GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Green Bay Packers are the only team in the NFL that has led by double digits in every game this season. They're also the only team that has lost to the Cleveland Browns (1-5), and the Packers managed only a tie against a Dallas Cowboys (2-3-1) team that has losses to the Chicago Bears (2-2) and Carolina Panthers (3-3) on its résumé.
At 3-1-1 after Sunday's 27-18 win over the Cincinnati Bengals (2-4) that wasn't wrapped up until fill-in kicker Lucas Havrisik made a 39-yard field goal to make it a two-score game with 1:52 remaining, the Packers looked like a team that doesn't quite look dominant but is in no way a lost cause, either.
"I think we have a really good team," Packers said quarterback Jordan Love said. "I think it just comes down to being our best every time we touch that field and executing every play. I think we've seen what we can do against some good teams, and we've seen what we do when we don't play our best. Just comes down to playing your best on Sunday or you'll get beat."
The Packers closed as a 13.5-point favorite, according to ESPN BET, yet it was a six-point game in the fourth quarter. They managed only a 10-0 lead at halftime against a Bengals team that started 40-year-old Joe Flacco at quarterback only days after they acquired him in a trade with the Browns, who also trailed the Packers 10-0 entering the fourth quarter only to pull off a 13-10 upset in Week 3.
"There were a lot of critical situations where they were able to make a play, and we didn't, to keep them in the game," Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Sunday. "But that is life in the National Football League."
Right down the middle for JJ!
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) October 12, 2025
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/lZmEinTJWg
So what are the Packers good at?
Of late, they've gotten running back Josh Jacobs going. After a slow start, he has had two straight games with at least 150 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns -- becoming the first Packers player to do that since Ahman Green in 2001. Against the Bengals, he had 19 carries for 93 yards and two TDs, plus five catches for 57 yards.
"It feels good as a runner to be able to feel like you're dominating," Jacobs said. "That's always a thing that you can always feel, especially on offense when the defense starts to get tired of you hitting 'em, starts to get tired of you going right at 'em. That's something that we definitely felt."
The offensive line was at full strength for the first time since the opener, although right tackle Zach Tom (oblique) appeared to be in pain after the game.
First-round pick Matthew Golden may have had a breakout game. While the receiver caught only three passes, they went for 86 yards (including a 31-yard corner route on the final scoring drive of the game). With two rushes for 16 yards, he went over 100 yards from scrimmage for the first time in his NFL career.
"I think he's a guy that we're going to keep trying to get going and keep finding ways to get him the ball, because he's done some really good things," Love said. "It's always about trying to spread it around, but he's definitely a very explosive playmaker and [we've] just got to keep finding ways to get it to him."
Love had one of his better games with his legs, including a 3-yard scramble to convert a third-down on the fourth-quarter drive that ended with his 19-yard touchdown pass to Tucker Kraft.
Tuck really laid it all out there
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) October 12, 2025
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/dYu0IUevKc
While pass rusher Micah Parsons failed to record a sack, he had a game-high five pressures -- and Flacco threw incomplete on all five of those plays. It was Parsons' third-game with five or more pressures, most in the NFL.
Yet there are issues.
At the top of that list is letting seemingly inferior teams like the Bengals, Cowboys and Browns hang around.
"That's something we gotta find ways to keep capitalizing on," Love said. "It's 10-0, we gotta find ways to put teams away early, and not even make it a close game at the end."
The Packers could have built a bigger lead early if not for Love's interception in the red zone on the opening drive. While being flushed out of the pocket, Love made an ill-advised throw to Romeo Doubs that was deflected and intercepted.
"Outside of that, I thought he played his ass off," LaFleur said. "That was one of the better games that he's played for us in terms of just being able to use his legs to convert critical third downs."
It was another game in which the Packers failed to get a takeaway. After forcing 31 turnovers last season, they have two in five games this season.
"That would be nice, to get a takeaway," LaFleur said. "If we can do that -- and there was opportunities out there -- but I thought that was the difference from really allowing us to put the game out of reach. And credit to them, they did a good job of holding onto the ball and not putting it in harm's way."
So what does it all mean? According to Kraft, it's all about "the possibilities."
"We just got to keep playing with a mean demeanor and keep stacking wins," Kraft said.