If Packers are to find a run-the-table inspiration this season, it will come from within
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Two weeks before the turnaround, the Green Bay Packers assembled for a players-only meeting inside Lambeau Field, hoping to save their season.
They were a team expected to compete for a Super Bowl in 2016. After a disheartening home loss to the Indianapolis Colts, their season was cratering. Julius Peppers, Jordy Nelson and Aaron Rodgers stood in front of their teammates, imploring them to come together.
“The Colts were a pretty bad team at that time,” defensive lineman Kenny Clark said. “We had a player-led meeting and talked about a lot of stuff. Just cleared the air about a lot of things.”
The Packers continued their freefall after that meeting. They lost 47-25 at Tennessee the next week. They hit rock bottom with a 42-24 loss at Washington a week later.
The following Wednesday, sitting at 4-6, Aaron Rodgers uttered seven words that seemed ridiculous at the time, but became part of Packers lore: “I think we can run the table.”
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Aaron Rodgers contemplated what to say before addressing the media that week, the way he calculates everything he does for public consumption. There was trepidation about saying something so bold, so unthinkable. Rodgers saw no signs that the Packers could revive their season through 10 games.
It didn’t stop him from injecting his team with belief.
“I think that was part of the anxiety,” Rodgers said, “about making a statement like that is trust. You have to trust, even if you can’t see a specific thing clearly that gives you that confidence to say that. Now the confidence from me comes from within, that I feel like any time I can go on a run or have gone on runs playing at a near perfection level. And I know when I’m playing well, I can raise the level of my teammates in the locker room. So I’m going to expect to reach that level.
“But it wasn’t one specific thing that I saw. It was more of just a feeling that we needed a little bit of a jolt, and maybe take some pressure off the rest of the guys, and put it on me, to play at a really elite level and that we would all follow and start to believe. And you felt it. The guys started talking about how many we had in the bag, and how many we had left to go, and it just kind of became contagious.”
This season's Packers have many parallels to that 2016 team
The Packers find themselves needing the same jolt six years later. Once again, they have a team not only designed to compete for the Super Bowl, but demanded to make a run given the late stage of Rodgers’ career. Their first four-game losing streak since 2016 has crashed their season. Sitting at 3-5, there has been no sign the Packers are about to make a remarkable recovery.
In a season of adversity, the Packers took maybe their biggest blow Tuesday when general manager Brian Gutekunst failed to add talent to a deficient group of playmakers. A wide-open NFC saw the San Francisco 49ers add running back Christian McCaffrey, the Minnesota Vikings add tight end T.J. Hockenson, and even the Chicago Bears add receiver Chase Claypool.
Rodgers, who acknowledged he had high hopes for the Packers to make a trade, said he had “good conversations” with Gutekunst throughout the trade deadline. He knew which players the Packers GM targeted, and that Gutekunst made an effort to upgrade the roster.
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“Brian didn’t think whatever was out there was worth whatever was required of what was given up,” Rodgers said, speaking for the GM who did not make himself available for questions from the media after his inability to make a trade at the deadline. “That just sends a message to us that we’ve got to play with the guys we’ve got and win with the guys we’ve got. I think there’s still a lot of confidence with the guys in the locker room.”
It’s the same message the 2016 Packers got after former general manager Ted Thompson did not make an in-season trade to jumpstart his team. The turnover that season bordered on impossible. Through 10 games, Rodgers had completed just 63% of his 410 passes for 276.1 yards per game, a 6.73 average per pass, 25 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 96 passer rating.
He played almost perfectly the rest of the season. Rodgers completed 71% of his 200 passes for an almost identical 277.8 yards per game, but with 21 touchdowns, no interceptions and a 121 rating during the final six weeks.
It all started with that memorable statement.
“Sometimes you say things,” Rodgers said, “to try to get a reaction, get an energy adjustment, even if you’re not 100% certain it’s going to happen. And there’s timely moments for those things. I believed it was possible. Did I think it was going to happen? Maybe not 100%, but I knew it was possible. And I knew if we just started believing in each other in a different way, that it was possible.
“I think that’s just what needs to happen with these guys, is when we start expecting to win and hoping to win, things can change a little bit. It just takes one game. It could be one quarter, one play, that can alter the trajectory of the team.”
Even if Rodgers couldn’t sense the abrupt turnaround in 2016, his numbers indicated improvement was possible. During the four-game losing streak, Rodgers’ production slightly improved. He completed 64% of his 173 passes for 1,265 yards, a 7.31 average, 12 touchdowns, three interceptions and a 101.9 rating.
In this four-game losing streak, Rodgers has completed the same 64% of his 145 passes, but for only 865 yards, seven touchdowns, one interception and a 93.6 rating. Which is perhaps why Rodgers had high hopes at the trade deadline. This Packers offense has needed an infusion of talent at receiver since trading Davante Adams in the spring.
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Of course, the Packers had Adams for their run-the-table finish to 2016. An even bigger part of their turnaround might have been tight end Jared Cook, who returned from a high-ankle sprain. Cook caught 18 passes for 219 yards in the final six games, giving the Packers another receiving weapon. Later that season, his 36-yard, toe-tapping reception on the left sideline with 12 seconds left in an NFC divisional round playoff game at Dallas became one of the more memorable plays in recent Packers history, sealing an upset victory.
The possibility of injured players returning offers some hope for this season
Rodgers said the lack of consistent health on this year’s roster makes them prime candidates to make the same recovery. David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins have been in and out of the lineup. Rookie receiver Christian Watson has been injured three times in eight games. Veterans Randall Cobb and Sammy Watkins have missed multiple games with injuries.
“We just haven’t had our full group of guys,” Rodgers said. “I think that’s hurt some of the chemistry, and some of the timing, and some of the things we want to do. We’ve gone into certain games with certain plans that we like, and we lose Cobby or lose (Watson) on the first series. It changes the dynamic of the whole game.”
Rodgers’ play at the end of 2016 is what’s remembered from that run-the-table finish. A forgotten piece, but almost as important, was the Packers’ defensive turnaround. Through the first 10 games, the Packers allowed an average of 27.6 points. They allowed 38.3 points per game during the losing streak, including a pair of 40-point meltdowns on the back half.
The Packers closed their season allowing just 18.7 points per game over the final six.
It takes everyone to save a season. Clark said there has been no players-only meeting this fall. He believes this team is “light years” more talented than 2016, giving him belief a turnaround is possible. He knows it won’t happen with something changing.
“There’s no signs. There’s no speech. There’s no magic potion to getting things turned around," he said. "It’s as simple as get your play call, play as hard as you can, and do everything you can in order to help this team win. You put your offense in good position, you get 12 the ball back, and you’re going to put up points. The offense doing the same thing for us, helping us with situations. The special teams doing the same thing.
“You just play good football around the board, and you don’t make mistakes. You limit penalties, and you make plays on the ball, get some turnovers, you can get things turned around. As far as signs and meetings, I don’t think it really matters at the end of the day.”