The Green Bay Packers entered Sunday at 1-2 after a blowout loss to Atlanta and a lopsided defeat at Minnesota. Their offensive line had been among the league’s worst, the run game ranked last, and injuries had already removed right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele and receiver Jayden Reed for the year.
A narrow road win can change the math without fixing the problems underneath it. Green Bay held on against a winless Tampa Bay team starting an undrafted rookie, but the final score did not erase the turnovers or the thin margin.
Jordan Love treated that backdrop as temporary when he was asked how far the Packers remain from turning the corner and becoming a great team.
“Not far. Not far. I think everyone in that locker room knows that,” Love said.
The Packers are 2-2 after Sunday’s 17-14 victory over the Buccaneers. They sit fourth in the division, with a home game against the Bears next on the schedule.
Love completed 22 of 30 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns against Tampa Bay. He was not sacked, a notable change after weeks in which pressure had arrived early and often.
The ground game managed 86 yards, its best total of the season, after Green Bay had entered the day last in the NFL in rushing. The line still required veteran additions, including Laken Tomlinson, Kevin Zeitler, and Mekhi Becton, after Bako-Bewele was lost to a patellar tendon injury.
Love did not pretend the win was clean. Two fourth-quarter turnovers kept a three-point lead from becoming comfortable against a team that had yet to win.
“We’ll take the win for sure. It was sloppy on those last drives,” Love said. “We have a chance to put the game out of reach. Two turnovers is unacceptable. That’s something we have to clean up. … That was the disappointing part of the game.”
That mix of frustration and confidence is what gives the earlier comment its edge. Love is not describing a finished product. He is describing a locker room that already believes the gap is short.
Protection remains the central issue. Love has spent much of the season throwing before the play can develop, and the run game has rarely created easy downs.
Reed’s absence removes a proven receiver for the rest of the year. Christian Watson and Matthew Golden have had to carry more of the passing game while the line searches for stability.
A 2-2 record in this division does not offer a long runway. The Vikings are 4-0, the Bears are 3-1, and the Lions have only one loss.
Love’s warning is aimed at that landscape. He is telling the rest of the NFL that the Packers do not see themselves as a team still searching for a ceiling, even after an uneven start and a sloppy escape in Tampa.
