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Relax time is over: The lifeless Packers sink further into mediocrity

Aaron Rodgers. (AP Photo/Tom Lynn)
Expert
15th November, 2016
10

Perception is often slow to catch up to reality, but somewhere during the first half of Green Bay’s abominable no-show against the Titans, it finally caught up to the Packers.

Green Bay built up a lot of equity, and cultivated a fearsome respect around the league, by making the playoffs in each of the past seven seasons.

Such respect has been slow to erode, but there’s no way to kick respect to the curb like losing 47-25 to Mike Mularkey.

The revered Packers, the team that won the 2010 Super Bowl, that went 15-1 the following year, and won 71 per cent of games (74-30) under Aaron Rodgers from 2009 to 2015, are now gone – or at least unrecognisable.

In their place is the team has gone 9-12 dating back to the middle of last season. Lambeau Field was once the most terrifying, inevitable trip in the NFL, but over the past two years the Packers have seen three teams with losing records (last year the Bears and Lions, this year the Colts) come away with wins at their vaunted tundra.

The Vikings also beat them there to clinch the division last season, and the Cowboys waxed the floor with the Packers at Lambeau a month ago. The Lambeau mystique is dead, and the Packers mystique is joining it.

Aaron Rodgers is the easiest person to blame, but also one of the most undeserving targets. Even in a down year, Rodgers is the sixth in the league in QBR, with a sterling 22-7 touchdown-interception ratio. He’s not the reason everything has gone to hell.

But he’s also not the dragon breathing hellfire that he once was either. At his peak, Rodgers was the most dangerous downfield thrower in the league, but now he averages a meagre 6.53 yards per attempt, 29th among qualified passers, below the likes of Case Keenum and Brian Hoyer (who statistics generously label as ‘qualified passers’).

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The seven interceptions, while hardly offensive, are also high for Rodgers. He hasn’t thrown more than eight interceptions in a season since 2010 – he’s already up to seven this year after just nine games. The manner of the interceptions has been worrying too, the second against Tennessee, a heave to nowhere, especially un-Aaron.

The reality is that Rodgers, about to turn 33, is past his prime. He’s an excellent quarterback now, but no longer a force of nature – no longer a dragon. The occasional breathtaking throw will still be there – like they were against Atlanta a fortnight ago and against Jacksonville in week one – but they’re less consistent. His frozen ropes are melting.

The book on Rodgers’ decline is simple: at his best he’s an improvisational demon, someone whose supreme athleticism compensates for a lack of textbook technique. However, with age catching up to him, a slight dip in athleticism has a significant effect, as he can no longer escape his shortcomings as easily (like occasionally lazy footwork). Rodgers has done little to disprove this hypothesis over the last year.

Still though, Rodgers is an elite quarterback, and unquestionably one with whom you can win a Super Bowl. The problem is everywhere else.

The Packers have no discernible strength. Their offensive line is mediocre and wounded, conceding five sacks against Tennessee’s 26th ranked defence by DVOA. The passing game has failed to distinguish itself, ranking 16th by DVOA, below Chicago and Buffalo, an impossibly low rating for a team with Rodgers at the helm. The rushing attack never had a chance to take flight with the injury to Eddie Lacy.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant (88) catches a pass against Green Bay Packers cornerback Sam Shields

Defence was supposed to be the backbone of this team, its anchor to complement Rodgers’ canon, but the Packers have been gashed in recent weeks, causing their season to slip away. Green Bay have allowed at least 30 points in four of their past five games – the last time they did that was the year before Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, starring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly, hit cinemas for the first time.

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In a crunch game following a dispiriting home loss, the Packers allowed Tennessee to score touchdowns on their first four drives, and five of their first six. The scoring plays were untouched on all but one touchdown.

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers, the man who once made Colin Kaepernick look like something approaching a mix of peak Dan Marino and peak Jesus Christ, must be feeling the seat beneath him starting to simmer.

His boss, Packers coach Mike McCarthy, must also be feeling the heat. McCarthy boldly opened his press conference after losing to Tennessee by proclaiming that he’s a “highly successful NFL coach”. Some would argue that he’s simply been highly successful at having Aaron Rodgers on his team.

The Packers offence has never been especially nuanced, relying instead on the talent of individual superstars to make magic happen. But the talent isn’t what it once was, and the coaching staff needs to give it wider avenues to succeed. So far, they’ve failed to do that.

Green Bay are only 4-5 and one game out of first place in the woeful NFC North. The Vikings are floundering, the Bears are finished, and the Lions are still the Lions. The division remains Green Bay’s for the taking.

But an odd malaise has set in over this team, a strange lifelessness. Rodgers criticised the team’s energy last week, giving credence to the idea that something is distinctly off. It was a savage indictment of his squad, and they didn’t respond.

Good teams don’t give up 75-yard touchdown runs on the first play from scrimmage a week after opening the game by conceding a 99-yard kickoff return. Good teams don’t lose to two AFC South sides in consecutive weeks. With the evidence mounting, and over a year’s worth of mediocrity to point to, we might finally be able to say that the Packers just aren’t a good team.

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