Concerns are beginning to mount after the Green Bay Packers defeat to the Denver Broncos in Week 7. Even after the disappointing Week 5 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, a game in which Jordan Love threw three picks and finished with a passer rating of 32.2, there was optimism that this young Packers offense could turn things around in Week 7. Instead, Green Bay was stonewalled by a Denver defense that came into Sunday as the worst in the NFL in terms of points and yards allowed per game.

Here are the two Packers most to blame for the disappointing defeat.

Jordan Love

Packers, Jordan Love

Let's preface this by saying that Jordan Love had a pretty decent game overall. He completed 21/31 passes for 180, with two touchdowns and an interception. If Anders Carlson makes the 43-yard field goal at the end of the first half then Love is being praised for another methodical showing while the armchair quarterbacks rip into Russell Wilson. Instead, we can focus on a few key facets of Jordan Love's performances that prevented the Packers from coming home with the victory.

We begin with a first half that ended with a big zero on the scoreboard for Green Bay. Love had 47 passing yards entering halftime and the Packers only managed four first downs in the first 30 minutes of the game against a Denver defense that could hardly stop a peewee football team in the first six weeks. That poor first half put the Packers in a nine-point hole entering the intermission. Credit to Love, he led the team back in the second half, as Green Bay's first three drives resulted in a pair of touchdowns and a field goal.

But then came the final drive. After Russell Wilson took his team down the field to get the go-ahead field goal, Jordan Love got the ball back with a two-point deficit and 3:50 left in the game. He got the team as far as the Denver 44-yard-line before a holding penalty set up a difficult third and 20 from their own 46. Instead of hitting AJ Dillon for an easy check-down that would have set up a manageable fourth down (after Dillon picked up 29 yards on a similar play earlier in the drive), Love heaved the ball deep downfield into double coverage. Denver intercepted, thus ending the Packers' hopes of a road win.

Matt LaFleur

After a disappointing defeat to NFL bottom-feeders the Denver Broncos, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur is receiving substantial criticism, and rightly so. Green Bay had two weeks to prepare for Denver and proceeded to produce a goose egg in the first half. These first-half struggles are an issue that has plagued the team all year. Green Bay is averaging 4.3 points per game in the first half, the worst in the NFL. They also lead the NFL with 17.3 points per game in the second half, but the team can't continually dig out of that hole on a weekly basis and expect to win football games.

The Packers also allowed the Broncos to gain a season-high 145 rushing yards. Matt LaFleur has repeatedly said that rushing defense is something the team needs to improve, yet the Packers still struggle in that department, giving up the third-most rushing yards per game in the NFL. And then there was the play call on the fateful 3rd down. The Packers needed 20 yards for the first down and were conceivably 12-15 yards away from considering a field goal. What does LaFleur do? He calls for two deep routes. Love should have looked for the underneath throw, but LaFleur has to know that Denver will be defending the deep ball. Love was 0-3 with an interception on pass attempts of 20 yards or more, and LaFleur's play-calling was a hindrance for this Green Bay offense.