Acme Packing Company
The story of the Green Bay Packers’ Week 17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens was very simple: It was a game of Malik Willis against Derrick Henry. Willis, the Packers’ starting quarterback due to Jordan Love suffering a concussion last week, wound up completing 18 of 21 passes for 288 yards and a touchdown to go along with nine carries for 60 yards and two more touchdowns on the ground.
In short, Willis did everything that could have been asked of a backup quarterback in this game. In all likelihood, he will be starting for another team in 2026.
Still, despite the Packers’ success when Willis had the ball, Green Bay only ran for 19 yards with their running backs in the game. Even though the team averaged 8.2 yards per play on offense, compared to the Ravens’ 5.6, Green Bay lost 41-24. Baltimore also finished with a 40:16 to 19:44 time of possession advantage. The Packers never even punted, just like in last week’s loss against the Chicago Bears.
How did this game slip through Green Bay’s fingers this time? Well, Pro Bowl running back Derrik Henry ran 36 times for 216 yards and four scores. He shredded the Packers’ injured defensive line, and cornerback Carrington Valentine seemed to have no interest in bringing down Henry when the two got the opportunity to square up on the perimeter.
Green Bay tried benching Valentine in this game because of tackling issues, but both of Valentine’s replacements, Nate Hobbs (knee) and Kamal Hadden (ankle), ended up going down with injuries. You can add receiver Dontayvion Wicks (concussion), defensive tackle Jordan Riley (Achilles) and safety Zayne Anderson (ankle) to the list of players lost in this game.
With this loss, the Packers are officially out of the NFC North running, meaning that the Bears have clinched one of the top three seeds in the playoffs. Green Bay is now also locked into the seventh seed, meaning that they have nothing to gain by playing starters against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 18.
The Packers’ only blowout loss of the year came in their final competitive game of the regular season.
