Sober and Somber

Lions snap 24-year old losing streak at Lambeau Field

It's a gloomy day and it has nothing to do with the rain coming down outside. The Packers have officially hit their low mark of this season with the loss to the lowly Lions for the first time at Lambeau Field since 1991. There are no knights on white horses coming to save this season, so it's now left to the players on the field, the coaches on the sideline and up in the sky box to dig deep down and come up with a solution, if there is one.

 

Packer Backers are very superstitious with our rituals and wearing the same clothes, etc, etc, etc, but something Timmer said during the loss to the Panthers, "nothing we do means anything," hit the problem right on the head. I guess I was the only one who heard him because he wasn't saying to anyone, he was just lamenting to himself about the futility of the fans and I would add pundits to do anything about the play of our beloved Packers. The Packers are now in free fall with a chance of a long losing streak in the offing.

 

The three-game losing streak had put some things in clear perspective. The Packers defense is middlin at best. As long as Dom Capers is Defensive Coordinator, and like I observed on Saturday he is going to remain Defensive Coordinator as long as Mike McCarthy is head coach, the defense is never going to be a top 5 unit and will always have receivers open in the middle, running backs have career days rushing and quarterbacks have days they only dream of.

 

Editor's Note: The Saints saw a problem and solved a problem by firing their defensive coordinator Rob Ryan today. Other organizations can fire coordinators during the season (like the Lions did two weeks ago). It can be done.

 

The only way to help this defense is to make a change at the top and that is not going to happen during the season and may not happen during the off-season. It seems Mark Murphy and Ted Thompson live in a dream world and don't actually see what is happening on the field each week. They think it is a result of execution instead of something systemic. That being said there is no help coming from Capers and it is all on the shoulders of the players to turn that unit around and it seems that is not going to happen as the defense has now put up six straight bad performances and letting a dysfunctional Matthew Stafford tear them up at crunch time means the talent just isn't there to be better.

 

The Packer offense is another matter. The talent is there and I DO NOT BELIEVE this is all about Jordy Nelson. The Packer offense was just fine during the first three games and I may be wrong, but I don't think Nelson was injured during game three. So let's quit using Jordy's season-ending injury as an excuse and take the bull by the tail and face the ugly situation.

 

All-Pro left guard Josh Sitton had a good observation, "We all need to step back and take a look in the mirror — players, coaches, everybody. We’ve got to execute better. We’ve got to call better plays. We’ve got to play better."

 

If you notice he added call better plays. Tom Clements, Offensive Coordinator Edgar Bennett and Mike McCarthy are in a play-calling funk. It seems to me there are several reasons for this.

 

First, the plays are unimaginative at best and down right defeatfull (if that is a word) at worse. Like I've said before when you need eight yards you run a nine-yard play. However, what you see constantly is passing plays on 3td-and-10 that begin at the line of scrimmage hoping for YAC (yards after the catch) to pick up the first down. That is where the problem begins with. The trouble is McCarthy has the same plays in his playbook, so unless you turn the play calling over to Bennett there is no solution.

 

Second, the supposedly best offensive line in recent history is NOT. The unit has been together during the last six games and have come up short, play after play after play. No holes are being opened and Aaron Rodgers is under siege on every pass play against rather ordinary opponents.

 

Left tackle David Bakhtiari went down with a knee injury and there is no viable option besides moving Bryan Bulaga from right tackle. Don Barclay proved he is not a left tackle during the preseason when Bakhtiari was out. Remember Bakhtiari was a revelation two years ago when Bulaga was lost for the season, but he has not progressed since. He has hit a plateau and is now in a junior slump and may not get any better.

 

The chance to acquire All-Pro left tackle Joe Thomas from the Browns was missed and, actually, was never an option as long as Thompson is General Manager. He doesn't make those moves. I think giving up a No. 1 and No. 2 pick would have been worth it to acquire a former Wisconsin Badger who is in his prime. Maybe only me and Ron Wolf, who's Packer Hall of Fame exhibit was opened to the public over the weekend would make that trade?

 

James Starks looked good early in the game, but that didn't last lone as he finished with 42 yards on 15 carries for 2.8 yards a carry. The running game was abandoned as Rodgers went on to throw a career-high 61 passes for a unRodgers like 83.6 quarterback rating.

 

Speaking of Jordy Nelson the receivers are not getting open. James Jones is suffering from a quad injury and while he catches anything thrown his way, he has hit the wall like both the Raiders and Giants felt when they cut him this preseason. The reason given was he could get separation anymore. It seems that has happened.

 

Randall Cobb is just plain not getting open. Davante Adams is now in his second game back from an ankle injury and was not on the same page as Aaron Rodgers. We have to hope they get together because he has to be part of the solution. He was targeted 21 times and caught 10 for just 79 yards with a long of 18.

 

Jared Abbrederis, another Wisconsin boy, made a positive contribution down field against the Lions. He was targeted seven times and caught four for 57 yards with a long of 32. I don't want to toot my own horn, but I said Abbrederis might get more action since McCarthy hates Jeff Janis, who produces every time he plays. That is what happened. The only wide receiver on the practice squad is Ed Williams, so Janis is either a part of the solution or not. If not cut him and get someone else in here pronto. A washed up Wes Welker is not a savior and I don't see anyone else out there. We have who we have. The only white knight on the horizon is the return of Ty Montgomery from an ankle injury. There is no other option on this team.

 

Justin Perillo became an option at tight end. He was thrown six balls and caught five for 58 yards and his first TD. He had a long of 24 yards, so he had four other catches for 34 yards. Richard Rodgers was thrown five balls and caught all five. However, he had one catch for 21 yards and then had four catches for 14 yards. The plays being called are not designed to get first downs on the throw. Rodgers is not a fast man and mostly will get tackled on the catch.

 

Now to Rodgers. He can't do it alone. He is being wasted in his prime. HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. He is running scared. He is making some bad throws. He is not seeing the whole field as shown when Cobb was wide open at the end of the Panthers game. He is not making the game-winning throw as shown by the Cobb play and the two-point try missed against the Lions. He is as good as they say, but like I said he can't do it alone.

 

So here's my solution for the immediate problem. The players need a players' only meeting today. They need to realize they are on their own. This current coaching staff doesn't have any answers. Rodgers needs to take over the play calling by running a two-minute offense. The offensive line needs to man up and play better and that may be a problem if Barclay has to play left tackle. There needs to be a new offensive scheme with Rodgers in a moveable pocket and throwing off the scramble, which no one does better.

 

The defense. I have no hope for the defense. Capers is totally incapable of righting this ship. He built that ship, so the offense has to be the solution starting this week at the Vikings.