Losing to an Atlanta Falcons team that looked historically bad over the first two weeks of the NFL season is one thing. Losing by three touchdowns at home to said Falcons team on Thursday Night Football in front of a national audience is another story. The Packers didn't just lose; they were embarrassed by a team they should have embarrassed. So, Packers fans expressed their frustration by booing, much to the chagrin of tight end Tucker Kraft, who expressed his feelings postgame.
"That's pretty tough," Kraft said of the booing. "Everyone pictures Lambeau Field and not boos. I don't picture boos when I picture my home stadium. That's tough. It's pretty disappointing. Especially for a home opener. It's pretty disappointing. It's not gonna help us win. I don't know what people think, that's gonna rally us or something like that. But we're grown men. We're mentally strong enough, capable enough to get back on the field and play ball. But it'd be much easier with the 70,000 people behind us rather than opposing us."
All I can say to this in response is yikes.
Tucker Kraft and Packers need to play better before criticizing their fan base
On the one hand, Kraft is right. All booing your own team does is make them press and (likely) struggle more. There's a reason booing is reserved for the teams you don't like. As a fan, I, personally, would never boo my own team, no matter how bad things get. With that being said, I would also never tell fans how to fan. To be completely honest, who can blame Packers fans for having this reaction?
The Packers, even with their uneven performance to start the year, were 6.5-point favorites, and even that seemed a bit light. They went from being favored to win by a touchdown to losing by three touchdowns - a four-touchdown swing! This loss dropped them to 1-2 on the year, and with a tough upcoming schedule, featuring teams like the Bears, Cowboys, Lions and Patriots, they might be buried sooner than anyone could've expected.
Had the Packers simply lost this game, booing might not have taken place. The way they lost to the team they lost to was putrid. I mean, who played well? Kraft, the individual complaining, had four receptions for 26 yards. Jordan Love isn't meeting expectations. The offensive line is laughably bad. Their defense allowed 35 points to a team that had 16 total points in two weeks. What are the bright spots, other than perhaps wide receivers Matthew Golden and Christian Watson?
Packers fans expressed months of pent-up frustration
If the Packers had lost a tight one, I'm not so sure they'd have been booed. Had the Packers lost in the way they did after getting off to a strong start in the two weeks prior, I'm not sure they'd have been booed. Ultimately, they were booed because the frustration isn't fresh.
The Packers ended the 2025 season on a five-game losing streak, including a playoff loss to their most hated rival, the Bears, after leading by two scores in the fourth quarter of that contest. This marked their second straight season losing in the Wild Card Round and their fifth straight season falling short of the NFC Championship Game. They then didn't get any better in the offseason, are still without Micah Parsons for a while, and are without Josh Jacobs for who knows how long.
All while this was going on, head coach Matt LaFleur received a multi-year extension, essentially ensuring that nothing major will change at least in the near future. So, knowing all of this, why can't fans express frustration? Why can't they be upset that they spent their hard-earned money to attend this game, only for that to be the end result?
Again, booing won't solve anything - he's absolutely right - but that's not the point. The Packers were booed because they deserved to be given their play. If they play better, it won't happen again. If they don't, it very well might. Whether it happens or not has to do with how Kraft and Co. play in Week 4 and beyond.
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