The Browns Reminded Green Bay That No King Rules Forever

The Green Bay Packers looked like the best team in the NFL through the first two weeks, but no king rules forever.

Sunday's game had all the trappings of a classic trap game: an unfamiliar opponent, an away atmosphere, and an enemy backed into a corner like a weasel, ready to strike after a 0-2 start.

Green Bay didn't look pretty, but controlled the game for roughly 55 minutes. Then, it all went wrong, and the Packers left the beautiful city of Cleveland with their first loss of the season.

The defense didn't have its best showing of the year, but the offense and special teams split the lion's share of the blame. What went wrong at the end of the game, and how concerned should we be?

Despite the lovely weather, the entire game wasn't a pretty sight. Joe Flacco couldn't do much against Green Bay's defense, but Jordan Love and the Packers couldn't get much going against Cleveland’s powerful defense.

Green Bay's offensive line was terrible, and penalties (14) kept the Packers from getting momentum. They never got the run game properly going, and special teams weren't great. These have been problems all season, but they were at their worst in Cleveland. LaFleur called an uncreative and uninspired game and looked unprepared for everyone on the Browns defense, aside from Myles Garrett.

Still, the Packers almost escaped with a win. With the lead and the opportunity to run out the clock, it all fell apart following Love's unfortunate interception.

With third down and three to go and on their own 25-yard line, Love attempted an ugly pass to Dontayvion Wicks that instead went to Browns safety Grant Delpit. It was a poor decision that allowed the Browns to score their first touchdown of the day on the very next play — essentially a pick-six play from Love.

Still, the Packers got the ball back with decent field position thanks to a nice kick return from Savion Williams. The Packers only needed a few good plays to eat up time and set Brandon McManus up for a game-winning field goal.

The drive went poorly, and it almost ended early thanks to Josh Jacobs fumbling at the worst time. The Packers managed to get into a reasonable field goal position, but Shelby Harris blocked the 43-yard attempt.

Instead of icing the game, it gave the Browns time with the ball from a decent field position. Flacco and the offense did just enough to set up their own game-winning field goal, a 55-yarder by Andre Szmyt.

LaFleur initially took the blame for Love's interception on Sunday, saying his playcall didn't do Love any favors. But on Monday, he was a little more critical.

Love is no stranger to the occasional What was that pass? throw leading to an interception. But this one came at the worst time.

Situational football was a major problem by the end of the game.

Love's interception swung the momentum for the Browns, but he had a mostly okay if unspectacular day until then.

The rest of the team still had a chance to snatch a victory, but issues continued to pile up. Jacobs almost lost the ball, while Rasheed Walker had another false-start penalty on the final drive. The run blocking couldn't make Jacobs' life easier, while they failed to give Love time in the pocket to make big plays.

Green Bay's defense was unable to neutralize Cleveland’s offense on its last drive, failing to force the game into overtime.

The field goal attempt had a bad snap and a low kick. McManus was near-perfect in training camp, and they signed him for his reliability and veteran presence. However, he has already missed two makable field goals this season. This week, it felt like Brayden Narveson was still the team's kicker.

Again, many of these have been season-long problems the Packers need to clean up anyway if they hope to play for a Super Bowl. They were evident all game, but the combination of all of them occurring on those last two drives led to a loss.

LaFleur was critical of the team's false starts as well as the technique on the field goal attempt. These have been long-standing issues and stem from coaching. LaFleur and Bisaccia need to instill more discipline and fundamentals to avoid losses like these in the future.

All things considered, the Packers are a very good 2-1 football team with some issues they need to address. Considering the schedule, being 2-1 at this point shouldn't be a dealbreaker. It's just surprising that the Browns were the team that beat them.

Losing to the Browns should be humbling, and the team can use it as a starting point to address its weaknesses. Even championship teams lay an egg on occasion, and at least the loss came to an AFC team. While it all came crashing down in Cleveland in the last five minutes, the bigger-picture concepts that the Packers need to address anyway were what went wrong. Ideally, the loss will give them a deeper view of their weaknesses, and the team can work to fix them now.