Packers seeking answers on offensive line after failing to protect Love in season-opening collapse

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur says he’s open to making changes to an offensive line that had no answers for Minnesota’s furious pass rush during another fourth-quarter collapse.

But he noted the importance of settling on a starting five soon to build cohesiveness. Green Bay’s offensive line was a major concern throughout training camp, in part because injuries prevented the projected starters from working together very often.

“Whatever we do, we need to make sure that we find continuity as quickly as possible,” LaFleur said Monday, a day after the Packers’ 39-22 loss to the Vikings. “I think that’s part of the problem, is we’ve had a lot of guys in and out of the lineup. I’m not making excuses. It is what it is. You’ve got to find a way to get it done.

"But I do think the more guys play together, typically the better they play together.”

The offensive line’s failings played a major role in Green Bay blowing a 22-10 lead, continuing a habit that haunted the Packers last season.

Counting its 31-27 playoff loss at Chicago last season, Green Bay has dropped six straight games. The Packers hadn’t lost that many in a row since losing their final five games in 1990 and first two contests in 1991.

Left guard Aaron Banks wasn’t available Sunday due to a knee issue. Donovan Jennings made his first career start in Banks’ place at left guard, while right guard Jacob Monk made his second career start. Right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele was limited in camp as he recovered from a partially torn patellar tendon, and Jordan Morgan was starting at left tackle Sunday for just the second time.

Green Bay’s linemen failed to protect quarterback Jordan Love, particularly after Minnesota took the lead in the fourth quarter. Minnesota’s last two touchdown drives started in the red zone after the Vikings got a strip sack and Love threw an interception under pressure.

“What’s disappointing is we had a few protection busts that absolutely should not and cannot happen,” LaFleur said.

Love was sacked four times and pressured all day.

LaFleur decided early in the fourth quarter to take points off the board when the Vikings jumped offside on Trey Smack’s 40-yard field goal. Love got stuffed on fourth-and-1 and Minnesota outscored the Packers 22-0 the rest of the way.

The Packers lost four games last season that they led by at least nine points in the second half. LaFleur was asked Monday if he needs to look at his process regarding halftime adjustments based on Sunday’s results.

“I don’t personally think that was it,” LaFleur said. “It’d be different if they came back with a totally different game plan, but it was the same plan in the second half. They just got to us a few more times.”

Green Bay’s defense produced an adequate pass rush without Micah Parsons, who'll miss at least the Packers’ first four games while recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The Packers sacked Carson Wentz three times. They totaled four sacks in the four games Parsons missed last year.

The Packers committed 12 penalties. ... Green Bay scored a touchdown on just one of its four red-zone possessions and allowed Minnesota to reach the end zone on all four of its trips inside the 20. ... The Packers gained just 3.1 yards per carry.

WR Christian Watson caught six passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns. ... WR Matthew Golden had six catches for 95 yards to set career highs in both categories. ... CB Bo Melton had a 59-yard kickoff return and downed a punt at the 4. ... CB Keisean Nixon had an interception and a half-sack.

The entire starting line of Morgan, Jennings, Sean Rhyan, Monk and Bako-Bewele struggled. ... S Javon Bullard was penalized for unnecessary roughness on the hit that knocked Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray out of the game, then got flagged again for illegal contact to wipe out a third-down sack on Minnesota’s go-ahead touchdown drive.

Aside from Banks' injury, CB Brandon Cisse left with cramps late in the second half.

90-15 — The Packers have been outscored by that margin in the fourth quarter and overtime during this six-game skid that started last November. Over their last two games, they’ve been outscored 47-6 in the fourth quarter.

The Packers are back on the road to face the New York Jets, who are coming off a 23-10 victory at Tennessee. Green Bay plays only one of its first four games at Lambeau Field.

AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this report.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, left, talks with quarterback Jordan Love, right, during warmups before an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Minnesota Vikings' Domonique Orange (97) and Jalen Redmond (61) help stop Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) from running the ball for a first down during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) fumbles the ball after being hit by Minnesota Vikings linebacker Dallas Turner (15) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) is sacked by Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Levi Drake Rodriguez, bottom, as Dallas Turner (15) looks on during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) recovers from being sacked by Minnesota Vikings' Levi Drake Rodriguez (50) who celebrates the play with Dallas Turner (15) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump's bid to restrict mail ballots for the midterm elections, capping a flurry of last-minute legal action with voting already underway.

The decision allows states to continue sending out mail ballots under the same processes they’ve used for years and have accounted for nearly a third of votes cast.

It represented a stark defeat for Trump on an issue he consistently has emphasized as vital to ensuring election integrity even though there is virtually no evidence of fraud with mail ballots.

The Supreme Court majority wrote that the administration's push to implement the restrictions this year is likely to lose in court, though the brief emergency order didn't detail its reasoning. Two justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, publicly dissented.

The Trump administration had asked the justices, once again at the center of a roiling political controversy, to clear the way for restrictions before the pivotal November contests for control of Congress.

Alito wrote in his dissent that the Postal Service “has broad authority to regulate the mail” and likely does have the power to enforce Trump's restrictions.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, meanwhile, agreed that the restrictions should not go into effect for the midterms but indicated he might rule in favor of the Trump administration if the issue comes back before the court at a later time.

Election officials have said there was simply no way to carry out a complete overhaul in the weeks before the midterms. Indeed, Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin began sending mail ballots to voters over the past week while the new system was still not active.

The Trump administration plan would require states to adopt a uniform envelope style and submit lists of eligible voters to an online portal. The Postal Service could refuse to deliver ballots to states that didn’t comply.

The administration’s efforts had the potential to be especially disruptive in states that send out ballots entirely by mail. Washington's Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, said the decision means work “to carry out a safe, secure, and accurate election" can continue ”without having to upend our election processes to meet unrealistic ballot mail requirements.”

In Arizona, another largely vote-by-mail state, Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said “it is crucial for us to continue rejecting the notion that access and security are mutually exclusive when it comes to running strong elections.”

Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican serving as the state’s chief election officer, said on social media that the Supreme Court’s decision means “Utahns can have confidence that the 2026 election will proceed as normal."

The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but have in the past framed the restrictions as commonsense changes aimed at keeping elections secure.

Democratic state officials and voting rights groups challenged the restrictions in court, arguing that the president has no constitutional authority to set election rules that would “virtually eliminate mail voting on the eve of a major election."

A whistleblower report, meanwhile, said the postal system’s requirements could lead to millions of mail ballots never being sent, because problems with the not-yet-operational portal meant a single bar code error could result in an entire batch of ballots being tossed out.

Some states don't have the infrastructure to quickly pivot back to in-person voting, according to court documents.

The League of Women Voters, a plaintiff in the case, called the proposed restrictions “an extraordinary attempt to interfere with voting” and said it would have thrown elections into chaos. “Voters should never be caught in the middle of a political power warfare,” said CEO Celina Stewart.

Lower courts agreed to block Trump’s plan, including a preliminary injunction issued by a judge nominated by the president.

But the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that federal control of the Postal Service allows them to set rules for mail ballot handling and that compliance was possible.

The federal government won an early procedural decision at the Supreme Court, but the justices pointedly did not decide the legality of the plan.

Trump has long opposed mail voting and falsely blamed it for his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, even though he often uses that method to cast his own ballot, including as recently as this year.

A report by the Brookings Institution published in 2025 found that mail voting fraud occurred in only about four cases out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.

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Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Mason, Michigan; Ali Swenson in New York; Gene Johnson in Seattle; and Jacques Billeaud and Wufei Yu in Phoenix contributed to this report.

FILE - Election worker Wendy Wimer looks through vote-by-mail ballots for the presidential primary election, March 12, 2024, at the Clark County Elections Office in Vancouver, Wash. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)