Mike Mccarthy Goes Nuts After Clay Matthews Once Again Hit With Awful Penalty
Is he going to say it?
Twice a week, every week, for the by month, Aaron Rodgers has stood in front end of a sea of recorders, cameras and phones, all patiently waiting to capture the speech. In 2014, it was "R-E-50-A-Ten." In 2016, "run the table." But at present it's getting late. Rodgers and the Packers have just lost a Dominicus Night Football game in Minnesota, falling to iv-6-1 on the season. Those reporters, like the rest of the football-watching world, are however waiting for the quarterback to say something—annihilation—that will ensure the Green Bay Packers' 2018 season volition plough out O.M. Instead, Rodgers stands at the podium, left foot casually crossed in front of his correct, and stoically repeats a variation of this phrase: "Nosotros're going to need some assist."
Information technology doesn't experience like 2016, when they roughshod to four-6 then ran the table, making it to the NFC championship. It doesn't feel like 2014, when they were blown out in two of their first three games before flipping the switch, finishing 12-4 and coming within an onside boot recovery of the Super Bowl. Equally November turns into December, the Packers face the prospect of missing the playoffs with a healthy Rodgers for the commencement fourth dimension since 2008—his start yr equally the starter. Observers tin can't assistance merely wonder: What is incorrect with the Packers?
It's been nearly a yr since Ted Thompson stepped down equally general director. But to understand what is happening in 2018, you must look dorsum a few years. Many interviewed for this story say the Packers' struggles can exist traced back to Thompson's final years as GM; others who won't say information technology notwithstanding suggest it with their actions.
Thompson, of course, had a wildly successful overall run in Light-green Bay. He began his career equally a front end-office executive in Green Bay in 1992. After leaving for a 5-year stint in Seattle, he returned to the Packers as general managing director in 2005. The showtime pick of his first draft was Aaron Rodgers, and the team went to the postseason ix times in thirteen seasons of Thompson'south GM tenure, including a Super Bowl XLV title. He will deservedly be inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in May.
Thompson was devoted to a strict draft-and-develop model, rarely signing gratis agents or making trades; it drove Greenish Bay's success during about of his tenure. But the draft-and-develop model falls apart quickly if the team doesn't typhoon well. For instance, of the Packers' eight draft picks in 2015, simply ane remains on the roster, linebacker Jake Ryan (who is currently on injured reserve). Only wideout Davante Adams and center Corey Linsley remain from 2014's nine-man class. Just even as holes in the roster began to show the past few years, the Packers remained conservative in complimentary bureau.
Some in the organization felt the reduced talent on the roster put a strain on the coaching staff. And many in the front role were frustrated as well. Sources familiar with the inner workings of the organization said that lower level personnel employees explored trades and initiated conversations with other teams, around three or iv times each year, but they could never go far without the power to counter offer, which would require Thompson's cooperation and blessing. Scouts on the pro side were frequently frustrated because they felt similar their difficult piece of work went to waste material. They would spend weeks putting together reports on all the available free agents, and Thompson would rarely sign any. At various points during Thompson's tenure, the Packers had chances to land Randy Moss, Marshawn Lynch (a collegiate teammate of Rodgers'due south) and Tony Gonzalez, simply did not motility on any of them. (A team spokesperson declined an interview request for Thompson.)
Ted Thompson, in the war room during the 2014 typhoon, served every bit Packers GM from 2005-17 and still consults with the team.
Evan Siegle/Greenish Bay Press-Gazette/AP
Multiple sources noted the Packers' low tolerance for "loud guys," a general term for players who are outspoken with the media or even those who complain privately nigh the organization. Thompson was fiercely and famously individual—if he had it his way, the team wouldn't have put out printing releases at all, even for expert news like a player signing a contract extension. The term "bad guy" was thrown around amongst team decision makers, a descriptor that could range from a guy with a sordid past, or just a player who talks too much. (Instance of the latter: Martellus Bennett, last season. "Yeah, that was never going to work," says ane person familiar with the inner workings of the front office.)
Thompson had full autonomy over football operations. Squad president Mark Murphy, who arrived in 2007, says he met with his GM regularly, but that he doesn't involve himself in whatever football decisions. Some in the arrangement believed that because Green Bay has no actual possessor (Murphy serves as a de facto owner), Thompson'due south power went unchecked. The front end office as a whole got as well comfortable. And the conservative, traditional civilisation being created became stifling for some.
