Through 14 weeks, the Green Bay Packers, led by a rookie head coach, are 10-3 and sitting pretty atop the NFC North. It's hard to imagine a more desirable, attractive start to the season and Matt LaFleur's time in Green Bay.
But how the Packers have come across their last few victories hasn't been as attractive as their record. Green Bay's last three wins have come against teams with a combined record of 10-28, its latest a 20-15 win Sunday over the lowly Washington Redskins, and the Packers, over their last five games (3-2), have enjoyed a negative-13 point differential.
Not that Green Bay cares, as long as the Pack keep stacking wins.
"We've got to clean some of that stuff up, but I wouldn't mind winning ugly all the way to the Super Bowl," Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told reporters, per the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
In Green Bay's narrow win over Washington, the Packers scored 14 points in the first quarter but were outscored 15-6 over the final three frames. Green Bay picked up just 18 first downs, the fourth time in five games that Green Bay has failed to log at least 20, and Rodgers threw for under 200 passing yards for the third time in four contests. The Packers' 20 points were their fewest in a win since their Week 1 triumph over Chicago.
Asked after the game if he was concerned about the offensive production, Rodgers said succinctly, "I'm not."
There are myriad stats to explain Green Bay's inefficiency on offense over the last quarter of the season, but the only number the Packers worry about is the one in the win column.
"Winning is the only thing that matters," Rodgers said, per the team's website. "Even in the midst of some of these games that aren't great flow the entire time, we are winning. We expect to win games when the defense holds them to less than 20 points.
"We'll find our rhythm. I'm not worried about that on offense. We'll keep getting the ball to our playmakers and figure out what's going to work that week."
The Packers are one game ahead of the Minnesota Vikings (9-4) in the NFC North with three games to go. As long as they end the season that way, it won't matter how it's done. For Green Bay, it's about the destination, not the journey, as cheesy as that is.
