owen was hit by Jackson Kuwatch of Carolina, forcing a fumble.

Owen’s snap was his first as a kick returner. He had been returning punts and was signed to the active roster thanks to the high ankle sprain for Skyy Moore, who remains on injured reserve.

He replaced J. Michael Sturdivant in that role, who had been solid if unspectacular in Moore’s absence.

The Packers’ defense would hold the Panthers to a field goal attempt when a third down sack from Devonte Wyatt ended the Panthers’ opening series.

It’s difficult to generate explosive returns as a kickoff returner, so ball security has to be a priority.

Loser: K Trey Smack

At some point, questions need to start getting asked. Trey Smack was given virtually no competition this offseason, and quieted some questions with a perfect preseason.

Smack came into play Thursday with five missed kicks in the last three games. Last week, he cost the Packers six points in a game they lost by three.

His first attempt to kick on Thursday he hit the left upright. He followed that up by kicking the ball into the end zone, gift wrapping the Panthers great field position for the ensuing possession that ended in a touchdown.

If there were any example of how bad things have gotten for Smack, Matt LaFleur bypassed a 53-yard field goal that would have given the Packers an insurmountable lead to have Daniel Whelan pooch punt with 30 seconds left in the game. He does not trust his kicker.

For good reason.

Smack currently leads the league in missed kicks with eight. Five field goals and three extra points. For those that are good at math, that’s 18 points that have been left on the field this season.

The next time the Packers play, the calendar will have flipped to November. That means that the games are getting more important. The more important the game, the smaller the margin for error.

The Packers cannot afford to have their kicker lighting points on fire.

Loser: Run Game

If it’s not going to happen against the Dallas Cowboys or Carolina Panthers, it’s probably not going to happen at all for Green Bay’s run game.

The Packers ran for 57 yards against the Cowboys two weeks ago. Their leading rusher had 28 yards rushing on 11 carries. At the time, Dallas was the worst defense in football against the run.

One potential solution was that Josh Jacobs, the team’s star running back was returning to give the run game some juice.

Thursday, the Panthers entered play as the worst defense in football against the run, so in essence the Packers got a mulligan for a get-right game against a bad run defense.

It didn’t matter. Jacobs had 10 carries for 14 yards in the first half. He finished the game averaging less than three yards-per-carry.

Jacobs’ celebration following his rushing touchdown was also done in incredibly poor taste.

They took the ball with a 27-19 lead with 5:33 left in the game. That is usually a time where a team would want to turn to its run game to try and bleed some of the clock.

An illegal man downfield penalty set the offense back. They ran four plays, four passes, one wiped out by a penalty, before a punt that took just over a minute off the clock.

In total, Green Bay's rushing output was built largely on the back of Savion Williams ripping off an 18-yard-run on a reverse.

It’s hard to imagine the Packers winning anything of significance with a run game as bad as the one they currently employ.

Here’s the early story from the Packers’ victory over the Panthers, highlighted by Christian Watson’s injury and return. https://t.co/5DAfJXpv12

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 30, 2026