Ron Wolf, the Hall of Fame GM who ran the Packers from 1991-2001, had a saying: Football game is the most important matter. If we do the football function correct, the consequence volition be wins. It was a message almost seeing the bigger picture, not sweating the modest stuff, and taking care of the things that actually mattered. Some in the organisation felt like that message had been lost.
Some of the squad rules became byzantine. No backwards hats on the sidelines. No undershirts showing from underneath practice jerseys. All players must coordinate and vesture the same color shoes, every bit determined by the team. When players exit the locker room for practise, the equipment staff tidies each locker, clearing it of any cruddy hangers or extra gear.
Thompson set up the rules, and it was upward to Russ Ball, the VP of football administration/player finance who was seen every bit the just person in the building with Thompson's total trust, to enforce them. One former Packer said that over time, these small rules add upwards and habiliment players down, causing some to question why sure things are the way they are.
"It's an insane level of control," says 1 person close to the organization. "No fun, it'south all nearly the Packer brand and being a vice president. The well-nigh important people in the organization are the VPs. The players and all that, that comes later."
Later Thompson stepped downward, Murphy reorganized Green Bay's power structure. During the interview process for a new full general director, Spud decided Thompson's job would be best be split into two separate roles. In January, director of player personnel Brian Gutekunst was promoted to general managing director, and Ball was promoted to a new role, executive vice president/managing director of football game operations. And Potato made ane more than change: Instead of McCarthy and Ball reporting to the GM, they now, like Gutekunst, report directly to Murphy. Green Bay calls the triumvirate "football leadership," creating natural checks and balances in the front function.
Scroll to Continue
SI Recommends
Brian Gutekunst joined the Packers in 2012 and was promoted to GM in January.
Detroit Lions/AP
In Gutekunst'due south introductory printing conference, he said he had a responsibleness to fans to, "communicate conspicuously." He also made 1 more than statement that seemed to create some separation between him and his predecessor: "We're not going to leave whatsoever stone unturned in every avenue of player conquering."
The shakeup was the first fourth dimension the football hierarchical order in Green Bay had changed since 1991, when Wolf took over as GM and was given total control over football operations. Wolf has said he never would accept taken the offer if it was anything less than total command. According to Potato, Gutekunst was happy with the new segmentation of power when he informed him of the changes. (Through a spokesperson, the Packers declined interview requests for Gutekunst, McCarthy and Brawl.)
Murphy denies any pregnant the change in bureaucracy might send nigh Thompson's terminal seasons. He says 17 other NFL clubs accept similar organizational structures—in which the caput coach reports to the owners, non to the full general director. He says the Steelers are a club the Packers look to every bit a model, and in Pittsburgh, general manager Kevin Colbert and head motorcoach Mike Tomlin both report to possessor Art Rooney Two.
The early on returns are promising from a roster-building standpoint. 1 scout for an NFC team said he thought the Packers rarely had a consummate draft under Thompson, but Green Bay always had Rodgers, so it never hurt them the fashion it would a squad without an aristocracy quarterback. However, he thought that the 2018 draft, under Gutekunst, was specially strong from top to lesser.
Thompson is even so involved with the team, as a senior consultant, though he has moved dorsum to his hometown in Texas. While Murphy is confident in the reorganization, multiple sources familiar with the inner workings of the franchise wonder if the Packers have created a new problem: too many cooks in the kitchen.
When the quarterback is the type of singular talent who can mask glaring weaknesses and make an boilerplate supporting cast look aristocracy, it invites complacency. "I think the whole organization got lazy," says some other person familiar with the inner workings of the team. "We're relying on Aaron. Aaron is going to do it."
Rodgers is the smartest guy in Green Bay'south locker room, football or otherwise. Every Friday, Packers quarterbacks, the offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks coach take a QB test. Information technology's typically thirty football game questions and and so 10-15 trivia questions, ranging from riddles to Sporcle-inspired random facts. It shouldn't come equally a surprise that Rodgers normally aces the exam, which changes every calendar week. The backups rotate putting the quiz together and endeavor their best to stump Rodgers. "Aaron always knew about ninety percentage of information technology," says one-time Dark-green Bay backup Joe Callahan. "He won a good amount." Rodgers's intelligence is one of his greatest strengths. Information technology also makes coaching him a unique challenge.
