The Green Bay Packers made a desperate move to try and save their season and it failed miserably. Now they look like fools for rushing Aaron Rodgers back from a broken collarbone and then promptly shutting him down after losing to the Panthers.
If he was OK to play last week and didn’t suffer an injury how is he not good to go this week? The only difference is they are now eliminated from the playoffs. The smart play would have been to not bring him back at all. The chances of making the playoffs were slim, backup Brett Hundley had won his last two starts and was getting better each week. Why not just ride that out and let the chips fall as they may?
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The Packers dodged a bullet when Rodgers survived the game unscathed despite taking several hits. The fact is, Rodgers looked like he hadn’t played football in nine weeks. With the CBA’s restrictions on practicing how on earth can a guy get ready to go in two weeks? As we found out Sunday, they can’t. Rodgers threw three TD passes but also had three horrible interceptions and barely completed 50% of his passes. Hundley could have done that.
And either head coach Mike McCarthy decided to abandon the run game or Rodgers changed the play at the line. After carrying the offense for the last few weeks Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams carried just 13 times. McCarthy didn’t have a plan for incorporating Rodgers and the newfound running together.
So now the Packers are playing for pride. Would it have been different with Hundley playing last Sunday? Probably won’t have been much worse, not with the Packers’ woeful defense. Is shutting down Rodgers the right thing to do? Yes it is. Way to risky now with nothing to play for.
I bet the decisions made in this process are going to be under greater scrutiny in the coming weeks. Some heads may be a rollin’.