Cheese Curds and Beer Brats: A Season of Transition for the Green Bay Packers

Green Bay misses the NFL Playoffs for the first time since 2008. Some may place the blame on the far too long tenure of defensive coordinator Dom Capers. Others might blame the 13 screws holding Aaron Rodgers’ collarbone together. The truth is, the reasons for the Packers failure stems from something further intertwined in the ideals of the organization.

The start of 2018 was an uncharacteristically eventful one for the Green Bay Packers. Ordinarily, the talking heads and sports pundits would be singing the praises of yet another NFC North triumph, or the latest inconceivable demonstration of Aaron Rodger’s improvisational mastery of the quarterback position. Many of the Packer faithful and NFL fans alike will remember R-E-L-A-X and “Run the table”. However, Green Bay faces more questions this NFL offseason than any point in recent memory.

New Year’s Day saw the Packers part ways with their defensive coordinator, a move that many see as long overdue after poor performances by the unit throughout the decade. After signing on as coordinator prior to the 2009 campaign, Capers’ orchestration of the Packers defense was prodigious during his first two seasons in Green Bay. Nevertheless, after capturing their fourth Super Bowl title over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Packers have made the playoffs every season since, but the defensive unit has been a far cry to its former glory, ranking outside of the top-10 in each season since 2010.

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As the Packers season concluded with a 35-11 drubbing at the hands of their NFC North rival Detroit Lions, it became more evident than ever that removing Aaron Rodgers from the Packers leaves you with a mediocre, even subpar football team at best. The reality of the situation is that the defense has been quite awful even with Rodgers under center. The difference lies in the offense’s ability to drop over 30 points in any given game, to the detriment of many an opponent. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen with backup quarterback Brett Hundley this simply wasn’t the case, and it showed in only the third losing season since 1993 for the Green Bay Packers.

There has been an abundance of additional rhetoric regarding the ineffectiveness of backup quarterback Brett Hundley. Amazingly, Hundley completed five straight starts and 162 passes at Lambeau Field without one finding the end zone, an NFL record. Though the case can be made that Hundley’s poor performance can additionally be attributed to the ineffectiveness of the Green Bay Packer defense. For most successful NFL teams, “garbage time” and often meaningless late-season games are a prime opportunity for young players like Hundley to acquire real NFL regular season snaps and hone their skills on the speed and tenacity of the pro game. However, when you’re a team like the Packers perennially on the fringes of postseason obscurity or involved in high-scoring shootouts with even the bottom feeders of the NFL standings, these opportunities aren’t nearly as prevalent for the second and third teamers, or beneficial for young developing players in dire need of this valuable experience.

Perhaps a more shocking New Year’s Day revelation for Green Bay was the reassignment of general manager Ted Thompson. The Packers have flourished under the 13-year tenancy of Thompson. Although many loyal Cheeseheads attribute this unprecedented run of success to the abilities of Aaron Rodgers as opposed to Thompson’s steady-as-it-goes, humdrum managerial style, these achievements cannot be understated: three NFC Championship appearances in addition to a Super Bowl victory, the fourth-best winning percentage in the NFL throughout his 13 seasons with the team (.606). Explain this as you will, the success of Green Bay throughout this time period is undeniable.

The reassignment of Thompson from the general manager position can be partially ascribed to the Packers’ seeming relegation to football purgatory: Always amongst the best clubs in the NFL, but still a team or two below the league’s elite. This attribution to mediocrity is only furthermore reinforced by concerning statements regarding playoff success by none other than team president Mark Murphy. The Packer’s window may not yet be minute, but is still closing with every passing season.

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In spite of the fact that Thompson was indeed the architect of the Packers’ 2010-2011 Super Bowl title, and the additional deserved credit to draft and develop Aaron Rodgers in favor of a thrice-unretired Brett Favre, he has let numerous players leave who have excelled elsewhere. Casey Hayward and Micah Hyde are 2017 Pro Bowlers, a fact that cannot be overlooked when looking at the disappointing performance of the Green Bay secondary. Julius Peppers has additionally been an integral part of the Carolina Panthers success this season as a situation pass-rusher, a role he filled for the Packers over the past two seasons. The Green Bay pass-rush has been indiscernible, and the defense as a whole has been virtually devoid of a player with the ability to force turnovers. Dom Capers certainly bears much to blame for this situation as well, ultimately resulting in his aforementioned firing.

The diminished returns the Packers have been receiving through Thompson’s draft and develop philosophy have begun to show as time has gone on. With the last few Green Bay drafts not exactly bustling with trendsetting talent, and only three meaningful free agency acquisitions under his belt (Ryan Pickett in 2006, Charles Woodson in 2009, and Julius Peppers in 2015), the timing is right to move on from Thompson moving forward.

Rodgers may have a good 4 or 5 years left in the tank, but the clock is ticking. Ted Thompson had a good run maintaining the course set by Ron Wolf and Mike Holmgren long ago. However, Rodgers’ clock is ticking, and the Packers have come up short of the Super Bowl one too many times for a variety of reasons. Rodgers has been outplayed by his counterparts in some playoff losses, and the defense has been torched numerous times. Unfortunately, one has to consider that Thompson has not drafted as well as he did during the early portion of his tenure, and a team unwilling to invest in even basic role-players through free agency to help their future Hall of Fame quarterback simply cannot compete in the modern NFL.

There is no telling how good Green Bay would have been in 2017 were it not for Aaron Rodgers’ shattered collarbone, just as there is no guarantee for success regardless of who is chosen to replace Capers or Thompson. However, after the rough 2017 season, a hard look had to be made at the working philosophy of the organization from the top down. No matter who is chosen to lead the Packer faithful into the Promised Land, they have huge shoes to fill.

1-9-18 - (The Packers have since signed former director of player personnel Brian Gutekunst as their new general manager. This, and other interesting observations are outlined in Cheese Curds and Beer Brats here [Link to Gutekunst article].)