Packers HC wants team to 'regroup' after 27-2 preseason loss

It's just a preseason game so the Green Bay Packers' 27-2 loss to the Denver Broncos this past weekend is ultimately meaningless in terms of both score or wins and losses.

It's gone in the wind, and that really should have been expected considering head coach Matt LaFleur sat 31 players heading into the contest. On the other side of the field, the Broncos were playing many of their starters.

Still, that didn't stop LaFleur from lamenting after the contest. Preseason or not, the 27-2 loss was indicative of poor energy to the head coach. It also came on the heels of a tough week of practice.

“Certainly, I was hoping our guys would come out with more strain, effort, grit after kind of getting humbled the other day in practice. And then to have it happen again (is) not where you want to be," LaFleur said after the game, per SI . “I think it’s a good lesson for our guys in terms of, it doesn’t matter who’s out there. If you don’t put your best foot forward each and every time you go out on that field, these things happen to you."

All that ultimately matters for LaFleur and the Packers is whether or not the Packers can get back on track for the Week 1 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. It's going to take focus from what's still a young team, especially considering the fact that the game will take place in Brazil.

Young and brimming with potential is exciting for a fanbase, but for a coach, it can get kind of scary when facing the expectations of an NFL season.

That's what preseason is for, though. It's about developing the mental toughness needed to get through a season, and that's what LaFleur is looking for out of the Packers now that they've gotten their butts kicked.

“We’re going to have to regroup, take a long, hard look in the mirror," LaFleur said. "We’ve got to get better. We need that urgency from everybody."

That starts at the top with players like Jordan Love on offense and Jaire Alexander on defense, but as the Packers learned this past weekend, everyone from the highest-paid player on the team to the most likely to be cut has to be locked in when there's another pro team on the other sideline.

Call it a lesson learned in a sandbox. It's much better for the Packers to learn that now than in Week 1 against the Eagles.