This Week Is Green Bay’s Best Chance To Start Generating Turnovers

Turnovers weren't an issue for Jeff Hafley's defense last year. The Green Bay Packers’ defense stormed out of the gates in 2024, forcing three turnovers in five of the first six games. In the other game? They nabbed two turnovers against the Los Angeles Rams in a Week 5 win.

This year, it hasn't been nearly the same. Will that finally change this week against the Cincinnati Bengals?

The Packers finished fourth in takeaways last year with 31. Hafley's crew accumulated 17 of those in the first six weeks of the season.

If anything, the Packers got better on defense in the offseason with the addition of Micah Parsons and the expected growth from players like Edgerrin Cooper, Javon Bullard, Evan Williams, and others.

Despite that, the takeaways haven't been there.

Through four games, the Packers have just two takeaways. One came via an interception from Williams in Week 1 on a beautiful read to jump a pass from Jared Goff in Amon-Ra St. Brown's direction. The other was an interception by Xavier McKinney at the end of the first half against Cleveland when Joe Flacco was heaving up a prayer.

The good thing for the Packers is the offense has only coughed up the ball twice, so the turnover differential is at zero entering this week against the Bengals. However, Cincinnati can't say the same.

Only Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith has more interceptions (nine) this year than Jake Browning (eight). The alarming thing about that for Cincinnati is that Smith has played every game for the Raiders. Meanwhile, Browning entered the picture during the Week 2 affair against the Jacksonville Jaguars when Joe Burrow left due to injury. That led to Browning’s benching and Cincinnati trading for familiar foe Joe Flacco, who already accounted for one of Green Bay’s picks this season when he was with Cleveland.

Turnovers have plagued Flacco this season.

While Browning is second in the NFL with eight interceptions this year, guess who's third?

Flacco, with six.

Cincinnati also has three fumbles to go with the eight interceptions for a grand total of 11 giveaways in five weeks, good for sixth-worst in the league in turnover differential — an alarming pace.

The Bengals aren't hiding from it, and head coach Zac Taylor noted after Browning's three-interception performance against the Detroit Lions that Cincinnati has to reel it in.

Browning seemingly still has the support of his teammates, which is huge, considering the superstar status that Ja'Marr Chase brings to the table, along with the obvious frustration with Burrow out.

Per Chase:

Noting it needs to change is one thing. Having the support of your teammates despite all the mistakes is great. That doesn't mean it will change, regardless of whether Browning or the newly-acquired Flacco is under center.

Green Bay has had an extra week to prepare for what the Bengals bring to the table. It doesn't matter if you want to attribute most, but not all, of the interceptions to Browning; they keep happening. If Flacco takes over on Sunday, the Packers have seen that show once this year. Despite losing to the Browns, Hafley's defense suffocated Flacco and the Cleveland passing game all afternoon.

The Packers are in a perfect spot to jump at the opportunity this Sunday. They have a defense that showed last year it can rack up takeaways in a flurry and do so consistently. For one reason or another, it just hasn't come together so far this year. Cincinnati is the perfect opponent to help jumpstart things for the defense.

Head coach Matt LaFleur stated after the Dallas Cowboys game that he feels the team is close to that breakthrough, and that the unit Hafley put together in Year 1 should instill faith that it's only a matter of time before the Packers start piling up the takeaways.

There were several areas the Packers needed to address during the bye week, and other uncontrollable factors, such as getting healthy. The defense knows it needs to force the issue even more than it already has. However, it doesn't sound like there's panic about having just two turnovers forced through four games.

It's hard to imagine the dry spell continuing much longer, considering the playmakers the Packers have on defense and how frequently Browning and Flacco have put the football in harm's way.

The perfect remedy for a defense hungry to pile up some takeaways is facing this Bengals offense. Minnesota's defense forced five turnovers a few weeks ago against the Bengals, and Isaiah Rodgers had an 87-yard pick-six and a 66-yard scoop-and-score for touchdowns.

This is a perfect spot for the Green Bay defense on Sunday.