It's time for Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers to find their desperation

Green Bay has to change its philosophy on the fly because the seasons hangs in the balance this Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

It was more than just a play; it was a declaration of intent. And philosophy matters. Not Descartes or Hobbes, but Matt LaFleur’s. When the Green Bay Packers won the coin toss against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving morning in 2023, they took the ball, a departure from their trend toward deferring to the second half. On the first play, Jordan Love faked the handoff to A.J. Dillon, took a three-step drop, hitched twice, and fired a deep shot to Christian Watson. The throw wasn’t perfect, and Watson had to come back to high-point the ball, but he won the jump, and it was 53 yards off the rip for the Pack.

Not everything has to be perfect when the mindset is aggressive. Too often this season, the Packers have played not to lose. They were plodding and methodical, if effective, on the final drive against the Dallas Cowboys that ended in a tie rather than a win.

They’re a run-heavy team, especially on early downs, but they don’t use play-action enough to pay off that investment. Their opening scripts are the least effective they’ve been in the LaFleur era, in part because they insist on establishing the run behind an offensive line that can’t move bodies.

Investing in bigger linemen to move defenders hasn’t worked.

Yet the Packers opened Monday night against Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis with runs on six of their first seven plays. They did pick up two first downs, but one required a fourth-down conversion. They nearly had another, but once again the offensive line let them down with a false start on a second sneak play.

That’s one of the biggest reasons Green Bay has one first-half touchdown in its last 18 possessions through the last four games. They’re not a good enough running team to commit to that as an identity, and also not consistent enough right now to rely on methodical approaches to offense.