The Green Bay Packers (7-3, 2-1 NFC North) fell to the Indianapolis Colts (7-3, 1-1 AFC South) 34-31 in a painful overtime loss at Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday. Despite leading by two touchdowns at halftime, the Packers cost themselves the game with self-inflicted mistakes and the inability to make things happen on offense in the second half.  

Green Bay’s opening drive was unfortunately just foreshadowing for what was to come for the Packers; an afternoon full of brutal turnovers. Despite opening the game with a 33-yard catch from wide receiver Davante Adams, the Packers fumbled the snap two plays later and the Colts recovered it.  

Luckily for Green Bay, safety Raven Greene fired back with a forced fumble of his own and put the ball right back in the Packers’ hands. Green Bay then found a rhythm quickly and marched down the short field for a touchdown. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers connected with tight end Robert Tonyan for the 25-yard score to put Green Bay up 7-0.

The Packers couldn’t enjoy their lead for too long though. The Colts responded by quickly making their way down the field and into the endzone after a crosser from Phillip Rivers turned into a 45-yard touchdown for wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. to tie the game at 7.

Later in the quarter, the Packers were looking to re-take the lead but found themselves at the end of another turnover. This time, Rodgers underthrew a pass to wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling and it was picked off, marking his fourth total interception on the year.

However, once again, Green Bay escaped unscathed after a turnover when Indianapolis’ 50-yard field goal attempt “doinked” off the bottom of the cross bar. Still tied at 7-7 in the second quarter, the offense ignited a new fire for Green Bay. Rodgers connected with Adams off a 20-yard pass play, running back Jamaal Williams rushed for a first down, wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown came to life off a 23-yard reception and then running back Aaron Jones rushed in the endzone for a 2-yard touchdown to give the Packers a 14-7 lead.

The offense wouldn’t have to wait long to get the ball back either. Packers defensive tackle Billy Winn tipped up quarterback Phillip Rivers’ pass and linebacker Christian Kirksey was there to intercept it and return it to the Colts’ 29. From there, Rodgers connected with Adams for a 5-yard touchdown play to extend Green Bay’s lead to 21-7. Adams’ touchdown was his 10^th total on the year, the most in the NFL, according to the FOX broadcast.  

Indy was not going down without a fight though. With less than two minutes left in the half, they caught Preston Smith in coverage (your guess is as good as mine) and scored a 17-yard touchdown to cut Green Bay’s lead to 21-14.

But, 1:52 left on the clock was plenty of time for Aaron Rodgers to bring his team all the way down the field for a touchdown to put Green Bay back in front by two scores, 28-14, at halftime. Rodgers and company had an assist from a 51-yard defensive pass interference penalty before Williams found the endzone off a 4-yard pass play.  

After the first half, this was an entirely differently ball game. And, for the Packers, that meant trouble was on its way. The Colts started the second half with a monster drive consisting of multiple strong runs but, thanks to a sack from defensive tackle Kenny Clark and strong play in the secondary from safety Adrian Amos, the Packers forced the Colts to settle for a field goal and make it 28-17.

Then, the Packers offense didn’t do the defense any favors. After the defense spent what seemed like ages on the field, the offense went three and out in under a minute giving the defense virtually no time to recover. The Colts, finally wearing the Packers down, found the endzone with 1:59 left in the third quarter off a 6-yard pass play. To sprinkle even more salt in the fresh wound, Indy went for two and got it to cut Green Bay’s lead to just 28-25.

When the Packers desperately needed to put points on the board, they once again went three and out and from this point on it only seemed to get worse for Green Bay. On the Colts next drive, the tied the game off a 32-yard field goal attempt at 28. Then, when the Packers would have a chance to re-take the lead, Darrius Shepard fumbled on the kickoff return and the Colts recovered it and successfully kicked another field goal to take a 31-28 lead. The field goal marked 17 unanswered points for the Colts in the second half.

To make matters worse, when the Packers finally found something on offense and were in field goal range, they decided to go for it on 4^th and 1 and drew up a disastrous pass play and turned the ball over on downs.

But, ladies and gentlemen, this one was still not over. Not even close. Just when it looked like the Colts were about to seal the deal after converting on fourth down, they committed 5 penalties in 8 plays and were forced to punt with 1:25 left. Just as it was in the first half, the little bit of clock was enough for the Packers. Rodgers connected with MVS off a 47-yard pass on 3^rd and 10 and then two consecutive first down plays to Adams, before kicker Mason Crosby sent this one to overtime after his 26-yard field goal attempt was good to make it 31-31.

Green Bay won the overtime coin toss and would have the opportunity to put the game away which finally allowed Packers fans to take a deep breath. However, just two plays into overtime, MVS fumbled and the Colts recovered it. From there, Indy did what they needed to do and sealed the deal with a 39-yard field goal attempt to beat Green Bay 34-31.

What we learned: This was a total team loss for Green Bay  

After reflecting on this loss, it’s hard to put the blame on just one person or player. Sure, the MVS fumble was the dagger and Mike Pettine’s inability to read an offense has become more frustrating as the season has gone on (believe me I’m right there with you), but so many other things fell apart in this game for Green Bay too.

In addition to those two blaring errors, Shepard’s fumble on special teams when the Packers had the opportunity to re-take the lead during a time game was a killer too. The Packers going for it on 4^th and 1 and deciding to pass instead of running a QB sneak or a simple rush play was also a killer. And, we can’t forget the offense not scoring a single touchdown in the entire second half too.  

This was just a brutal loss in all three phases of the game for Green Bay.

What went right: The Lazard effect

Despite the loss, it shouldn’t go unnoticed how important it was for wide receiver Allen Lazard to be back this week. Despite only 2 receptions for 18 yards (ESPN stats), where the Packers really missed Lazard was in the blocking game.

Lazard came through with a handful of key blocks on Sunday, most notably on Davante Adam’s first half touchdown where he cleared the lane for Adams to run through and straight into the endzone for 6.  

What went wrong: Turnovers   

I’ll keep this short and simple. When you have 3 fumbles and an interception on the day its hard to win a football game. Although the first half turnovers didn’t end up being costly, the second half and overtime turnovers are where Green Bay lost ahold of this game. When you have an offense as talented as this one, things like that can simply not happen. The Packers defense already struggles enough and the offense doesn’t need to make things even more difficult.

Offensive MVP: Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers’ MVP campaign continued Sunday. No matter how heartbroken you feel about the loss, at least you can rest assured knowing 12 is your quarterback. The veteran was 27/38 and threw for 311 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception (ESPN stats).  

Defensive MVP: Adrian Amos

Adrian Amos continued to trend in the right direction on Sunday. He was one of the few consistent bright spots for this defense and had a handful of great pass breakups that changed the course of the game. Amos had 7 total tackles on the day, 4 of which were solo, 1 for a loss and 1 pass deflection (ESPN stats).

A look at some of your takeaways

• “Too many turnovers. The Colts are a good team, but I don't like the way we lost the game.” - @GeorgeHagstrom

• “Offense doesn't play 60 minutes. period.” - @realtalkryan87

• “im just sad and my heart hurts i dont have any” - @tfetttt

• “all swear words” - @markinmadcity

• “need to beat Chicago.” -@MadtownShane

Up next, the Green Bay Packers get a visit from the Chicago Bears for a big NFC North matchup. Kickoff is set for Sunday, November 29 at 8:20 p.m. EST.