For Second Straight Week, Late Heroics Cannot Fix What Ails Packers Offense

It was a shot at redemption.

After the Green Bay Packers' heroic late comeback against the Carolina Panthers in Week 9 failed when Aaron Rodgers couldn't connect with a wide-open Randall Cobb in the end zone and threw a pick, the Packers found themselves, once again, gaining ground fast on the Detroit Lions. 

Though Green Bay had fallen into a 12-3 hole by the start of the fourth quarter, like it did against Carolina the week before, the offense started clicking. 

The Packers increased their tempo—and with it, their production and accuracy—resulting in two back-to-back touchdown drives. 

The first—an 11-play, 78-yard drive beginning five minutes into the fourth quarter—saw Rodgers go 7-of-10 for 73 yards and a four-yard touchdown completion to tight end Richard Rodgers. 

Green Bay operated almost exclusively out of the no-huddle on that drive. 

On the next offensive series, the Packers, down by eight points, were at it again. Running the shotgun formation and mostly going no-huddle, Green Bay used eight plays to get 73 yards downfield. 

Though the drive was nearly derailed by what was initially called a James Starks fumble on the first play, the ruling was reversed and Rodgers went to Starks on the very next play, resulting in a four-yard gain. 

This drive was all about the tight ends. Rodgers connected with Justin Perillo for 12 yards on 1st-and-10 at midfield to earn a first down, and later with Richard Rodgers to convert 3rd-and-1 at the Detroit 29. 

With only 32 seconds to go, Perillo capped the drive off in extraordinary fashion, connecting with Rodgers on an 11-yard touchdown reception. But when the moment of truth came—the two-point conversion attempt—Rodgers couldn't connect with Davante Adams. 

Amazingly, it still wasn't over. The Packers recovered an onside kick and got Mason Crosby into field-goal range. But Crosby muffed the kick, and the comeback slipped away. 

Don't blame Crosby. Sure, he had a chance to right all the offense's wrongs in this game, but the offense should have played better. 

These late-game surges don't earn the Packers credit, but rather make the rest of the games—in which the offense looks off at best and anemic at worst—all the more confounding. 

Why can't the Packers start off up-tempo, convert third downs and score touchdowns early on? Why is it that it takes a multiple-score deficit to light a fire under this unit?

The Packers have not lost three consecutive games that Rodgers has started since 2008. 

Acccording to ESPN Stats & Information, the Packers' eight-game win streak at home was also the longest in the league, until it ended Sunday.

No matter how off the Packers have looked this season, there were always certain truths that seemed immutable. They would play better at home. They could get back on track with wins over Detroit and Chicago.

Now, everything is in question.  

This goes beyond missing Jordy Nelson, Eddie Lacy's poor year and a questionable offensive line. The product the Packers have put on the field over the last 12 quarters of football represents a total systemic failure, from the top down. 

Associate head coach Tom Clements' play-calling has been ineffective. Head coach Mike McCarthy's in-game adjustments have not worked. Rodgers has been inaccurate. Receivers are dropping the ball, quite literally. The running backs can't move the chains. 

It's not just on offense, either. The defense has not been able to get a sack on an opposing quarterback for three weeks in a row, after being near the top of the league in that category before the bye.

But no one came into this season expecting the Packers defense to play lights-out. And the unit did its job against Detroit, giving the Packers multiple opportunities.

The offense, on the other hand, was supposed to carry this team into the playoffs. Now the Packers might have to fight for a wild card. 

However, the season is not over. And if drastic changes are what it takes to reinvigorate this unit, why not try? 

Last week after the loss to Carolina, McCarthy said that the play-calling duties would remain with Clements. 

"I'm as involved in the offense and defense and special teams as I can be," McCarthy said, per ESPN's Rob Demovsky. "I watch more film and keep doing what I'm doing. My job responsibility, job descriptions have been defined. And that’s not going to change."

But McCarthy was clear during the offseason that he was handing off play-calling duties so that he could spend more time with the defense and special teams units, which struggled in 2014. 

Those units have improved this season, and much of that may be due to the fact that McCarthy is freed of having to call plays during the games. But the offense has taken a nosedive, and it's not entirely on the players. 

3rd Down Conversion	Rank	Three-and-Out Drives	Rank	Yards/Game	Rank
34.07%	27th	40%	32nd	340.9	25th

Sure, Rodgers has been uncharacteristically inaccurate, completing just 57 percent of his passes (on 61 attempts) against Detroit. And the receivers have hurt their own cause, too: Randall Cobb's drop early in the first quarter resulted in a punt when the team could have otherwise scored. 

But there have been enough glimmers of success when everything is clicking for the unit, such as in the last two weeks' comeback attempts, to suggest that there is enough talent here to perform drastically better than what we are seeing. 

And the onus for that has to be placed somewhat on the play-calling. 

Rodgers called the late comeback against Carolina "school-yard ball," per Demovsky, suggesting that the quarterback called some of the plays on that drive.

The Packers played that same style of ball late in the game against the Lions, and indeed this offense seems to work best when the tempo is up, Rodgers is involved and there's not a lot of room or time for overthinking. 

The Packers don't need Nelson to reach the playoffs. But they do need play-calling and game plans that allow the weapons they do have to be successful.