The Packers in the past have
dominated the Chicago Bears in their own home park, but this season has been so
different in so many different ways. Unlike last week against the Falcons,
Aaron Rodgers and company once more came out flat, trailing 14-3 at halftime.
As so often has happened this season, the Packers revived enough in the third
quarter to put themselves back in the game, only to be followed again offensive
inconsistency. After tying the game at 14, the Packers next two series were 6
plays, -7 yards advanced. Unlike last week, the Packers allowed the Bears to
survive their miscues—a fumble at the Packer 23, and a badly bungled direct
snap in punt formation that allowed the Packers to score their only touchdown
on a short field, while Packers failed to “finish” promising drives. Rodgers’ tried
to force a ball into Jimmy Graham in the
end zone in the fourth quarter; but Graham’s hands are not made of glue after
all, and Rodgers’ record interception-less streak ended at 402 pass attempts, still 44 passes beyond Tom Brady’s previous
record. On the Packers final drive, on second-and goal Rodgers took an 18-yard
sack, settled for a field goal, and for the second time in the last two tries a
Packer was off-sides on an on-side kick attempt (adding to their special teams
woes), as the Packers clinched a losing record in the 24-17 loss.
Mike McCarthy is gone, but Joe
Philbin was the offensive coordinator all those years too. Rodgers continues to avoid the center of the
field like the plague. It has been noted that this season Rodgers has taken far
fewer chances in the middle of the field, in fact leading the league in passes
thrown outside the numbers—which of course means more passes thrown out of
bounds rather than caught. Randall Cobb and Graham were supposed to control the
middle, and yet against the Bears Rodgers only threw 11 of his 42 pass attempts
in the middle of field. Last month in a piece for
CBS Sports, Sean Wagner-McGough broke down the Packers “failure by design”
system which hasn’t seemed to change since McCarthy’s firing. He noted that the
Packers rely on “isolation” routes that
require receivers to get open on their own, and Rodgers has either not been
able to, or too afraid to, throw receivers open where they have an opportunity
to make catches, often preferring to throw balls away, of which he is among the
league leaders in doing. Throwing the ball away hasn’t helped Rodgers’ near
league bottom completion percentage, either.
But
Wagner-McGough also noted Rodgers much more often than in past is just making
poor decisions and poor passes. He may not trust his rookie receivers, but
outside of Davante Adams, Rodgers has shown insecurity in throwing the ball
even to Cobb, who in the past was one of his clutch “go-to” receivers. On the other hand, McCarthy’s “antiquated”
offensive scheme doesn’t “scare” anyone anymore, and one could sympathize with
Rodgers looking for a coach who has “new” ideas, and perhaps with a year under
their belts Marques Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown might
blossom into the stars they were in college if Rodgers is comfortable enough to
gives them the chance.
But that will have to wait until next
year. This year, the unthinkable is on the brink of occurring: a full year with
Rodgers, and the Packers could have a worse record than last season with Brett
Hundley playing the majority of the season.
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