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I'm not worried about their offense. The Packers scored touchdowns on three of their first six possessions and were hurt by penalties on the other drives. The defense, though, is a concern. They got gashed by Dalvin Cook and gave up touchdowns on their first four possessions. It was reminiscent of last year's NFC title game against the 49ers. Green Bay has dropped all the way down to 28th in overall defense. They don't need to be great on that side of the ball to get to the Super Bowl, but they need to be better than what they've shown so far.

They didn't look good on defense against Dalvin Cook and the Minnesota run game. That's not a good way to be heading to San Francisco for a Thursday night game.

Time for defense to tighten up after surrendering 86 points and notching just one takeaway over last three weeks. A little revenge against Niners on Thursday night would be a good start.

Reason for optimism: The return of Aaron Jones and Allen Lazard

OK, those are two reasons, but they're connected. As quarterback Aaron Rodgers said after Sunday's loss to the Vikings: "We're a better team when we're at full strength, and having 33 and 13 back would be big jumps," referring to Jones and Lazard by their jersey numbers. Jones had seven touchdowns in the first five games before a calf injury knocked him out of the past two; Lazard had a breakout performance (eight catches for 146 yards and a touchdown) in Week 3 against the Saints, but he hasn't played since because of core muscle surgery. Both could be back this week. -- Rob Demovsky

The Packers were bounced out of the playoffs last season because their defense wasn't competitive against the 49ers in the NFC title game. How confident should we be that Mike Pettine's unit is any less susceptible midway through 2020? Dalvin Cook scored touchdowns on each of the Vikings' first four possessions on Sunday at Lambeau, a display of running back dominance that summoned unkind memories of Raheem Mostert's destruction of Green Bay last January. Angry Packers fans were calling for Pettine's head on Twitter during the 28-22 loss, but don't forget that GM Brian Gutekunst selected a backup quarterback with his first pick in this year's draft and took just one defensive player in the first six rounds (fifth-round linebacker Kamal Martin). The Packers are tripping over the problem they swept under the rug.