Offense
I'm going to light up the defense later because it's problems are so obvious and have been for a long time, but what really held the team back this year was the offense. The redzone efficiency of the Packer's offense has been sub-par since the departure of Joe Philbin. Consistent for several years has been the lack of depth on the offensive line. It showed again this year, and it's not as though their first choice line was lighting it up to begin with. To a large extent, Ted Thompson has not put together a line good enough to protect Aaron Rodgers. That's inexcusable, especially with as long as they held on the a goon like Marshall Newhouse.
Injuries also decimated the Packers at receiver. They struggled for much of the year, but Jared Abbrederis showed well when healthy. In fact, there were times when he was the only one out there who looked like he gave a damn. Jeff Janis and he were the entirety of the Packers receiving threat during the Cardinals game, especially after Cobb left with a bruised lung. Cobb had easily his worst season as a pro, dropping easy passes left and right. Like the rest of the offense, he just seemed out-of-sorts for the entire year. I think he had the "yips." He had issues without Jordy Nelson to draw attention, but he simply dropped passes that no professional, especially one of his proven caliber, should drop. Even though it didn't count, the play he got injured on against Arizona is proof of how good he can be. Jordy was a big loss. Clearly they never recovered from it, but they should have done better. I cringe at how bad they would have been if James Jones had not become available, though he disappeared far too often as well.
Richard Rodgers came on late in the year, at least receiving the ball. He can't break a tackle to save his life and he's got zero quickness, but he made some plays. I didn't get a good look at his blocking so I can't really say how he's progressed there, but he's started to show his potential. Quarless was a non-factor this year. It's probably past time to reinforce the position. Even at their best, neither guy is a game changer, Hail Mary plays excluded.
At times, Lacy and Starks both looked like all-pros. At other times, they both looked like they should be glued to the end of the bench. Lacy was out of shape. Mike McCarthy said as much after the season. Starks looked like the football was a greased watermelon at times. There's talent in that backfield, but someone needs to put a boot in their behinds to work on their clear weaknesses.
Aaron Rodgers, the best quarterback in the league, the reigning MVP, looked pedestrian this year. His accuracy was, by his standards, terrible, especially on deep passes. He was playing with new receivers in new positions and often running for his life, so I don't want to heap more than his fair share of the blame on him, but the results were not there and there wasn't much help from the coaching to make up for the injuries and talent weaknesses on the offensive side of the ball.
The Packer's offense was boring, predictable and devoid of creativity. The problem was so bad that the opposing defense was basically able to shrink the field to within seven yards of the line of scrimmage, allowing the coverage and the pass rush to be incredibly aggressive. They didn't help themselves by voluntarily shrunk the field even further by not using the middle of it.
They couldn't push the ball down the field to take the top off of those tight defenses, so the short passing and running game suffered as well. There are things that traditionally can be done to combat this issue, things that force the defense to be more reactive and give the offense more space. Screen passes can slow down the pass rush, so can draw plays. Bootleg and moving the pocket can mess with the pass rush and the coverage since all of the angle of attack are changed. Timing routs can also negate the pass rush. The back shoulder and quick slants that were once a staple of the offense were all but gone this year. But, when they mixed in these approaches, they were largely successful.
This team, once an offensive juggernaut, has devolved into a paper tiger. As frustrated as I am with the defense, it's clear that the offense is what held the team back this year. Their inability to put together a complete game cost them several wins, including the playoff loss to Arizona. You can't fail to show up for the first 2-3 quarters and expect to be able to make up for it. The only reason they did as well as they did is Aaron Rodgers and a lot of luck. In fact, I would argue that the only difference between the first six games and the last ten is just the amount of luck the Packers had.
Defense
It seems pretty damned clear to me that the Packers defense was used to practicing against the Packers offense. The offense didn't use the middle of the field and that must have convinced Dom Capers that there wasn't a need to guard the middle of the field. Far too often, especially on important downs, the defense could be counted on to do exactly the same thing: linebackers up at the line and secondary back deep. This leave a massive gap between the front seven and the secondary. Any offensive coordinator worth a damn saw this and exploited it. The shallow cross over the middle just shredded the Packers defense this year. It's how the Chargers marched down the field and came within one great individual play away of winning against the Packers this year. Contrary to what Troy Aikman said during the broadcast, Capers wasn't calling every different thing he could think of (or maybe he was), he called the same thing over and over and the Chargers exploited it the same way over and over. Why? Because they're not drooling idiots.
Busted coverages and bad tackling continued to be calling cards of the defense. Mix these things together and you have a defense that could not typically get the timely stop. They offense didn't often give them enough of a break, so it's not an isolated issue, but they definitely did not do as much as they could have with what they had. The defense has been stale for several years and their production is not as good as the talent says it should be. The defense has been exploitable for some time. Dom Capers should have been fired at least a year ago, probably two. People can throw statistics at me all they want about yardage, points and turnovers. This is a poorly coached defense. Their talent has to overcome coaching deficiencies, much like the offense did for the past 2-3 years. Rather than waiting for the wheels to fall off like happened with the offense this year, they need to act now and get someone who can coach this defense up.
Special Teams
The special teams was, for the most part, good this year. Mason Crosby is Mike McCarthy's biggest "told ya' so" story. He remains one of the best kickers in the league. The fact that he recovered from his dismal 2012 season is a testament to both him and to McCarthy.
The coverage teams don't stick out in my memory as noteworthy, either good or bad. The same is true of the kick return team.
The sore thumb of the special teams is Micah Hyde. He's a good player, but his decisions-making on when to field and when not to field punts is terrible. He put the Packers in several holes down the stretch letting balls drop that he shouldn't have or catching ones that he shouldn't have. This isn't me second-guessing him in hindsight, this is an observation of him completely ignoring even the conventional wisdom of punt returning. If you're in your end, stand on the 10. If it goes past you, let it bounce. If it's in front of you, field it. It's that simple. He couldn't/wouldn't and didn't. When he got the chance to return punts, he didn't do anything special enough to justify the negative impact his decision-making had on the field position battle.
If he's really the best option for returning punts on the roster, that needs to change when training camp opens. I'm sure he's not the best option now, but it will be a good way for a rookie to make an impact early. After this year, it would be shocking if there weren't a couple of new rookie receivers on the roster come August.
Conclusion
This year was a reckoning. We're all familiar with the warranted criticism of Ted Thompson's unwillingness to utilize the free agent market to plug needs and put the team over the top. This year, Packers fans were forced to come face to face with the other shortcomings of this team that have been building for the past couple of years. These are shortcomings that were, until this year, more subtle and just as dangerous. Some people remained in denial until near the end, but those people were willfully blind to the truth. If the decision makers within the team allow themselves to be blind to these issues, the foundation of what should be a great team is going to rot away. Aaron Rodgers is in his prime, but he won't be there forever. It would be a travesty to waste it. Even though they came within a play of making the NFC Championship game again this year, this team never looked like a real championship team to me. That's a year wasted.
