If the Green Bay Packers hope to go on the kind of run they went on last year, the offense needs to take off. Penalties and drops were better against the Bears, but the red-zone offense is still too inefficient. Plus, Jordan Love badly needs a turnover free game.

Defensive needs

The pass rush, if we had one, would be the difference making factor that could change things for the defense. Some blame the Hafley 3-4, some blame underperforming Rashan Gary, Kenny Clark and Lukas Van Ness and Quay Walker, to which I say yes. All of the above.

The wild card for the defense is Jaire Alexander. This is a different defense when he’s healthy, which seems to be about 40% of the time.

It’s also time to test other options at middle linebacker. Maybe Quay Walker’s lack of instincts in the base defense and against the run could be masked at weak side linebacker. At this point, who knows what the coaching logic is for keeping him in the lineup. Maybe as a nickel or dime linebacker in coverage his skills would make sense, but otherwise he seems like a liability.

Offensive spark

Love played well against the Bears. But not well enough. His red zone overthrow was a good decision paired with a bad pass. Had his throw to Tucker Kraft late in the 2nd quarter been on the mark, the Packers are up 14 or 10-to-3 and there’s no telling what that would have done for the Packers pressure defense. Instead, another gut-punch pick gave the Bears life and kept the game in doubt until the fortunate blocked field goal as time ran out.

This defense is missing pass rush juice. Without that, they need a lead to enable pressure and, hopefully, turnover worthy plays. That’s the complimentary football they need to win games against upcoming opponents that are better than Chicago.

The next three games against San Francisco, Miami and Detroit will be telling. If the Packers can get leads and turnovers, they’re good enough to win any or all of those games. If the offense remains choppy, and unreliable in the red zone, they could just as easily lose all three.

A path to a legitimate playoff run is paved with offensive symmetry and a defense playing with leads. Short of that, the Packers are a team that will scramble for a fringe playoff spot with little hope for a deep run.