Why they lost: The Green Bay Packers drop the NFC North crown to Minnesota
By Kenn Korb
The drops
I could talk all day about the issues with separation in coverage — and I have done so way too often for my taste already this year — but that isn’t my biggest issue with the receivers.
It is the drops.
On the season, Aaron Rodgers has had his receivers drop 23 passes (10th among QBs, according to Sporting Charts). That reared its ugly head again on multiple occasions.
Randall Cobb and James Jones each dropped a couple for sure, and there were surely more I’m not remembering off-hand.
Every time it happened was literally deflating; I let out more depressing sighs than I can remember, and they got stronger with each instance. I know it wasn’t only me either; whatever I was feeling had to be hitting the players even worse.
To be succinct, drops just suck the life out of a team.
And.
They.
Kept.
Happening.
Plenty of them were on catchable passes, too. I saw passes dropped by open players, by guys in space, and even with good placement.
It is one thing to not get open — the guys playing against them are also athletes and tend to have some level of speed; while this part is frustrating to watch, it is understandable to some degree.
To have guys blatantly drop the ball as often as these guys have consistently done ruins what few chances they actually do manufacture out there.
Catch.
The.
Damn.
Ball.
Next: Rodgers' Fumble