Players in denial as team records second consecutive losing season

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https://bobmcginnfootball.com/players-in-denial-as-team-records-second-consecutive-losing-season/


BY ROB REISCHEL
In 1990-’91, the Green Bay Packers were a miserable operation that went just 10-22 in that two-year window.
The roster was dreadful. The coaching situation was in flux. The management structure was questionable, at best.
The modern-day Packers can relate.

For the first time in 27 years, Green Bay will finish with consecutive losing seasons. The Packers’ 24-17 loss to the Bears Sunday ensured that.

Now, with team president Mark Murphy spearheading a search for the Packers’ next head coach, it feels awfully similar to the dog days of Judge Robert Parins and head coach Lindy Infante.

“I don’t think anybody anticipated having a losing season,” said outside linebacker Clay Matthews, whose team fell to 5-8-1 after the loss. “It is what it is. We’re that close to having this whole thing flipped but that’s all you can say in hindsight. We just haven’t done enough. We haven’t made those few plays that usually turn the game in our favor. It’s kind of been, unfortunately, the theme in most of the losses this year is those couple plays that we’ve made (in the past) but they’re just not happening.”

From 1992-2016, Green Bay had just two losing seasons. Each time, the Packers rebounded nicely the following year.

After a 4-12 campaign in 2005, the 2006 Packers went 8-8 and provided hope by closing the year with a four-game winning streak. Green Bay went 6-10 in 2008, but followed that up with an 11-5 campaign in 2009 where it won seven of its final eight games.

But by turning back the clock back nearly three decades, these Packers have brought back memories to a day when Don Majkowski was washed up, Darrell Thompson was a starting running back and Jerry Holmes passed for a starting cornerback.

“This year with a lot of promise early on, it’s definitely disappointing,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “The expectation is to compete for championships. You know, that’s a good football team (in Chicago), but like I told some of the guys, I look forward to the battles over the years.

“I like our chances in the division moving forward. Obviously there will be some changes in the offseason. We’ll finish this year out the right way and then we’ll look to the future, which I think is still really bright in Green Bay.”
Rodgers might be in the minority with that opinion.

Ted Thompson’s drafts in 2015 and 2017 have been enormous disappointments, leaving the Packers painfully short of young talent. The verdict remains out on Brian Gutekunst’s 2018 draft, where the only impactful rookie has been cornerback Jaire Alexander. And Gutekunst’s first swing at free agency last March led to far more misses than hits.

Meanwhile, Chicago has passed Green Bay in the division thanks to the several years of high draft picks finally paying dividends and the courage of general manager Ryan Pace to trade for dynamic outside linebacker Khalil Mack in September. When Gutekunst had a chance to up the ante for Mack — a move that might have made the 2018 Packers legitimate contenders in the NFC — he folded his cards.

“He’s a very good football player,” interim coach Joe Philbin said of Mack, who had 2.5 sacks, three quarterback hits and two tackles for loss Sunday. “Certainly, had our attention throughout the course of the week. We had certain things in the game plan specific for him to attempt to slow him down. At times we did. But certainly, there were times he made some plays, as well.”

This marks the second straight season Green Bay was eliminated from playoff contention in Week 15. And since playing in the 2016 NFC Championship Game, the Packers are 12-17-1 (.417).

Despite that, some Packers insist that things aren’t as bad as they appear.
“We’re still a good team,” wideout Davante Adams said. “A record obviously stands for a lot in terms of postseason hopes. But it’s not like we’re a bad team.

“We’re still one of the best teams in this league. We just have to continue to put pieces together and show it.”
In 1990, Green Bay finished a disappointing 6-10 season with Anthony Dilweg and Blair Kiel under center. In 1991, the Packers’ dreadful 4-12 campaign ended with Mike Tomczak playing quarterback.

Green Bay gave every indication that Rodgers and the healthy starters will play the final two games, even though it’s been eliminated before Christmas once again.

“You just keep working. You’ve go two more weeks to kind of show what we got,” safety Tramon Williams said. “Obviously like I said, we’ve got a lot of talent, but that don’t mean nothing. That don’t mean nothing at this point. You have to put things together on Sundays. You have to figure it out on Sundays. Find a way to win, and it’s not always going to be pretty but you get judged off of wins and losses in this league. That’s what we’ve got to find a way to do, win more than lose.”


Streak busters: The Bears were thrilled to end Rodgers’ streak of 402 passes without an interception. The fact that Eddie Jackson picked off Rodgers in the endzone with Green Bay trailing, 24-14, and poised to pull within once score made it even more sweet.
“Sometimes it’s a fortuitous bounce that you get,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “Sometimes it’s just you didn’t make a play. I talked to our guys last night in regards to those situations. We talked about them and how when you get an opportunity in this game, you got to make it and you cannot look back and have any regrets at all.


