What happened to the Packers this season?

What is going on with the Green Bay Packers? We take a look ahead of Week 13 against the Bears

The Green Bay Packers came into the season with the fourth best odds to win the Super Bowl however with their loss Sunday to the Eagles they are 2.5 games behind Seattle for the final playoff spot in the NFC.

With only five games left this season, the Packers have a three percent chance of making the playoffs this season. What went wrong for the Packers this season? Here are some of my observations:

1. Injuries along the Offensive Line

The offensive line has been inconsistent because of the number of injuries along the offensive line. Coming into the season, the offensive line was dealing with an injury to left tackle David Bakhitari who suffered a torn ACL in December 2020 and struggled to return to the Packers in the 2021 season. He finally was ready to play in 2022 but has struggled to return to his Pro Bowl form. Bakhitari has only played 10 of the possible 35 games for the Packers the last two seasons. Also, right Tackle Elgton Jenkins missed the beginning of the season recovering from his own ACL tear in 2021.

Coming into the season the projected starting offensive line was supposed to be: Bakhitari, Jon Runyan, Josh Myers, Royce Newman and Jenkins. However, that lineup has only played four games and backups Yosh Nijman, Jake Hanson and Zach Tom have had to play because of injuries.

The effects of the injuries along the offensive line is that Aaron Rodgers has been sacked 24 times through 12 games which is more sacks than was allowed last season through 12 games and the Packers rank 15^th in offense after having a top 10 offense during their 13-4 2021 season.

2. “Brain Drain of the Coaching Staff”

Here is the initial offensive coaching staff of Matt Lafleur when he got hired in 2019 and where they are now:

It is not uncommon for coaching staffs to have turnover in the NFL but LaFleur has promoted from within and this coaching staff has struggled to develop the young talent on the roster and match the production from the previous seasons.

Nathaniel Hackett has been a disaster as the Broncos head coach but when he was the coordinator for this team they were finishing near the top in many offensive categories.

Current offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich has never called plays before this season and it shows. The Packers are averaging 19.6 points per game this season which is their lowest total since 2017.

3. Not Replacing Davante Adams

Former Packer wide receiver DaVante Adams accounted for 123 receptions, 1,553 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns last season. He accounted for 36% of the passing yards and 31% of the completions that the Packers had last season.

After the trade of Adams, the Packers drafted Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson in the 2022 NFL Draft, signed free agent Sammy Watkins and Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb were holdovers from the 2021 team. This group has not replaced the production of Adams, the Packers lead the league in dropped passes this season and has only 16 receiving touchdowns in 12 games.

For Packers fans, it has been a frustrating experience watching this young wide receiver group not being able to beat man coverage and defenses have figured that out as the Packers have faced the third most man to man coverage in the league.

4. Rush Defense

The Packers have the worst rush defense in the NFL and just gave up 363 rushing yards to the Eagles on Sunday night. The Packers have given up at least 120 yards rushing in ten out of twelve games this season.

The Packers ranked dead last in 1^st downs allowed by rushing, last in yards per carry and is on track to give up over 2,600 rushing yards which would be their worst performance as a run defense in over 10 years.

Defensive coordinator Joe Barry in his second season as the defensive coordinator and is the coordinator of a defense that has seven first round draft picks so there is talent on this roster and they should be performing better, but fans of the team questioned why he has the job in the first place. Barry previously was the defensive coordinator for the Lions in 2008 when they ranked last in points and yards allowed. After the Lions went 0-16 in 2008, the entire coaching staff was fired.

After that he bounced around the league in different positions before landing with Washington as their defensive coordinator in 2015 and 2016. Washington ranked 28^th in yards allowed for both seasons and 17^th and 19^th in points allowed respectively.

After the 2016 season with Washington, he and the entire coaching staff was fired. His tenure in Green Bay has been as just as unimpressive and there are rumors already that he will be replaced at the end of the season.

Conclusion:

The Packers have made some mistakes that can be possible be corrected with changes on the coaching staff and some better injury luck. However, the roster will have to remain largely intact due to the salary commitments the team has already made.

According to Over The Cap, the Packers have a projected 5.3 million in cap space for next season. In addition, they also have to make a decision on backup quarterback Jordan Love. The Packers in the offseason have to decide whether to pick up the fifth-year option on Love which would raise Love salary to potentially $19.6 million dollars which is a lot to pay a backup quarterback who may not even play.

Recently, there has been talk about trading starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers but then they would be hampered financially if the veteran quarterback got traded in the offseason which would give the Packers $40.3 million in dead cap money.

This offseason, starting wide receiver Allen Lazard who leads the team in receiving yards will be a free agent, starting right tackle Elgton Jenkins will also be a free agent. Currently, the Packers are projected to have the 8^th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and there are some young wide receivers that are projected to available in that part of the draft.

General Manager Brian Gutekunst will have a lot of decisions in the offseason to get this team back to contending for a championship.

Let me know what you think of the article on Twitter.

You may also check Bears make surprising pass rushing cut Wednesday and NFL Insider has interesting theory on why former draft pick is getting cut

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