The Green Bay Packers (4-1) were not only handed their first loss of the season by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-2) on Sunday, they were thoroughly outplayed, particularly for the final three quarters.
Green Bay opened with a 10-0 lead before a pick-six by Jamel Dean early in the second quarter sparked 38 unanswered points by the Buccaneers. On the following drive, Aaron Rodgers tossed another pick, this time to Mike Edwards, who nearly returned that one to the house.
It was just the third pick-six of his career and marked his first two interceptions of the 2020 season.
Despite the ugly loss, Rodgers — who had a 17.8 QB Rating in the game — was choosing to look at the bright side after the game. In fact, he sees the humbling defeat as a possible blessing in disguise for the Packers.
“You don't ever want to lose like this,” Rodgers said, via Karley Marotta of WKOW 27. “I feel like we needed a little bit of wake-up call this season. I think we needed a kick in the ass a little bit to stop feeling ourselves so much.”
“I don't want to say that. I will say that our practice this past week was not up to our standard that these guys have developed over the last year and a half,” said the second year head coach. “That's what happened today. You practice like crap and then you go out and play like crap.”
Green Bay will have a chance to right the ship and validate their quarterback's optimistic spin against the Houston Texans in Week 7. The Packers trail the Chicago Bears (5-1) by 0.5 games for the AFC North lead.
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