“Not everybody gets these opportunities that we had. I think that’s what our guys are going to take away from this is that they have been presented with opportunities this year and they have taken advantage of them.”

Road patsies: Green Bay fell to 0-7 on the road, the first time that’s happened since 1979. The Packers haven’t gone winless away from home for an entire season since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978.
Green Bay has been winless on the road just three times in franchise history. The Packers were 0-6 in both 1950 and ’58 and 0-1 in 1920.

“I think as I said to the team, we’re three or four plays away,” Philbin said. “We all know big games are decided by three or four plays. I mean, rightfully so, they earned it. They just won the North Division championship, if I’m not mistaken.

“It’s a fine line in the National Football League winning and losing. You have to perform under pressure, you got to execute. Again, I thought we had some momentum during the game, but kind of let it slip away. They made the plays in the fourth quarter that you have to to win.”


Big loss: Packers leading rusher Aaron Jones left late in the first quarter and didn’t return. With Jones sidelined the final three quarters, Jamaal Williams carried 12 times for 55 yards and a touchdown.

Afterwards, Jones compared his injury to the torn MCL he suffered last season that sidelined him two games.
Jones expressed hope that he’ll play next week against the New York Jets. But with the Packers eliminated from playoff contention, Jones might be done for 2018.

“That’s my goal,” he said of facing the Jets. “But I have to do some more examinations and talk to docs and see what they say.”
Wideout Randall Cobb was also being evaluated for a concussion after a shoulder to shoulder hit.

Welcome addition: Packers cornerback Bashaud Breeland started at nickel corner after missing most of the week dealing with a personal matter. Breeland finished the day with one pass defensed and one tackle for loss.

“He’s always good,” Tramon Williams said of Breeland. “Because as a football player, we have things going on in our personal life not a lot of people know about. But you go through things and football in this locker room is kind of a sanctuary to get away from some of those problems.

“When you get to the locker room and you get out on the field, you forget about those problems, however long it is that you’re there. To get him out here, and like what you said, was able to play and be prepared to play out there today, it was good for not only us, but it was great for him personally.”

Rare occurance: Green Bay had its eight-game winning streak in Chicago snapped. The Packers’ last road loss to the Bears came in Week 3, 2010.

“I was sitting in my locker before the game and I was trying to think. I couldn’t remember losing a game here,” Tramon Williams said. “I don’t know if I have or not. Obviously now I have. I couldn’t remember losing a game in Chicago. Obviously that’s changed now.

“I’m going to remember this one. It’s tough to lose the Bears anytime. We’ve been bred to win this division since I’ve been here. Now that’s kind of changed this year, it’s a hard pill to swallow. But you have to move on and figure it out what it is to get better, and move on in the future.”
 
I think the entire team is a bit in denial - hopefully the GM is not. I won't say the roster is a mess because it's not, but it has far too many holes to be a legit contender. I've done this exercise before, but as constituted right now, even when healthy, it's a borderline playoff team.

In summary, the offense still needs another WR. Maybe one of the rookies, but I'm not betting on them right now. They don't have a dynamic TE. The right side of the OL is not good and you can't win with them. Need 4 more starters.

On defense you need another DL - though Lancaster showed something yesterday and might be a nice depth/rotation guy. You have nothing, zero, for pass rushers. You need to draft 2 of them. You still don't have an MLB to play next to Martinez. You need at least one starting caliber safety. You might have a CB or two, but with King being a china doll, you might only have Alexander, so might need one more quality CB. You need 4-6 more starters.

They might sneak into the playoffs next year with a good draft and a couple of FA pick-ups but I feel like it will be at least 2020 before they can contend again. That will only happen if AR gets somewhere closer to the guy he used to be and if they hit on about a half-dozen draft picks who become average or better starters in the next 2 drafts and grab a 2-3 starters in FA.
 
The reality of it is this organization has been in denial for years about the talent level and depth on this roster. Rodgers masked so many flaws because he played at such a high level and now that he's more down to earth the flaws have been exposed. You have an aging QB who is not what he was 2-3 years ago, a void in depth and talent due to some draft mistakes and no FA activity and then some aging playmakers (Matthews, Cobb) and you have the perfect storm of a team that needs a rebuild
 
The reality of it is this organization has been in denial for years about the talent level and depth on this roster. Rodgers masked so many flaws because he played at such a high level and now that he's more down to earth the flaws have been exposed. You have an aging QB who is not what he was 2-3 years ago, a void in depth and talent due to some draft mistakes and no FA activity and then some aging playmakers (Matthews, Cobb) and you have the perfect storm of a team that needs a rebuild
Nailed it...

Talent is just okay ... Very few real impact players or young guys that have the look of future impact players.

If this team really thinks it's one of the best and has good talent.. well, I'm not sure what to say except you can't fix things if you don't there is a problem.

I applaud their optimism though...
 
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