When you hit rock bottom in life or in sports, it takes awhile to reassess what actually happened to reach this
point. Green Bay hit rock bottom on Thursday morning in a Thanksgiving Day thrashing by Detroit as the Lions won 40-10 taking full control of the NFC North. Right now, people are searching for answers and wonders how they exactly got there. Worst thing happened to Green Bay in the past month, they were exposed for more than just not having Aaron Rodgers, but the fact of the matter remains when he returns, this team is not dead yet for a playoff appearance.
For the last couple of weeks, I have battled with the idea if it is personnel or coaching for why the defense struggled so much in the past couple of weeks. Many people would say it is defensive coordinator Dom Capers and want him to be fired. This is the easy answer. People believe if they get rid of him, all will be fixed. I blame Baltimore for this line of thinking. The Ravens fired their offensive coordinator in December last year, and they became Super Bowl champions with an inspired offense. If Capers gets the pink slip in the next 10 days, will defense become any better?
The answer is probably not, but we have seen how teams in college and professional sports have changed when coaches leave the team. But there are too many holes on this defense right now. The safeties are a disaster. Ted Thompson deserves all sorts of criticism for this as well. I am not one to give Thompson a hard time, but he entirely deserves the blame for this one. After Green Bay's first pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, there were 10 safeties taken in the first four rounds of the NFL Draft. It was a ripe year for safeties and Thompson went with young players Jerron McMillian and MD Jennings instead of adding another safety. Now a rookie safety could have been just as bad (Remember Darren Sharper's first year?), but at least, the future would be brighter than the two safeties playing meaningful minutes for Green Bay.
Green Bay's defensive problems do not end there. All the sudden, their rushing defense is a nightmare. C.J. Wilson is apparently a bigger part to this team than any of us give him credit for in stopping the run. Wilson is a forgotten player because he does not do much in terms of the stat line, but he really makes an impact stopping the rush. B.J. Raji is once again having a disappointing year. Raji was a guy hailed as the next Vince Wilfork and looks more like Dan Wilkerson or any other nose tackles whom just take up space and nothing else. Ryan Pickett is headed for the end of the career, and the tunnel might be getting there quicker than he would want right now. DeMarco Murray, Le'Von Bell and Matt Forte all still loom on the schedule for Green Bay.
Aaron Rodgers will be back on December 8th. I realize he is not cleared yet, and no one at Lombardi Avenue wants to say he's playing, but Rodgers will give it a go. It feels like when Bane is running all through Gotham City and Batman, broken back and all, comes back to save the city. I have no idea who Bane is right now (His collarbone, Detroit, the rest of the NFC North, Matt Flynn/Scott Tolzien?), but you get the idea. Rodgers knows he is needed on this team and I believe he ends up willing himself to play even if he is not fully healthy.
In my humble opinion, Packers offensive line woes from yesterday are overblown for the most part. Only real issue is we finally get to see Marshall Newhouse fully exposed as I have been saying for the last month. If Evan Dietrich-Smith's injury is significant, Derek Sherod needs to play or Lane Taylor for that matter. Newhouse is shook and there is no coming back for him. Rodgers will get protected as they are not playing a defensive line like the Lions for the rest of the year, and the line has been fairly good all season just one bad game. I will say DeMarcus Ware is scary as all hell, but that's about it. Rodgers will be safe with their line as long as Newhouse stays on the pine.
The quarterback is also a history buff and he knows all too well about getting hot at the right time. I keep thinking about how pathetic the two New York Giants teams looked at certain points before getting hot to win the Super Bowl. Did they have to catch breaks to end up in the playoffs? Absolutely. But at the same time, NFL is a wacky sport where things get turned on its axis. Green Bay is not dead yet. Sure they are beat up, sure they are bruised, but there is still some fight in them. Maybe this is the glass half full vision, but there are too many variables right now to call the season over with a month left of football.
Charlie.
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