The Green Bay Packers have been down before, but apparently not like this.
We all remember the R-E-L-A-X season in 2014. We remember the run-the-table season in 2016. This season seems different. The Packers are in a 3-4-1 hole after losing to the Patriots. The Packers are two games back of the Bears and Vikings in the win column. After facing Miami at home this weekend — a very winnable game — they face the Vikings in Minnesota. That seems like a must-win game if the Packers are going to contend for a playoff spot.
Pile the recent losses onto general manager Brian Gutekunst’s tear-down of the roster and it’s easy to see how this year is different for the Packers. And no one is having any fun.
“We’ve lost games before here, but this just feels different,” said receiver Randall Cobb. “And it doesn’t feel good. It’s not fun. But we’ve got to figure something out.”
Cobb went on, using “not fun” again.
“Yeah, I mean we definitely need some momentum, we need to get a win,” Cobb said. “I can tell you, this isn’t fun. Very frustrating and it’s tough. Because I know what we’re capable of and we’re not there. I don’t know what it is, but we’ve got to find a way to get it done.”
Clearly, everyone is frustrated. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers used that term after the Patriots game — frustrating.
Part of the frustration is no doubt coach Mike McCarthy’s offense. No one has pointed the finger at McCarthy yet, but no one has come to his defense when asked about the offense either.
“It’s kind of like each play is a new experience because they find different ways and obviously Bill [Belichick] being a really good coach, he knows what he’s doing out there,” said receiver Davante Adams. “He knows how to take people out of the games. Unfortunately that somewhat happened, but we’ve got to do a better job of making sure that we’re still finding guys — if there is a double, a guy can still be open whether it’s me, Cobb, Jimmy [Graham] or whoever it is. We’re scheming things, but we can always do better obviously.”
Better scheme… hmmmm.
Rodgers alluded to something similar, although he also shouldered the blame.
“We’ve got to keep finding ways to get guys into one or two spots, open on time and when they’re open, I’ve got to make the throws,” Rodgers said.
It doesn’t seem like a secret that the team is frustrated with McCarthy’s offense. We’re frustrated with McCarthy’s offense. McCarthy hasn’t been innovative in years. That’s why he needs to go.
It looks like the players are starting to believe that as well. I cannot recall a time when Packers players have been so openly frustrated and didn’t enjoy playing the game. Maybe under Forrest Gregg.
Seems like this is going to end the same way.