Well, there’s always next season

It’s hard to believe how much can happen in a week.  Last Sunday night, the Packers had an opportunity to get within a half-game of the NFC North leading Vikings.  But after losing the much talked about game, Green Bay was left setting their sights on earning a Wild Card spot in the playoffs.  Driving back from Green Bay to La Crosse last Monday morning, the sports talk radio consisted of phone call after phone call of upset Packers fans.  I just thought to myself that everybody just needed to step away from the ledge, for better days would be ahead for this team.

Today was supposed to be one of those better days.  Packers taking on a Tampa Bay squad that was the only team in the NFL that had yet to win a game this season.  Couple that with a rookie making his first ever start at quarterback and Green Bay is sitting alright at 5-3 half way through the season.

Instead Green Bay put up a stinker of a game.  It was the classic storyline of the Packers showing they were by far the better team (Green Bay led many major statistics such as total yards 404-279 and time of possession 35:17-24:43) but finding a way to throw it all away down the stretch.  What went wrong?  Lots.  But there are 3 major problems that keep showing up week after week.

1. No pass rush - The switch to the 3-4 defense was suppose to show all these different looks that were just going to wreak havoc on opposing quarterbacks.  Well, it’s actually been the exact opposite.  Josh Freeman was sacked only once today.  Brett Favre wasn’t sacked at all last week.  Like Charles Woodson said after last week’s game, any quarterback in the league is going to look good when they aren’t pressured.  Sadly he predicted the future because there is no excuse for a first-time starting quarterback to do what Freeman was able to do against Green Bay.  They should of rattled him from the start of this game but instead let him look like a poised veteran by the 4th quarter.
2. Special teams - The two big changes this offseason were Dom Capers taking over as defensive coordinator and Shawn Slocum taking over special teams.  Just like Capers’ scheme isn’t getting the job done, nor is Slocum’s.  Once again special teams was a nightmare.  The Packers were dominating the Buccaneers but gave the team life allowing a blocked punt get returned for a touchdown.  They also allowed a huge kickoff return in the 4th quarter that set up Tampa Bay’s go-ahead touchdown score.
3. Sacks - Through 8 games, Aaron Rodgers has now been sacked a league-leading 37 times.  He was sacked a total of 34 times all of last season.  The tv broadcast team told the story today of how difficult it has been for the Packers to score touchdowns on drives that they suffer a sack.

Asked after the game if this was the low point of his coaching career, Packer head coach Mike McCarthy said “It doesn’t feel good. It never feels good when you lose. This one definitely hurts. It’ll definitely rank up in there, but it’s still one loss. I’m not trying to downplay it. I’m disappointed in the way we played today, disappointed in the way we didn’t sustain momentum in the game because that’s something we’ve done now two weeks in a row.”

Yes it is just one loss.  But if those 3 problems don’t get fixed soon, this team will have it tough finishing at 8-8 this season.  And with Packers Nation now one step closer to the ledge, it may be McCarthy who takes the fall from what seems to be shaping up as an extremely disappointing season.