What a difference a month makes. Just three short weeks ago, Aaron Rodgers was in the thick of the MVP race and the Packers were running away with the NFC North undefeated. Three humbling losses later and the Pack have lost their division lead, their swagger, and most importantly the illusion that Aaron Rodgers can cure all the many ills that Green Bay possesses. With the latest defeat, a 18-16 debacle of a game versus the league’s worst team, Green Bay showed all their warts as Rodgers desperately tried to atone for them to no avail. The Packers are falling apart at the seams and it is going to take something more than just Aaron Rodgers to sew them back together.
Losses against the Broncos and the Panthers could be viewed as acceptable because their talent was at least commensurate with what Green Bay could produce. Both team’s defenses were in top form and coach Mike McCarthy hadn’t quite figured it out yet that Eddie Lacy was either playing hurt or entirely out of shape. But after this loss to Detroit, a team that had been embarrassed over the course of the year by the likes of Kansas City and San Diego, it is looking more and more like those losses were just as much about the Packers’ deficiencies as it was about the defensive prowess of their opponents.
Aaron Rodgers has been the model of composure behind what can only be described as piecework offensive lines over the years. It just seems this year that the loss of his favorite safety valve, Jordy Nelson, is finally starting to impact him. In the past, Rodgers knew in times of pressure he could look towards Nelson and the worst case scenario would be an incomplete pass. He hasn’t become an interception machine, like Peyton Manning has under similar circumstances in Denver, but there is a tentativeness in Rodgers that has cropped up at the worst times this year. It is as if he is anticipating the break in the protection before it actually happens and he finds himself throwing awkward fadeaways that have little chance of success.
The whole Eddie Lacy fiasco hasn’t made matters easier on him and the rest of the offense. A nonchalant running style mixed with nagging injuries has been an unwarranted monkey wrench in McCarthy’s offensive plans. Luckily for them James Starks has been a more than suitable replacement. Unluckily for them though is that most of Starks’ production has come in long yardage situations after a sack or an untimely penalty.
The defense was supposed to be vastly improved from their middle of the road 2014, but they’ve been exposed on numerous occasions this season with it finally biting them these past three weeks. While their pass rushers are still fairly adept at getting to the quarterback, the Pack sell out way too often leaving their talented yet young secondary exposed over the middle in intermediate and deep routes.
Normally, it would be a bit over-reactionary to tell Packers fans to panic. They have shown over the years that they can make the best out of bad situations and make good showings come January. But this current Packers team doesn’t give you that same confidence. Aaron Rodgers can only do so much around a corroding offensive line and a defense that makes poor decisions at the poorest of moments. They have a huge game next week at their direct division competition Minnesota which will provide them perhaps most important test of the season. That says a lot after their two games against Carolina and Denver and ones on the horizon against Arizona and a finale against the Vikings again. Can Green Bay put themselves back together before it is too late? They’ll have to answer that question sooner rather than later.