"I desperately desire to exist coached." That's what Rodgers told The MMQB on the eve of the 2015 season, when the Packers were seven months removed from a heartbreaking NFC title game loss in Seattle. (Through a spokesperson, the Packers declined an interview request for Rodgers.) The quarterback holds himself to impossibly high standards, and he holds his coaches to those aforementioned standards. He doesn't forget any slight or grievance, no matter how small. He still brings upwards the fact that he was drafted 24th overall, the 2nd quarterback after Alex Smith went No. 1 overall in the 2005 draft. Former Packers receiver Greg Jennings told Colin Cowherd in November that Rodgers would needle McCarthy about that. McCarthy, the year before he arrived in Green Bay, was the offensive coordinator in San Francisco, part of the regime that drafted Smith.
SI VAULT: 'Who Is Aaron Rodgers?' Our Sept. 21, 2015 cover story
McCarthy, like Rodgers, is an alpha male. When people familiar with the two were asked to describe their relationship, most say it is divers by tension. Until this year, information technology was a good for you tension that lifted both quarterback and bus. In 2018, something has been different.
McCarthy is the play caller, only because Rodgers is and so intelligent and such a adept improvisational histrion, the quarterback has the light-green light to modify plays on the field as he see fit. He does, so often that it tin can be hard for McCarthy to go into a rhythm as the play caller. McCarthy might call the same play three times in a game, without the play actually existence run as he chosen it. And if McCarthy calls a play that Rodgers doesn't like early in the game, that can sour the mood for the rest of the game. Several sources familiar with the inner workings of the organization say that it devolved into a competition over who can call the ameliorate play, and both desire the credit when things go right.
Michael Yanow/AP
"Aaron won't be upset this story is being written and some of these frustrations are getting out in that location," says a source close to Rodgers.
The questions near the coach-quarterback relationship take heated up with every Packers loss this flavor. Even after a win over Buffalo, Rodgers criticized the offense and blamed the game programme. "It was as bad as nosotros've played on criminal offence with that many yards in a long time," he said. "There was no period to the game… We were championship defensive level and non-playoff team offensive level today. That was not dandy, past any stretch of the imagination." (Rodgers later clarified that he put most of the blame on himself rather than the coaching staff.)
That mini-controversy was zero compared to what CBS cameras captured during a victory over the Bengals last season. After taking a sack late in the 3rd quarter, Rodgers looked to the sideline. It didn't take an expert lip-reader to decipher his message. "Stupid f---ing phone call!" And and then again for skilful measure. "Stupid f---ing call!" The post-obit week, when Rodgers walked into his private meeting with McCarthy, the caput omnibus had the circulate clip pulled up on the screen, ready to review and hash out. Early in Rodgers'due south career, McCarthy spent a lot of time coaching him to amend control his torso linguistic communication when he was frustrated. That mean solar day, they had something of a refresher course.
"When you are with somebody for and then long, y'all are going to have those small disagreements," offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga said subsequently the Packers' Week 10 win over Miami. "They both want what'southward best for the team. It's like arguments between family unit members, those things happen. It'south inevitable."
When Monday Night Football game fix up at Lambeau Field for the Packers' Week half dozen game against the 49ers, the crew saturday downwards with Rodgers and then McCarthy individually for production meetings the dark before. Sideline annotator Booger McFarland, a straight shooter, leaned back in his chair and asked Rodgers almost his relationship with McCarthy, and whether there were any issues between them.
Co-ordinate to McFarland and play-by-play commentator Joe Tessitore, Rodgers responded calmly. "There's a give and a accept. There'southward pushback, at that place'due south conflict," Rodgers said, according to Tessitore's notes. "Just the biggest affair is, at that place is resolution. We are closely connected on gameplan. We are fiery competitors and at that place is a lot of trust… We've evolved. He has, with the way he prepares. We used to spend iii hours every Thursday talking through the whole game programme. Now we've learned how to communicate better."
McFarland asked McCarthy the aforementioned question, and the coach was ready for it. "I want Aaron's input," McCarthy said, co-ordinate to Tessitore'due south notes. "I retrieve we take a skilful relationship. When he said the offense is terrible, to me I think that just represents his competitive spirit."
McFarland says he sensed something was off: "Possibly it'south their personalities, simply to me, I find it very [unusual] that you go two people who actually enjoy working together and enjoy being around each other, merely you tin't sense or see that [they exercise]. I didn't sense that from either Aaron or coach."
