Green Bay Packers Exposed For Frauds They Are
By Erik Lambert
For years the critics have been saying it. Nobody wanted to listen. The Green Bay Packers are a below-averaged football team without Aaron Rodgers.
In many ways this franchise has the feel of what the Indianapolis Colts become during the final years of the Peyton Manning era. A few scattered talents around the roster that were heavily reliant on the all-world quarterback to have success. They went 10-6 in 2010 with Manning under center. A year later when he was forced out by neck surgery? They went 2-14.
As of now the Packers aren’t far off that pace. Since 2008 they’ve played 13 games without Rodgers under center. After a 30-17 drubbing at the hands of the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football, they are now 2-10-1 in those games. It doesn’t get much clearer than that. Green Bay is the epitome of a quarterback-driven franchise. When they don’t have one, they don’t know how to win.
Super Bowl drought was a clear sign something was wrong
After 2010 everybody was convinced the Packers were going to be a dynasty. They’d just won a championship, had a 5th ranked defense in the league and their star quarterback was only 27-years old. Instead year after year from then on they found ways to fall flat in the playoffs, often in the NFC championship game. The primary culprit for this was their defense.
Since 2011 the unit has never ranked higher than 11th in the league and has ranked 22nd or lower four times. Running the ball has also been a problem. It speaks to a roster that lacked blue chip talents outside of Rodgers. The only one who has stood out as a true star over that span is Clay Matthews. It’s fair to start wondering if GM Ted Thompson should be getting more criticism than he has to this point.
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Either way it’s clear that some serious evaluations are in order for this team even after Rodgers returns in 2018. One mustn’t forget he turns 34-years old in December and will have two surgically repaired collarbones. How much longer will that window be open?