Zone Read the Cause of Green Bay's Defensive Meltdown Late vs. Seahawks

It's no secret that the Green Bay Packers have struggled with the zone-read play since it came to the NFL via college football. The option run essentially turns rushing the ball from a 10 on 11 game offensively to 11 on 11, nearly an impossibility to cover defensively.

In the previous two postseasons, defensive coordinator Dom Capers and Co. had lost 23-20 and 54-31 to the San Francisco 49ers, a team known to feature the play. Against the Seattle Seahawks in this year's regular season, the Packers lost 36-16, easily one of their two worst losses, if not the worst, between their four in 2014.

So, heading back to Seattle, it seemed pretty evident that the squad needed to prove to the Seahawks and themselves that they could finally scheme around to slow down an option offense.

Up 16 points at halftime and 12 in the fourth quarter, it really did look like Green Bay was going to pull away with a historic win for the franchise, sending the Mike McCarthy, Ted Thompson and Aaron Rodgers era squad to the Super Bowl for the second time.

Unfortunately for them, the Seahawks went into overdrive during the second half of the fourth quarter. An outside observer might just guess "something clicked," but the stats tell a much different story. As clear as day, ESPN Stats & Info threw out the game's zone-read splits:

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Seahawks Zone Read Rushing 1st 3 Qtrs: 7 rush, 28 yards 4th Qtr: 8 rush, 85 yards, 2 TD

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 18, 2015

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Averaging over 10 yards per carry and netting their two regulation offensive touchdowns with the option, it's more than fair to say that the Packers' Achilles' heel once again showed it's ugly head.

It took until 2:09 was left on the clock in the fourth quarter for Seattle to score their first offensive points, with their first touchdown coming off a fake field goal. By that point, though, all of the momentum was rocking toward the side of the home team, despite being down multiple scores.

Oddly enough, when a team is able to run down the throat of their opponent, momentum shifts and they feel dominant.

Green Bay running back Eddie Lacy, the 2013 Offensive Rookie of the Year, had 10 carries in the first quarter, for example. By the end of those 15 minutes, the Packers held a 13-0 lead.

Entering the fourth quarter up nine, McCarthy only called four rushes for the Alabama product in the final 15 minutes of regulation, which would be the last time Green Bay saw the ball, as they never got to touch it in overtime before Seattle connected on a 35-yard walk-off touchdown to etch in stone the 28-22 win.

One has to wonder when this team is going to finally put it all together again. With missed scoring opportunities early, the defense really carried the team throughout most of the game. In the last five or so minutes, they couldn't anymore, putting everything on the shoulders of Aaron Rodgers, who finished with a 55.8 passer rating, his second-worst of the 2014-15 season.

When tight end Brandon Bostick dropped the ball on an onside kick-recovery attempt, all felt loss. The team hung around for a while, but overtime was the dagger.

Watching this team since their Super Bowl run of 2010-11, the same issues seem to keep popping up.

Randall Cobb replaces Greg Jennings; Ha Ha Clinton-Dix replaces Nick Collins; and Eddie Lacy replaces Ryan Grant, but the team doesn't really change. After earning a ring under the same blueprint, it seems like the powers that be don't think there's anything worthy of changing. Reloaded are the talents on the team, but rarely do they bring something to the table someone else once didn't.

The 2014 Green Bay Packers season ended due to their inability to stop a play that's been used at the college level for a decade. Just like in 2013. And in 2012.

Overall, the decision-makers need to do something to fix the issue. If there's no adjustment for losing a season in the exact same way three years in a row, while a quarterback is on one of the hottest streaks anyone's ever seen from the most important position in the sport, maybe it'll never change. Currently, Packers football is a flat circle.