It was a blown opportunity that will come to define

the underperformance of the Packers in the McCarthy era. Recent reporting suggests that was when Rodgers fully lost faith in his coach. His performance and his numbers bear that out."“It’s going to be a missed opportunity we’ll probably think about the rest of my career.”That was Aaron Rodgers after an ultra-conservative offensive gameplan and myriad special teams miscues cost the Green Bay Packers a trip to the Super Bowl in 2015. Despite locking down Russell Wilson and forcing him into four interceptions on the road in Seattle Aaron Rodgers Jersey , the Packers couldn’t muster much of an offensive attack thanks in large part to Mike McCarthy’s insistence on playing not to lose. “At times, we just weren’t playing, we weren’t playing as aggressive as we usually are,” Rodgers told the media after the game, alluding to a pair of field goals inside the five-yardline and a reluctance to pass the ball to try and score. When asked to elaborate, he quickly replied, “No, I can’t.” He couldn’t because doing so would undercut his coach, the man responsible for calling plays, likewise responsible for that lack of aggressiveness. But for a guy who had been MVP two of the last four seasons, he couldn’t throw his coach under the proverbial bus after the game. He’d have to wait at least a few years to do that. Bleacher Report’s massive story on the fracture between Rodgers and McCarthy points to this game as the undoing of the duo. In an interview on Locked on Packers, the story’s author, Tyler Dunne, specifically mentions it as a potential touchstone for the moment Rodgers lost faith in McCarthy.Looking back, this shouldn’t be surprising. Most trace the offensive struggles of 2015 back to McCarthy giving up playcalling duties, the injury to Jordy Nelson Clay Matthews Jersey , and Davante Adams simply not being healthy enough or prepared enough to assume the go-to role in this offense. But in the context of this reporting, it might be time to add an essential factor: Rodgers lost faith in the system. He lost faith in McCarthy. The other factors hold true. The coach never evolved the offense post-Nelson, whose athleticism was never the same. Randall Cobb and Adams weren’t healthy or capable of shouldering the burden of the passing offense, and Eddie Lacy’s weight got out of hand. But the bad habits, the hero ball, the happy feet, that all may have been avoided if Rodgers still believed in in the system and in his coach. In that 2015 season that followed this loss, Rodgers completed a career low 60.7 percent of his passes with another career low in per attempt average. In fact, his four lowest seasons in yards per attempt are the last four. Running the table papered over the continued struggles of the offense in 2016, even with Nelson back in the fold. Rodgers led the league in touchdown passes, but other than 2015, it was his worst season by quarterback rating since he took over the starting job. Sandlot plays became more frequent, with Rodgers hoping to spin out of the pocket and make some miracle second-reaction play. The extreme version of that cropped up this past season when he exploded the record for throw-aways. Even before the collarbone injury in 2017, when Rodgers engineered a pair of brilliant late rallies, the offense overall was sputtering. His 7.0 per attempt average is the second-worst number of his career, and the offense could best be described as “Get open.” And the run game? LOL. The what?There had been previous Mike Daniels Jersey , more complicated explanations for why Rodgers’ mechanics fell off, why he played so often outside the structure of the offense, and why the run game fell to the wayside. In light of the obvious power struggle that’s been reported multiple times by respectable journalists and journalistic outlets, it’s becoming time to change our perspective. If Rodgers was trying to win games by himself, that’s a much simpler explanation than the ones previously being offered. That’s not to say there weren’t other factors. Clearly there were. It’s true Adams wasn’t ready for the lead role in 2015 and an ankle injury dogged him all season. Lacy really did balloon up to the point he was out of football in a few seasons. And McCarthy’s offense truly did stagnate. As Ryan Grant mentions in the B/R piece, it was an offense that worked beautifully when the team had a loaded roster, but when the talent level dropped, McCarthy never adjusted with it. We knew those parts without having to see them reported. Missing checkdowns, changing plays, ignoring playcalls, and missing throws; it was all part of the degradation of the relationship the quarterback had with his coach.Rodgers was at his best playing within the system. It was true at Cal and then again early in his career with the Packers under McCarthy’s tutelage. Rodgers’ suis generis ability to make plays off script always functioned best as a complement to what he did within the confines of the offense itself. It was never meant to become the offense. He tried to turn the offense into just that part, to improv his way to wins. With rookie receivers and an unwilling body, that just couldn’t happen. The fate of the final chapter of Rodgers’ career rests on his willingness to re-acclimatize to a system. Since 2014, he hasn’t had faith in the one in Green Bay. Starting in 2019, that has to change. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The final weekend of November has arrived, with this Green Bay-Minnesota game predictably carrying plenty of weight toward the race for the NFC playoffs.The twist Jaire Alexander Jersey , though, is the Packers and Vikings are stuck in the thick of the wild-card mix. The Bears, having beaten the Vikings last week, are the team with a healthy lead in the NFC North, which has been won only by Green Bay (five) or Minnesota (two) since Chicago’s last division title in 2010.“I definitely didn’t expect to be sitting where we’re sitting, but our record is what it is,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “Obviously, Minnesota has a strong team. They’re probably surprised where they’re sitting as well. So I don’t think either of us is out of the division race.”Both the Packers (4-5-1) and Vikings (5-4-1) have one more game remaining against the Bears (8-3), but they’re each lugging that 29-all tie in Green Bay on Sept. 16 down the stretch like a back tire that’s low on air.“Maybe it will help us, and maybe it’ll hurt us, too,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “I don’t really know.”The Packers will play three of their final five games at home, which is helpful because they’ve yet to win on the road this year. They’ll have a more-mobile Rodgers than in their last matchup with the Vikings, when he was grinding through a knee injury.“He looks like his old self, unfortunately,” Zimmer said.If the Vikings beat the Packers at home for the third straight time Kingsley Keke Green Bay Packers Jersey , they’ll at least own a tiebreaker over their biggest rival. They’d still be 1½ games behind the Bears, though, with a difficult stretch of the schedule ahead.“We’ll definitely have to play four quarters,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said, “and maybe more than that.”Here are some other key angles to follow with the game:NOT-SO-PRIME TIMEThe Vikings are playing in the NFL’s premier Sunday night slot for the second straight week, triggering a magnification of their struggles with the bright lights on this season. They’ve lost all three of their night games, in Los Angeles to the Rams on Sept. 27, at home against the New Orleans Saints on Oct. 28. and at Chicago last week. The Rams, Saints and Bears boast the top three records in the NFC, a combined 28-5.“I guess we’re just playing good teams,” Zimmer said. “That might be the real factor.”Cousins has a 4-12 career record as a starter when kickoff is in the evening, though he has a 68 percent completion rate with 31 touchdowns and 16 interceptions and an average of 305 passing yards in those 16 games.“It gets a little bit convoluted when you try to look at a stat and pair it with a player,” Cousins said. “It becomes maybe a bigger, more complicated picture than just a win-loss record and trying to judge performance.”THIRD DOWNERSThe Packers are 19th in the NFL with a 38 percent conversion rate on third down. They’re up against a Vikings defense that leads the league on third downs, allowing the chains to move only 28 percent of the time.One problem for the Packers has been the absence of wide receiver Randall Cobb, long one of Rodgers’ most reliable options. He has missed half of Green Bay’s games with a hamstring injury Kingsley Keke Jersey 2019 , including the last two contests, but he could return to action Sunday.SACKMASTER FACKRELLOutside linebacker Nick Perry missed Green Bay’s last game at Seattle, but third-year backup Kyler Fackrell made his absence moot with three sacks, his second such performance this season. Fackrell has eight sacks this year, more than starters Perry and Clay Matthews combined.“The more you play, the more you get comfortable with it, the less encumbered you are with the thinking part,” defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said.JONESING FOR THE BALLPackers running back Aaron Jones didn’t play against the Vikings earlier this season because of a suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. Jones has 342 rushing yards and four touchdowns over the last four games, plus 12 receptions for 100 yards and a score. He’s the league leader in yards per rush with an average of 6.4.HELP FROM HARRISVikings safety Andrew Sendejo will miss his sixth straight game because of a groin injury, but Anthony Harris has capably filled in as the starter in the previous two games. He had two interceptions against the Bears.“I’m just coming in each day preparing like I’m going to be out there every snap and just trying to take advantage of any opportunities given,” Harris said. “So each year, I’ve just been trying to take strides in getting better and increase my role and help this team win.”Harris signed with the Vikings in 2015 as undrafted rookie out of Virginia. Zimmer praised his progress with becoming more of a physical player as well as gaining a better understanding of the system.“I just think confidence,” Zimmer said. “You know, he sees things and reacts. He’s a good visual player, I think. He’s very smart.”