Packers FanPulse, Week 5: One loss drops confidence by 25%

The Green Bay Packers are 3-1. If you had told most Packers fans before the season that they would start out with that record and would beat a pair of NFC North teams in the first two weeks of the season, most would have been happy with that start. But the fourth game of the season’s first quarter was a loss that further exposed the Packers’ struggling run defense, and it resulted in a big drop in fans’ confidence in the team as measured by APC’s FanPulse confidence index.

Coming into week four, Packers fans were riding high. The team was 3-0 and confidence was at 77 percent, a high-water mark for the entirety of 2019. However, following that 34-27 loss to the Eagles, the rate of confident responses dropped by a full 25 points, falling all the way to 52 percent.

Perhaps it is the “same old Packers defense” narrative that has fans upset. It certainly should not be the offense’s overall productivity, as Aaron Rodgers had his most productive game yardage-wise under Matt LaFleur and looked more comfortable than he has at any point this season. The run game struggled, but that was understandable; the Eagles’ run defense is elite while their pass defense is abysmal, leading to the Packers effectively setting the run game aside. Furthermore, losing Jamaal Williams to a concussion on the first offensive snap made it even more difficult to establish a rushing attack.

Whatever the reason, the Packers have an opportunity to rebound on Sunday against a 3-1 Dallas Cowboys team that has lost its only game against quality competition so far this year. Interestingly, Cowboys’ FanPulse ratings from Blogging the Boys dropped even farther than APC’s did following Dallas’ 12-10 loss to the Saints, dropping 30 points from 95 percent confidence to 65 percent.

Here’s a look at the Packers’ numbers throughout 2019: