The Green Bay Packers defense got off to a very strong start this season. With the addition of Micah Parsons, Jeff Hafley’s unit had a much stronger pass rush that could get pressure with just four down linemen rushing the quarterback. But, after four games, the defense has taken a big step back in one important area in 2025 as compared to a year ago. So, here is one thing the Packers defense needs to turn around after the bye week.
One Critical Thing the Packers Defense Needs to Turn Around: Last Season
The Packers defense struggled to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks last season without having Hafley dialing up blitzes, stunts, and deceptive formations. The Packers still managed 8th in the NFL with 45 sacks.
But one thing the defense did very well was to create turnovers. The Packers ranked fourth in the NFL with 31 total turnovers and ranked third in turnover differential with a plus-12.
Xavier McKinney provided the Packers with eight interceptions including on in each of the team’s first five games of the season. The Packers also recovered 14 fumbles in 17 games last season.
In an era where the rules favor the offense, creating turnovers is even more critical for defenses. It’s tougher to stop an offense, especially when so many teams tend to go for it on fourth down and less than five yards to go. Forcing turnovers not only stops the opposing offense but can set up your own offense with a short field.
A Slow Start in 2025
Despite the increased pressure by the defensive line in the first four games of 2025, the Packers have not been creating turnovers. The Packers have two interceptions in their first four games and have yet to recover a fumble.
One of the interceptions came right before the end of the half on a Hail Mary. McKinney managed to get his first pick of the new season. The other interception was by safety Evan Williams which came in the season opener against Detroit.
Ironically, the Packers spent most of training camp and preseason working on punching the football out and creating turnovers.
“We took the ball away last year. We didn’t force enough fumbles. That’s not good enough,” Hafley said in training camp. “The emphasis coming in is, one, our play style, how hard we’re going to play, how physical we’re going to play, how we run to the ball. That’s non-negotiable. The other is we’re going to attack the football. We need to emphasize it more. We need to coach it better. We need to put it out there on tape. That’s been the No. 1 emphasis this training camp is one, play style, two, we need to force more fumbles. That’s charted, that’s talked about, and you can see the buy-in from the players.”
Despite the emphasis on forcing fumbles, it hasn’t gotten results.
One Critical Thing the Packers Defense Needs to Turn Around: Looking Forward
Despite the early-season struggles, Hafley remains optimistic that the turnovers will come. The better pass rush should result in more mistakes by quarterbacks which should lead to interceptions. Strip sacks should also happen more frequently.
“My belief is that they’re coming,” Hafley said when asked about turnovers before the Cowboys game. “I mean, we’re swinging at the ball more than we did last year. Honestly, that’s the truth, because we’re even charting that. We’re to the point where we’re charting how many opportunities did we have to go after the football. For every play we feel we had an opportunity, and how many we didn’t take. And guys are taking them, and they’re going to come. It’s like you just keep sharpening and sharpening and sharpening, and swinging at that tree, and eventually it’s going to fall down, and eventually we’re going to get the takeaways.”
The Packers have to hope so, because they will need to win the turnover battles, especially against the better teams on their schedule. On the bright side, the offense isn’t turning the ball over themselves. The Packers are still even in turnover differential, having lost one fumble and thrown one interception through four games.
This will be an important factor for the Packers as they return from the bye week and for the rest of the season.
Follow Gil Martin on Twitter @GilPackers
Click here for more great Packers coverage
Check out our YouTube channel here
