The Green Bay Packers fell apart down the stretch, collapsing to the previously hapless Cleveland Browns in a 13-10 defeat on Sunday afternoon.
The Packers lost a 10-point lead in the final four minutes, culminating with a blocked field goal and then a 55-yard walk-off from Browns kicker Andre Szmyt.
As star defensive end Micah Parsons put it, the Packers defecated in their sheets late to fall to 2-1.
"Sometimes, just like today, you s--- the bed," Parsons said. "That's just the reality of it. It happens to the best teams. Even the best Super Bowl champs make mistakes, and they pay for it early.
"You go back to the history of the champions and who've they've played and games they should've won. It’s just part of the [NFL]. It's just that competitive. It's that hard to win. It's hard as hell to win football games. So, when you win football games, it's a celebration. But when you lose, it sucks."
It particularly sucks when you’ve got a winless club on the ropes on the road.
The Packers held a 10-3 advantage deep in the fourth quarter when Jordan Love tossed a bad interception, leading to a one-play TD drive for Cleveland to tie the game. The Packers responded with a five-play drive to get into field-goal range, but Shelby Harris got a paw on the Brandon McManus boot. Then, the Browns drove for the game-winner.
It took an entire team to collapse as the Packers did.
A stout Browns defense battered Love behind an injured offensive line, sacking him five times. The Packers were held to 10 points, their fewest points scored since Week 8, 2023, versus the Minnesota Vikings (10 points). They’d scored 27 each of the first two weeks.
Parsons partially blamed himself for committing two “unacceptable” penalties, including an offside on the final game-winning Browns drive.
The Packers remain in the driver’s seat in the NFC North, at 2-1, but Sunday’s loss could sting in the race for the division title down the stretch or playoff seeding.
“It’s 18 [weeks],” Parsons said. "We lost a rough one, one that you could have said we should have won. You just grow off it. This is the character-building.”
The Packers will now face Parsons’ former Cowboys club in Dallas next week. It’s a defense that sorely misses the pass rusher, allowing 30.7 points per game through three weeks.