Packers, Aaron Rodgers Officially Out of Excuses After Loss to Colts

After Sunday's 31-26 not-as-close-as-it-looked loss to the Indianapolis Colts at Lambeau Field, the Green Bay Packers no longer get a pass. 

Have they been hit harder by the injury bug than most other teams? Sure. But their two-time MVP quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, remains healthy, as does his No. 1 receiver, Jordy Nelson. On Sunday, key offensive cogs Ty Montgomery and Randall Cobb returned from injuries. And in the comfort of their own home, the Packers fell victim to an equally injury-ravaged opponent.

No more excuses. They're out of mulligans. 

Every team is dealing with injuries. Good teams get past them, especially with quarterbacks like Rodgers, receivers like Nelson and weapons like Montgomery and Cobb.

That doesn't mean the Packers can't rebound. It doesn't mean they can't still win the NFC North, get to the Super Bowl and win a title. As long as Rodgers is under center and they're mathematically alive, that remains within the realm of possibility. With the division-leading Minnesota Vikings in a free-fall, the division is wide open. And even good teams lose three games in a four-week span, as the Packers now have.

But we can't assume that Green Bay will suddenly look like a Super Bowl-caliber team if/when six-time Pro Bowl linebacker Clay Matthews and/or Pro Bowl running back Eddie Lacy return from the injuries that have kept them out during the last two weeks. It's not a given that the Packers will abruptly begin to look like a contender with those guys, or with 30-year-old running back James Starks or No. 2 tight end Jared Cook, both of whom remained out of the lineup against Indianapolis.

Beyond that, they certainly miss cornerbacks Sam Shields and Damarious Randall, but the defense has surrendered 27 or fewer points in all but three of their eight games. Their pass defense, which still ranks in the middle of the pack league-wide, intercepted Colts quarterback Andrew Luck twice in the first quarter Sunday at Lambeau. 

By and large, the defense has given Rodgers and Co. plenty of chances to win. And yet the Packers have just two victories since the end of September. 

Injuries have never been an excuse for Mike McCarthy's club. In 2010, an advanced formula from Football Outsiders determined that injuries hit Green Bay harder than any other team in the NFC. That didn't stop the Packers from winning the Lombardi Trophy. And in 2012 and 2013 combined, only the New York Giants had more adjusted games lost than the Packers, but Green Bay managed to win the NFC North both years.

Season	Adjusted games lost (rank)	Result
2010	86.3 (3rd)	Won Super Bowl
2012	108.1 (1st)	Won division
2013	104.5 (3rd)	Won division
2016	N/A but a lot	Third place (4-4)

Matthews missed nine combined games in 2012 and 2013, but the Packers lost just two of those games. They have just as many losses without him in three games this season. And they were 3-1 in games that Lacy didn't play last season, but they've now lost two of three without him in 2016. 

If the 2016 Packers were built to break without the unreliable Lacy, the injury-prone Matthews or the aging Starks, they weren't realistically built for success. 

Would they have beaten the Colts had Lacy, Matthews, Starks, Cobb, Cook, Shields, Randall and Rollins each been healthy? Maybe. But if we're erasing all injuries, we'd have to give Mike Adams, Henry Anderson, Trent Cole, Kendall Langford, Hugh Thornton and Jack Mewhort back to Indianapolis. If we allow Cobb and Montgomery to be 100 percent, then T.Y. Hilton and Vontae Davis must receive the same benefit.  

Go back in time 12 hours, wave a magic wand and make all of those guys healthy. Do the Packers beat the Colts? There's no guarantee, considering how one-sided things were for the majority of Sunday's affair. Both teams were severely depleted, and yet the Colts led by a double-digit margin for two-thirds of the afternoon. On the road, no less.

Look around the league.

The New England Patriots didn't have future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady and stalwart pass-rusher Rob Ninkovich for four of their first eight games. All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski was also injured early, and they're without strong right tackle Sebastian Vollmer. Despite all of that, the Patriots are 7-1. 

No excuses. 

The Vikings have been without young stud quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, future Hall of Fame running back Adrian Peterson and starting offensive tackles Matt Kalil and Andre Smith for nearly the entire season. While they're sliding now, the Vikes started 5-0 and remain atop the NFC North. 

No hay excusas.

Injured Seattle Seahawks star quarterback Russell Wilson can barely stand, let alone run. Safety Kam Chancellor, running back Thomas Rawls and tight end Jimmy Graham have been hurt, and the Seattle offensive line is a mess. But the 4-2-1 Seahawks lead the NFC West.

Pas d'excuses.

About half of the Dallas Cowboys defense was suspended in September. The offense is relying on rookies at quarterback and running back, and star wide receiver Dez Bryant missed four games. That pristine offensive line lost La'el Collins and was without All-Pro Tyron Smith for a few weeks. Regardless, the Cowboys lead the NFC East with a 7-1 record. 

Sem desculpas. 

Reigning Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt is out for the year in Houston, and the Texans are also without preseason starting center Nick Martin. Pro Bowl left tackle Duane Brown missed the first four weeks of the season and hasn't been himself since returning, and talented corner Kevin Johnson is on injured reserve with a broken foot. Still, the Texans lead the AFC South with a 5-3 record. 

You get the point. 

The Packers could be healthier, but injuries aren't an excuse for their 4-4 start. Rodgers hasn't received enough help from his personnel and his coaches, and he hasn't been consistent. He entered the weekend with the fourth-lowest qualified yards-per-attempt average in the league, he's had a sub-75 passer rating in a quarter of his performances, and he had a killer second-half interception on Sunday. 

The defense often disappears in key moments, and the offense often fails to capitalize on takeaways.

This isn't a great team made good by tough luck with injuries. This, right now, is a so-so team turned mediocre by said injuries. 

Now, with the bye week out of the way and three consecutive tough road games coming against the Tennessee Titans, Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles, the Packers will have to find a way to click regardless of who or what is missing.

If that doesn't happen, they'll fall short of a division championship for the second consecutive year. And they'll have nobody to blame for that but themselves. 

Not even the injury gods. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon