Late defeat wastes more of Rodgers’ prime
At 4-5-1, McCarthy might be losing grip on longtime job
Packers face a steep climb to get back to the postseason. They’re winless on the road (0-5) and still face difficult games at Minnesota and at Chicago.
Remember when Rodgers famously instructed Packers fans to “R-E-L-A-X” after the team’s 1-2 start in 2014? That worked out It’s no time for the Green Bay fine. The Packers went 12-4 that Packers and their fans to relax. A season and reached the NFC title run-the-table turnaround late in game. the season is looking ever more Remember two years ago when unlikely. It might be time to panic. Rodgers declared that the Packers, The Packers could be on their way at 4-6 and on a four-game losing to wasting another year of streak following an ugly defeat to quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ the Redskins, could run the table? prime, as their season came unravThat’s exactly what they did, eled with a loss Thursday night in winning their final six games of Seattle that included some questhe regular season on their way to tionable late-game coaching decianother appearance in the NFC sions by Mike McCarthy. championship game.
The 27-24 defeat to the SeaBut they have not been back to a hawks dropped the Packers to Super Bowl since that Lombardi 4-5-1. They could miss the NFC Trophy-winning season engiplayoffs for a second straight year neered by Rodgers and McCarthy after eight straight postseason in 2010. And now they could be out appearances, a run that included a of the playoffs again. There was a Super Bowl triumph in the 2010 viable excuse for last season’s 7-9 season. There is growing specurecord, as Rodgers missed nine lation that this season’s failures games with a broken collarbone. could cost McCarthy his job, and There is no such excuse this he did nothing Thursday night to season. Rodgers has played well, quiet such talk. with 19 touchdown passes and
It was the Seahawks, not Green only one interception. But it’s still Bay, who bolstered their playoff not working. chances. They evened their record Rodgers said he is not giving up at 5-5 in their season of transition. on the season, although he was not
The Seahawks’ winning touchparticularly eager to answer a down came on a 15-yard pass from reporter’s postgame question quarterback Russell Wilson to Thursday about whether there is tight end Ed Dickson with a little hope left. more than five minutes remaining. “What kind of question is that?” The touchdown was set up by a Rodgers said. “I don’t even know 34-yard completion from Wilson how to answer that. I mean, come to wide receiver Tyler Lockett, on. What am I supposed to say? Of who made a tumbling catch near course there’s hope. Of course we the sideline. believe in each other. It’s just
Or did he? Television replays going to take one galvanizing seemed to show the football momoment.” mentarily loose on the turf, out of But, realistically, that hope is Lockett’s grasp, as he slid along slipping away. the ground. The officials on the Rodgers turns 35 in December. field called it a completion. But He certainly isn’t done. The PackMike Pereira, the NFL’s former of the play in time to issue a replay time. The Green Bay offense went they wouldn’t get the stop they ers just made him the sport’s officiating czar and now a rules challenge. But that play was the three plays and out. The Packers needed and they wouldn’t get the highest-paid player by signing him analyst for Fox, said on the game, as it turned out. The punted and never got the ball ball back. Wouldn’t it have been a in August to a four-year, $134 broadcast that he thought a replay Packers couldn’t afford not to back, as the Seahawks got two first better approach to leave the ofmillion contract extension. He is challenge by the Packers might challenge. downs and ran the final four-plus fense on the field and put the under contract through the 2023 have resulted in a reversal and an Seattle’s touchdown left plenty minutes off the clock. game in Rodgers’ hands? season, during which he will turn 40.incompletion.oftimeforanotherRodgers-ledAgain,McCarthy’stacticscouldMcCarthysaidafterthegame
McCarthy never threw the comeback. The Packers got the be questioned. The Packers faced that the Packers “definitely” conHe and the Packers can only challenge flag. The Packers had ball at their 25-yard line, facing a a fourth-and-2 at their 33-yard line sidered going for it on fourth hope that, by then, they aren’t still only one timeout remaining and three-point deficit with more than with a little more than four down but, with the two-minute waiting for that return trip to the would have lost it with a failed five minutes remaining. It seemed minutes left. They had one timewarning plus a timeout, they Super Bowl that is proving so challenge. McCarthy said at his inevitable that Rodgers would out. They hadn’t stopped Seattle’s “played the numbers.” elusive despite the presence of postgame news conference that take the Packers down the field. running game all night. There was McCarthy pressed all the one of the greatest quarterbacks the Packers never got a clear view But there was no magic this a good chance that if they punted, wrong buttons, and now the the sport has ever seen.