The most awkward truth of the 2015 season was available for all to see to finish off the NFL’s Thanksgiving slate on Thursday night.
The Green Bay Packers—a team quarterbacked by two-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers—are wholly inadequate at throwing the football and playing productive offense.
On a night the Packers retired Brett Favre’s No. 4 and welcomed home Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr, Rodgers and his fading offense were held to just 13 points in a home divisional loss to the Chicago Bears. The Packers have big problems, and not even Rodgers can fix them.
Against the Bears, Rodgers completed 51.2 percent of his 43 passes, averaged 4.7 yards per attempt and threw an interception, finishing with a passer rating of 62.4. Thursday night marked the first time Rodgers has ever started and finished a game at Lambeau Field with a passer rating under 80.0. He also extended his streak of games without a 100.0 passer rating to five, a new career long.
“I’m obviously going to have to make sure that my preparation is as high as it’s ever been because we’ve got to get on the same page in the passing game,” Rodgers said, via ESPN.
Rodgers targeted second-year receiver Davante Adams 11 times, completing just two for 14 yards. He was intercepted in the fourth quarter when Adams failed to complete his slant route to the inside, and his fourth down throw bounced off Adams’ hands for the game-sealing incompletion in the end zone.
“When you miss throws, when I’m throwing at a certain depth and the receiver’s running a certain depth, obviously we’re on different pages, so we need to have some better communication and make sure there’s not those discrepancies in the depths and the adjustments,” Rodgers said.
Since the bye, the Packers have averaged 19.6 points per game, losing four out of the last five. Rodgers is completing 53.9 percent of his passes and averaging 5.4 yards per attempt, with a passer rating of just 81.3, during the five-game stretch.
Green Bay’s four-play disaster to end Thursday night’s loss to the Bears helped sum up the major issues.
After getting to Chicago’s 8-yard line with 51 seconds left, Rodgers proceeded to throw four straight incompletions.
On first down, Rodgers rolled to his left and eventually threw the ball away in the vicinity of James Jones. He was forced to throw the ball away again on second down after the Bears dropped seven into coverage and blanketed his options. A play later, Rodgers avoided a sack and gave Jones a chance in the right corner of the end zone, but cornerback Tracy Porter did just enough to break up the touchdown. Adams couldn’t make a play on the ball on fourth down as Rodgers scrambled to his left.
Rodgers did not attempt a rhythm throw on any of the final four plays. With receivers unable to get open against any kind of coverage, Rodgers was tasked with buying extra time with his legs and making a miracle play against at least seven defenders in the end zone. It was an impossible task, even for him.
Despite rushing for almost 180 yards and holding the Bears to just 17 points, the Packers lost at Lambeau Field.
Rodgers has long been lauded as a quarterback capable of carrying any collection of players at his disposal. The 2015 season is crushing that narrative. Even the most talented quarterbacks need talent and a working scheme to play the most difficult position in sports.
Green Bay is still 7-4 and right in the postseason hunt. But this is a floundering team with a great player struggling to lead a broken offense. The Packers might not be capable of pulling out of this tailspin, even with Rodgers at the controls.