Green Bay Packers: What Went Wrong at End of Magical 15-1 Regular Season?

When a team wins 15 regular season games, there is no excuse for immediately losing in the playoffs.

The Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl a year ago, so regular season accolades mean very little. The players, coaches and fans should not be satisfied with the season, despite winning the first 13 games.

All that matters is finding out what went wrong and how to improve upon those things for 2012. 

The New York Giants highlighted some Packer weaknesses in their divisional round victory, but if Green Bay can improve next season they will be tough to beat.

Cannot Stop the Pass

Throughout the regular season, the Green Bay Packers had the worst passing defense in the NFL, giving up 300 yards per game through the air.

They had been able to mask this deficiency with interceptions, leading the NFL with 31. 

In the loss to the New York Giants, Eli Manning was careful with the football and only threw one interception. He carried the team to victory with a 114.5 quarterback rating.

Green Bay can be successful winning with this type of defense against lesser opponents, but teams get better in the playoffs. If the Packers want to win another Super Bowl, they will need to fix the pass defense immediately.

Unable to Run the Football

The NFL has moved away from a running league to a passing league, but it is still important to have some ability to move the football on the ground.

Other than Aaron Rodgers scrambling, the Green Bay Packers had little success running the football.

Green Bay did not have a single 100-yard performance this season, which is surprising considering how often the team was trying to conserve big leads.

Against the New York Giants, the Packers abandoned the run once they fell behind. They were forced into third-and-long attempts for the rest of the game.

Even if the team does not acquire a top running back, they still need someone who is able to get the tough yards when the passing game is not flowing.

Poor Pass Protection

Despite having a mobile quarterback behind center, the Green Bay Packers gave up a lot of sacks this season.

The team finished with 41 sacks allowed. Comparatively, the New York Giants only let their opponents get to the quarterback 28 times.

New York's strong pass-rush exploited the Packers' weak protection.

Michael Boley and Osi Umenyiora each got two sacks on Aaron Rodgers, including one that caused a fumble deep in Giants territory.

Rodgers did a great job scrambling in the playoff game, but he should not need to be on the move that often. The offensive line needs to be able to protect its franchise quarterback.

Could Not Get to the Quarterback

Not only did the offensive line struggle against the New York Giants, but the defensive line failed to perform as well.

B.J. Raji is good at stopping the run, but the Green Bay Packers need players that can put pressure on the opposing quarterback.

Part of the reason that the Packers cannot defend the pass is that the quarterback has plenty of time in the pocket to dissect the defense. The team totaled only 29 sacks this season, ahead of only Tennessee and Tampa Bay.

The biggest culprit is Clay Matthews, who had only six sacks this season after 23.5 in his first two seasons.

If he cannot regain his form, Green Bay better address this problem in the draft or free agency.

Turnovers

This was not too much of a problem throughout the regular season, but the turnover differential illustrates how a couple of bad bounces can ruin a great year.

Against the New York Giants, the Green Bay Packers lost four turnovers. This is surprising for a team that averaged less than one per game this season.

Aaron Rodgers, Ryan Grant and John Kuhn (who combined for one fumble during the regular season) each lost the ball in the playoff loss. This might have been the difference.

Since 2007, the team in the divisional round that wins the turnover battle is 17-3. 

Too Much Reliance on Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers is a great quarterback, possibly the best in football right now. 

However he is not perfect, and the Green Bay Packers needed him close to perfect in order to win this season.

With a poor defense and a non-existent running game, Green Bay was entirely dependent on a great game from the quarterback to win.

In only two games this season did Rodgers have a lower quarterback rating than 96.7. Those games happened to be the only two losses of the season–Week 15 to the Kansas City Chiefs and in the playoffs to the New York Giants.

In the one game that Aaron Rodgers did not play, Green Bay would not have won without an incredible effort from backup Matt Flynn. 

It is difficult for any team to win when the quarterback is not playing well, but a good team should be able to steal a few victories with at least an average performance (Rodgers was still well above average according to QBR). 

Rodgers is elite, but he needs the rest of his team to step up if they want to avoid future playoff losses.