You lot don't have to look too far dorsum in Packers lore to notice how that tension tin help fuel greatness. Former Packers caput coach Mike Holmgren and quarterback Brett Favre were as well known for their fiery spats. Matt Hasselbeck was a backup quarterback in Green Bay from 1998 to 2000. He says that Holmgren would threaten to burn down Andy Reid, Favre'due south beloved quarterback coach at the time, whenever he felt the quarterback was stepping out of line. "If yous alter the play one more time, I will burn Andy Reid. Do you want him to be unemployed? It was a good way to reach Brett, quite honestly," Hasselbeck says. "Brett loved Andy, so information technology was like, No, annihilation only that! I think that kind of tension is fairly normal."
On Saturdays before games, McCarthy and Rodgers go over which plays Rodgers likes and wants to keep and which plays he wants cut from the game plan. Though the two meet individually three to iv times each week during the season, a source shut to the quarterback says that, because McCarthy has other duties as the head coach, he misses several offensive install meetings or quarterback meetings, a source of frustration for Rodgers because McCarthy volition add or change plays during the Saturday walkthroughs that mess with the established flow of the game plan.
Green Bay'southward No. ii quarterback, Kizer, and third string quarterback Tim Boyle, practice their all-time to patch up any disconnect during games. Equally part of their roles every bit backups, they are both working to improve in-game communication between the caput charabanc and the starter. Kizer and Boyle act as translators on the sideline, relaying checks Rodgers might brand that McCarthy doesn't take the bending to meet, or the jitney misses while looking at his play canvas. "We are kind of the liason from Aaron to Jitney McCarthy," Boyle says. "Our eyes are always on Aaron, seeing what he checks to, what he adjusts to, then when he comes back to the sideline we can relay that to Coach McCarthy."
Because Rodgers has so much freedom, McCarthy's frustration often comes from not knowing what check his quarterback went to and why. Kizer and Boyle have typically been in more conversations with Rodgers throughout the week, and sometimes explain his decisions to McCarthy in order to better fix future play calls. Early on in the 4th quarter in Detroit this season, the Packers criminal offense was running no huddle. Rodgers and Kizer had a few conversations on the sideline before the series about wanting to create matchup problems with Lions cornerback Darius Slay, bringing Adams inside, rather than lining him up exterior. The QBs decided on a series of three playcalls focused on Adams, having him run crossers or sit downwards in the flat to eventually prepare an out road that resulted in a reddish-zone touchdown. McCarthy wasn't part of those conversations, so the quarterbacks explained that series to him afterward.
BENOIT: Debunking the Myths of Mike McCarthy, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers Offense
Boyle doesn't dress for games. He stands near McCarthy on the sideline for most of the game and reviews pictures with him after every drive, while Kizer sits on the bench with Rodgers and quarterback motorbus Frank Cignetti Jr. "I'm trying to help him see what Aaron is seeing and improve that coordination," Boyle says. "Aaron is and so locked in, Double-decker McCarthy is so locked in, I'm kind of trying to help them communicate."
McCarthy is coaching his 13th season in Green Bay, which ties him with New Orleans' Sean Payton as the third-longest tenured of the 32 current NFL head coaches (backside New England'due south Beak Belichick and Cincinnati's Marvin Lewis). He survived the rocky transition from Favre to Rodgers. He'south taken the Packers to the playoffs nine times, including eight seasons in a row. He won a Super Basin. Is information technology enough to relieve his job if the Packers miss the playoffs for the 2nd flavour in a row? Nearly every source who participated in this story agreed: McCarthy'south time in Greenish Bay has probably run its course.
Several sources familiar with the inner workings of the organisation say that McCarthy hasn't done much to keep things fresh and change things up from season to flavor, other than making changes to the practise schedule based on role player input. McCarthy has tried some unconventional ideas occasionally, just they unremarkably don't stick. For example, one quondam player recalls the year in OTAs when, after a flavor in which the Packers didn't force many turnovers, McCarthy tested out a new drill where all 11 guys on defense had to touch the ball and accept a chop at the ball carrier on each play. This quickly turned into madness—the brawl carrier was held up at the line of scrimmage until every guy took his shot, or defensive linemen ran 70 yards downfield to get their shot.
McCarthy meets with every thespian on the roster for an exit interview earlier they caput home in June, but one source close to organization says near players don't feel comfortable going to McCarthy with problems during the flavour and instead wait until the leave interview—even if information technology's early on in the season and a potential flavor-long the issue could be resolved. A Packers spokesperson denies that McCarthy's door is airtight to players, and adds that for anyone who isn't comfortable going to McCarthy, the Packers have a players' council made up of a representative from each position grouping that meets with the manager of histrion development and can take things up the chain. McCarthy was never specially shut with players, but sources close to the organization say that as the culture grew more than uptight in Green Bay under Thompson, McCarthy became more closed off to players.
When quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt wasn't retained this past offseason, Rodgers took his displeasure public. "I thought that was an interesting change—really without consulting me," Rodgers said on ESPN's Golic and Wingo show during Super Bowl calendar week. "There'south a close connectedness between quarterback and quarterback coach. And that was an interesting determination."
Van Pelt has a history with McCarthy; he was a quarterback at University of Pittsburgh when McCarthy was a grad banana working with the QBs (1989-91). Van Pelt spent six years on McCarthy'due south Greenish Bay staff, the last four equally QBs coach, and he and Rodgers grew close. Rodgers would often go over to Van Pelt'south house for dinners with the Van Pelt family, the coach's wife and three kids.
Van Pelt (who declined an interview request for this story) turned downwards a contract extension from the Packers after the 2016 season, wanting to keep his options open up in hopes of landing a coordinator job (NFL teams tin block position coaches under contract from interviewing elsewhere). With Rodgers injured for virtually of 2017 and fill-in Brett Hundley unprepared to step in, the Packers had a downward yr and Van Pelt didn't land a coordinator chore. McCarthy chose to get in a different direction, hiring Cignetti, the Giants QBs bus the past two years, to the same position. One source close to Rodgers says the quarterback's relationship with Cignetti is nowhere near as shut equally information technology was with Van Pelt, who is now QBs coach for the Cincinnati Bengals.
When asked why they recollect Van Pelt is no longer in Greenish Bay, several sources close to the team say they believe, because Van Pelt had Rodgers's ear, McCarthy saw him as a threat.
"Which came showtime, the chicken or the egg? McCarthy wants credit for Aaron Rodgers, who he is," says a source familiar with the inner workings of the organization. "I think too many people take tried to say they created Aaron Rodgers."
The NFL is a copycat league, but teams rarely seem to exist lifting plays or concepts from Green Bay'southward offense. Withal, that'due south not necessarily an indictment of McCarthy. As one longtime NFL scout points out, "Aaron doesn't necessarily execute the offense, so it'south not all on coach. And so much of what [Rodgers] does is not the intended execution of the play, which is what makes him then adept and unsafe, simply their plays are not necessarily being executed as they are drawn upwards."
A DEEPER Expect AT A RODGERS Fault: He's the nearly talented QB of all-time, only Rodgers sometimes leaves throws on the field. Here'due south an case
The MMQB'south Andy Benoit made the point earlier this calendar week: Criticism of McCarthy's criminal offence equally stale no longer holds true. The Packers criminal offense has evolved in 2018, moving abroad from the spread formations and isolation routes that defined the system for years. In November, the Packers lined upwards in spread formations nearly one-half equally often equally they did in September, and condensed looks (a la Sean McVay's Rams offense, with receivers aligned tight to the formation) well-nigh three times as often as they did during the first month of the season. Those condensed formations lead to more naturally intertwined route combinations, create more traffic for defenders to work through, present more space to which receivers tin run their routes, and put receivers in amend position to cake on run plays.
Rodgers and McCarthy captured the Lombardi Bays in Rodgers' third flavor as a starter.
Perry Knotts/AP
The spread organisation played into Rodgers's strengths as a sandlot playmaker. Merely that mode of play requires tremendous chemistry between the quarterback and the other 10 players, who must have a similar "experience" for how whatever given play is developing and what their quarterback volition practise on the fly. The roster turnover made that nearly impossible to pull off in 2018. Jordy Nelson, long Rodgers's favorite target, was released in March, while Randall Cobb, the longest-tenured Packers receiver, has missed one-half this season with a hamstring injury and tertiary-yr receiver Geronimo Allison lasted just five games before going on injured reserve with a groin injury. Rookies Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown have been asked to take on significant roles alongside Adams and first-yr Packer Jimmy Graham. Valdes-Scantling and St. Dark-brown are too green to continue up with Rodgers's improvisational fashion, making a more than highly schemed arrangement a necessity. Though, judging from how the criminal offense has struggled to find its footing at times, the change might have been forced upon Rodgers and Co. earlier they were ready.
The defense force has battled injuries and inexperience as well. Gutekunst's large free-agent signing on that side of the ball, defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson, is out for the flavour with an ankle injury. The first-twelvemonth GM was aggressive at the merchandise deadline, but information technology was to assemble time to come assets rather than detect firsthand assistance. Along with sending struggling running back Ty Montgomery to the Ravens just days later on his costly kick render fumble against the Rams, Gutekunst dealt 5th-year condom Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, an impending free amanuensis who had played every snap for a secondary relying on first- and second-year players, to Washington for a draft pick. The Clinton-Dix trade sent mixed signals to the locker room, every bit information technology was seemingly a rebuilding move (though one that guaranteed Dark-green Bay an actress selection in the 2019 draft, rather than waiting for a compensation pick that might non come in 2020 if they are aggressive in costless agency this winter). Lately, the cornerbacking group has been ravaged past injuries, putting commencement-year defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, who prefers an aggressive human-to-man defense, in a demark.
It has likewise been a season of virtually-misses. A September meeting with the Vikings concluded in a tie in part because of a controversial roughing the passer penalisation on Clay Matthews, 1 that wouldn't have been called had it happened after September. Veteran kicker Stonemason Crosby missed 4 field goals and an extra signal—indoors—in a upset loss in Detroit. A potential comeback at Washington was foiled past another questionable roughing flag on Matthews. Back-to-back road losses to the Rams and Patriots turned on ill-timed fumbles. And head omnibus Mike McCarthy'due south overly conservative decision to punt on a fourth-and-2 late in Seattle toll them a risk to win despite a defence plagued past injuries at all iii levels, and a scheduling glitch that required them to travel two time zones and play a game on three days' residual.
"We haven't actually gotten to that betoken where we are clicking on all cylinders," says offensive lineman Lane Taylor. "When you lot look back at 'xvi, we went out there [in Week 12] to Philly and people didn't think we were going to win that game and we had that big play to Davante [Adams] for the touchdown and it kind of snowballed into success. In 'xiv, we had a good team and we played well all yr, really. This team, we play in spurts. Law-breaking will play good, defense will play proficient, special teams will play adept. It's frustrating because we haven't done it for threescore minutes."
The "big play to Davante" Taylor is referring to is Rodgers's perfect, tight-window throw to Adams, a 20-yard touchdown to give Green Bay the lead for practiced on that Mon night in Philly. It'south not only that the squad's play has been choppy; the galvanizing moment that sparks a big run only hasn't happened.
SI VAULT: 'Green and Golden.' The SI embrace story from Dark-green Bay'due south Super Bowl XLV victory.
Across talk radio and social media, McCarthy has been blamed for "wasting" Rodgers's career, as the Packers have racked up regular-flavor wins but but 1 Super Bowl since Rodgers took over as the starter in 2008, that lone championship coming eight seasons agone. Irish potato is the man with the power to decide McCarthy'southward future in Green Bay. He's said in the past that large decisions similar removing a coach would be a grouping decision, but ultimately, he is the 1 who has final say. He doesn't pay attention to any of the recent reports that McCarthy is on the hot seat. When pressed, Murphy says he's not thinking nearly making any changes right now. "We take a third of the season left to play," he says. "Nosotros're obviously not where we wanted to be, only I am focused on the last five games and I think nosotros tin stop the season stiff ... I think the continuity and stability has served us well. You lot encounter information technology across the league, I think you lot have to be conscientious non to make changes for changes' sake."
Reporters at Minnesota'south U.S. Depository financial institution Stadium are still prodding, trying to describe the right words out of Rodgers. They ask the same question once more and again, each time with a slightly different twist, each i a transparent endeavour to catalyst him into giving a passionate defense of his team, just like he's done when the Packers have been in similarly precarious positions in the past.
Practice you think the playoffs are still realistic?
Yous've been trying to observe that galvanizing moment for this team. Are y'all worried that moment might non come and if it comes, it might exist too late?
9-6-one. That gets you in?
What'due south the feeling been similar this flavour? Information technology seems like the playoffs are a reach right now.
"We're going to need some assist from some teams and and then we have to notice a way to win on the road," he says. "We're 0-vi on the road."
Rodgers pauses and looks downward. Then the speech of 2018 commences. "We've got to get back home, get some residuum, vanquish Arizona, and then come back and beat out Atlanta, and then become to Chicago, a identify where we've won a number of times, beat them, get to New York around Christmas, [break] beat them. And so come home against Detroit, [pause] shell them, get a little aid."
He held his final pause a crush longer than the rest, as a familiar glint flashed in his optics, a hint of a smile visible underneath his beard. Simply it was gone as quickly equally it came. There is nothing more than Aaron Rodgers can say.
• Question or comment? Email us at talkback@themmqb.com .
Source: https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/11/29/green-bay-packers-problems-aaron-rodgers-mike-mccarthy-ted-thompson