Snap Judgments: Week 9
After rethinking about Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions, here are three things worth discussing:
1) Perhaps clocks were set ahead two years instead of back an hour on Sunday morning because Green Bay’s loss to the Lions was what I thought the Packers would look like after Aaron Rodgers was gone and the front office gutted the roster of a plethora of highly-paid veterans. Instead, a team with a $150 million quarterback and seven other players making at least $10 million couldn’t beat a 1-6 team that had traded its best offensive player earlier in the week. I’ve watched the Packers for over four decades, and all things considered, this might be the worse stretch of football I’ve ever seen. As a fan, you expect ineptitude when Randy Wright or Jim Zorn is under center and when the defense is filled with George Cumbys and Estus Hoods, but dropping five straight games despite returning 20 of 22 preferred starters from a 13-4 team is hard to accept. And if things weren’t bad enough, Mike McCarthy will be bringing his 6-2 Cowboys to Lambeau in six days, looking to settle a score with the franchise that unceremoniously fired him during the middle of the 2018 season.
2) Rodgers hasn’t played well all season, but Sunday was the first time he was the No. 1 reason why Green Bay lost. The reigning MVP made four throws that would be inexcusable for a rookie promoted from the practice squad and forced to start on two days notice. The first of his three picks deflected off a linebacker’s helmet. The second was supposed to be a one-yard pass to tackle-eligible David Bakhtiari that somehow came up short. The third was thrown late and behind Robert Tonyan. And the worst toss of all might’ve been the one that couldn’t reach Samori Toure, who got behind the secondary and would’ve scored an easy TD. If Rodgers’ pathetic performance was due to the thumb he hurt in London a month ago; then he needs to sit until he’s able to throw the ball with more strength and better accuracy. And if the banged-up digit wasn’t the cause of him looking like a poor man’s Jay Cutler versus the Lions, that’s an even bigger issue.
3) We’ll learn a lot about coach Matt LaFleur in the next nine weeks. After facing very little adversity in his first three years on the job, he’ll be tasked with keeping the Packers together in the midst of a bad season that only figures to get worse. With Dallas (6-2), Tennessee (5-3), and Philadelphia (8-0) next up on the schedule, 3-6 figures to be 3-9 before the calendar turns to December. Will LaFleur be able to keep his team from quitting and/or pointing fingers at each other and the coaches? Does he have the cojones to sit Rodgers and let Jordan Love start the final handful of games? Because LaFleur was so successful in his first three seasons and just signed an extension, he’s in no danger of being fired. That said, he’s very much in danger of losing the respect of the men in the locker room, and once that happens, it’s almost impossible to regain. LaFleur needs to be a real leader now. How he does his job will determine whether 2022 is just a small blip on a long and successful career with the Packers or the beginning of the end of his time in Green Bay.
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