The “cruel dysfunction of this marriage.” "Someone close to you, stuck in an abusive relationship, who will never concede that they are actually being abused or if they do, they will blame it on any other circumstance, or themselves, and keep deeper and for worse. That someone “trapped in this kind of abyss of the heart” would have to tap dance “on the hour to avoid the shit and vitriol of a relentlessly scheming and belittling opportunist—was at minimum disheartening.”
No we are not talking about what the Green Bay Packers and its fans had to go through last offseason with Aaron Rodgers’ holdout, but what comedian Doug Stanhope wrote in his recently published memoir about the toxic personality of Amber Heard that Johnny Depp had to work with every day in a failed effort to keep this doomed-from-the-start relationship going. But if you are a Packer fan you can understand the connection; Rodgers lost sympathy with the public when he was exposed for lying about his vaccination status and misrepresenting contacts with management, and frankly I was among those who was ready to say good riddance.
Eventually this game of chicken resolved in the Packers’ “favor” when Rodgers realized that since he was still under contract, management was in a better position to play hard ball and seemingly willing to move on with Jordan Love. Thus on the first day of mandatory training camp, there he was:
Most national sports commentating were under the illusion that angry Packer fans were only pretending to being done with Rodgers …
…but the reality was that after winning the 2010 Super Bowl, Rodgers has been 0-4 in NFC Championship games, and after last season’s debacle when the Packers entered the playoffs as the NFC’s top seed, Packer fans are tiring of the charade and preparing for the future without him, since it has long become clear that as with Dan Marino, big numbers in the regular season do not translate to success in the playoffs with Rodgers. He did sign a huge contract extension this off-season, but it remains to be seen if he intends to play another year, or at least that is what the “vibe” tells us.
So coming into this season, which officially begins this Thursday between the Bills and the Rams, what are the Packers’ expectations after three straight 13-win seasons? On the surface, it is questionable with the departure of Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Now, some people have pointed out that the Packers were 7-0 without Adams, in fact Rodgers had his only perfect passer rating in a 2019 game against the Raiders without Adams in the line-up. Observers have pointed out that in many critical games that the Packers lost, Rodgers seemed to suffer from tunnel-vision, eying Adams when other receivers were wide open for potential touchdown plays.
But the loss of Valdes-Scantling is probably bigger that it seems, because in that Raiders game, although he caught only two passes, they were for 74 and 59 yards. In four seasons, he caught only caught 123 passes in 59 games, but averaged 17.5 yards per catch; he was obviously served as the team’s “deep threat.” Still his role might not have been expanded much if he was still on the team, since he caught less than 50 percent of his targets. Valdes-Scantling signed an eye-popping 3 year, $30 million contract with the Chiefs, which the Packers were unwilling to match, maybe for good reason. There is also good reason to believe that Adams will not see the numbers he saw in Green Bay with the Raiders.
But what are the Packers expectations for this season? 10-11 wins is the general guesstimation. That is, of course, if Rodgers plays out the entire season, and it could be worse; recall that Mike McCarthy’s last season as coach the team finished 6-9-1 despite Rodgers starting all 16 games. No, Brett Hundley was already gone; DeShone Kizer was the backup in 2018—the same guy who started for the Browns the previous season and was 0-15, and was out of the league after just two seasons. This season is year three in the Jordan Love experiment; statistically, he actually played worse than in last year’s preseason, with a 63.9 passer rating in three games. Coach Matt LaFleur blames this on dropped balls, but we know better. We’ve seen this before with Hundley. I mean why can’t the Packers draft a “legit” quarterback? I don’t know why Rodgers was ever “disturbed” that this guy could be a “threat” to him.
The defense is alleged to be in good shape this season, but what about the offense? The team’s two best offensive linemen, David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins, are both “questionable” for the season opener against the Vikings, but the even bigger question mark is the receiving corps. Rodgers has expressed at best some “improvement,” but reportedly had demanded a meeting with the receiver group about the need to get on the “same page” with the quarterbacks. The Packers second pick in the draft was WR Christian Watson, who is allegedly a top talent; but who would know that since he is recovering from a knee injury and hasn’t seen any actual game play? There is also high expectations for rookie Romeo Doubs, or at least there was initially some positive feedback before he seemed to slide in the other direction during preseason play.
At the present, Packers are relying on returning veterans like Allen Lazard—who should see a significantly increased role—Randall Cobb, Robert Tonyan (currently on the injured list) and Marcedes Lewis at TE, and the offseason acquisition Sammy Watkins, who Rodgers seems happy about, at least in practices. There remains the issue of who qualifies as a “deep” threat, which wasn’t resolved during the preseason; the only pass play over 33 yards was ironically by a running back, B. J. Baylor, who caught a short pass from the third-stringer and ran it 68 yards in the first preseason game against the 49ers; “ironic” because Baylor was released just three days later in a roster move. Meanwhile, Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon return at running back. Kicker Mason Crosby had a knee injury, but is expected to play.
The interesting thing about this season is that the Packers are carrying eight players who have a $150 million cap hit next year—with Rodgers obviously with the highest number—and that isn’t counting players like Jones who are due for a big pay increase. What does this mean? That this year is likely the last best opportunity for the Packers to go to that Super Bowl that has eluded this team for 11 seasons with the so-called best quarterback in the league. Well, we know that isn’t really true—Tom Brady is—but by the looks of this it is the end of an “era.” And frankly, I don’t see Love as the beginning of a promising next one.
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