The Green Bay Packers are one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports. I often think of all the legendary names who’ve played for this franchise. The fanbase is also one of the best in sports with how they keep up with the team and even when the Packers are on the road, they travel very well. For the last year and a half, they’ve been the talk of the league and I won’t necessarily say it’s been in a good way. I still remember when Aaron Rodgers came out and said he wanted to be traded on Draft Day in 2021. Then, he returns. To make him happy, the team acquired Randall Cobb. Aaron wins his second consecutive MVP and fourth overall in his career. This off-season, the Packers decided to extend Aaron making him the highest-paid Quarterback in league history. That same week, star Wide Receiver Davante Adams was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders. This year, it’s been a struggle for the team that’s run the NFC North for quite some time. Let’s break this down. What exactly is wrong?
The offense has always been one of the very best in the league and could score points in bunches. Remember those days? Whether it was with Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb and Aaron Rodgers or even with Davante Adams and other surrounding pieces, they were able to survive. That’s been far from the case this year. Coming into the season, I called for the Packers to build this offense around Aaron Jones and if you put the ball in his hands, good things will happen and that helps open the passing game because it would force defenses to crowd the box. I sense that Aaron is impatient with the young group of Wide Receivers, and I’ve also seen him force feed him the football to his receivers and they can’t make plays on the ball. Earlier in the year, Aaron tried to feed Christian Watson the ball and he dropped it. After that, Aaron didn’t bother to look his way and I remember calling him out for that on the radio because that can affect the young player’s confidence. Don’t get me wrong, 12 has been great throughout his career and will be a Hall of Famer years from now on the first ballot, but he isn’t a leader and doesn’t rally the troops around him. When something doesn’t go right, his body language tells me everything because he sits alone and pouts. Most importantly, a lot of these struggles have to do with him. He’s selfish and the Front Office has wanted him to prove himself after getting paid, he’s yet to do it.
What’s kept the Packers defense from getting back to another Super Bowl has been their defense. They’ve either been average or below average with signs of inconsistency. There are times when they just don’t even bother to show up defensively because a team will get whatever they want on them. When the Packers defense gets punched in the mouth, it takes them forever to recover. This year, they haven’t been too bad, nor have they been the greatest, but as I said with them using Aaron Jones more up top, I figured they’d be a team this year that would rely more heavily on running the football and playing good defense. They’ve also struggled to rush the passer this year and that has a lot to do with the loss of Za’Darius Smith who signed with the Minnesota Vikings. I’ll give credit when and where it’s due. The Packers defense kept them in the game against the Lions in week nine. They showed more fight because the offense didn’t bother to show up, nor couldn’t get out of its own way. One side of the ball must be strong, right?
It’s been all bad for this franchise this year. They have a lot of soul searching to do. It’s already been a long season for them, and I anticipate it being a longer off-season. They must be active in Free Agency, but I don’t see it happening nor do they try to do much to improve the team. Aaron decided to take money instead of restructuring his contract and putting that toward the betterment of the team. He has a part in these struggles.
