Slow starts on offense need to change for Packers

So far in 2021, the Packers have scored on their opening drive just three times, with two touchdowns, and not since Week 7 vs. Washington. The first-quarter point total is just 27, less than half of their point total in any other quarter this season (they’ve scored 87 in the second, 55 in the third and 75 in the fourth).

“At times the last couple years we’ve been so good in the first 15 to 20 plays that we script, and scoring on opening drives, touchdowns,” said quarterback Aaron Rodgers, whose final numbers Sunday were season-bests. “Hasn’t really been the case this year. We’ve been a lot slower starting, so we gotta look at that.”

Green Bay’s defense certainly had more breakdowns than the offense in Minnesota, but none of the Packers’ offensive players were going to pass off the responsibility for the loss.

Football games are like this sometimes, and making every possession count is the key to coming out on top. Not including a kneel-down on the final play of the first half, the Packers scored touchdowns on their final four possessions of the game on drives that covered 74, 75, 94 and 75 yards.

But when it’s not enough, the lingering question is why it took so long to get going, and the lack of points early was especially frustrating when the game started with a 37-yard completion to Adams.

“Some days you have to outscore teams that get hot on offense,” Rodgers said. “We had an opportunity to score 40 points today, and when you’re playing an offense that’s hot, that has a hot quarterback, and stud receivers and a stud back, you gotta keep scoring.

“We’ve had a couple games like this over the years, thinking about 2012 especially, where we gotta outscore them at their place. We didn’t do that today.”