To put it simply, the Green Bay Packers are a complete mess. The Packers have not only dropped their last three games and are now 3-4 after seven weeks, but they have also scored less than 20 points for the first time since 2006 and averaged the fewest points per game (18.3) during the Aaron Rodgers era. The quality of play is poor, and Rodgers made it abundantly evident this week on the Pat McAfee Show that players who commit too many errors “shouldn’t be playing.”
Strict but not incorrect. Head coach Matt LaFleur took a more nuanced stance, but essentially concurred. “We certainly talked about accountability and how each of us is accountable to the others, and we need everyone to be doing things the correct way,” LaFleur stated on Wednesday. “… we must tell the truth to one another, even though it hurts sometimes.”
As LaFleur noted, Rodgers later stressed that this week’s remarks were about “accountability.” However, he did not entirely reject the notion of benching players who were not playing up to par. “Accountability lies with each of us,” he informed reporters on Thursday. “You’re going to receive opportunities because you’re making the plays and are in the right place at the right time. If you’re not, there will be repercussions. On that, I think we can all agree. “I believe that occasionally people in this society find it difficult to hear the truth. I am going to hold men responsible. Matt will hold people responsible.
The days of “R-E-L-A-X,” when Aaron Rodgers advised against making too much of the Packers’ 1-2 start in 2014, are a long, long way behind these remarks. However, that was only three weeks into a season and eight years ago. Nine months after finishing 13-4, the Packers are breaking apart quickly this time and are having trouble defining themselves.
Rodgers’s public criticism of his colleagues and club has swiftly morphed from a personnel issue to a schematic issue to a problem caused by adversity. The club needed to “handle adversity a little bit better,” according to Aaron Rodgers, after the team’s Week 5 loss to the New York Giants in London. The week following the team’s defeat to the New York Jets, Aaron Rodgers hinted that the offense should be made simpler in order to give the quarterback more control at the line of scrimmage. But in Week 7, Rodgers effectively threw his failing colleagues under the bus when the Packers lost 23–21 to the Washington Commanders, headed by Taylor Heinicke.
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