Packers should reevaluate Ted Thompson’s standing with team

Sunday night’s loss in Atlanta might just be one game, but the result was significantly more telling than you might realize.

The Green Bay Packers are 1-1. Their Week 2 loss to the Atlanta Falcons was humiliating, as the team has now been outscored 78-44 in their last two meetings with the reigning NFC Champions. Green Bay is once again one of the popular picks to appear in the Super Bowl, but the certainty of that claim is becoming increasingly questionable.

Why is this? It’s not because the Packers were outclassed yet again by the superior Falcons. It’s not because Mike McCarthy was once again out-coached by Dan Quinn. It’s not that the Packers can’t seem to find an answer for Julio Jones.

In other words, it has absolutely nothing to do with this season. The loss on Sunday night was a fairly telling sign of where the Packers are with their current regime of Aaron Rodgers, McCarthy, and general manager Ted Thompson.

Frequently in sports, a team that was run out of the building in an important postseason game itches for the rematch with that particular opponent. After losing to Atlanta in the regular season, the Packers were beaten thoroughly by the explosive Falcons 44-21 in the NFC Championship game.

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So what better opportunity for the Packers than to go back to Atlanta, early in the season, in primetime, and get back at their rival? Lacking any fire or emotion, the Packers were again blown out by Atlanta. This loss is a terrible look for the team for several different reasons.

While many should justifiably be questioning McCarthy’s motivational skills and wondering if his message is beginning to grow stale, the real problem lies upstairs, in a box, frequently with a diet coke next to it.

Ted Thompson is a mystifying man. Almost as allergic to the media as Marshawn Lynch, the enigmatic general manager drafts his scouted prospects, frustrates and confuses fans by insisting on his out-of-date philosophies, and then lets McCarthy deal with the media backlash.

The personnel decisions have become more and more bewildering over time. Almost every Super Bowl champion in the last 15 years has boasted a supporting cast around their star quarterback that Aaron Rodgers just hasn’t, and will never have.

The Patriots have dominated the NFL over the last decade and a half with five Super Bowl titles. But make no mistake, Tom Brady isn’t the only reason they’ve been so consistent. Impactful, thorough, and timely moves have made them the team to fear in the NFL every year.

While the Packers relaxed and counted on the development of their late round draft picks, Patriots coach Bill Belichick paid up for Wes Welker, who became a key player in their incredible success throughout the 2000’s.

While Brett Favre expressed interest in playing with future Hall-of-Famer Randy Moss in Green Bay, Thompson passed on the chance to put one of the all-time great receivers on his offense while clearly in a win-now situation.

While Belichick handed Darrelle Revis a substantial chunk of money in free agency, the Packers sat back and watched.

Instead of using the most amount of cap space in the NFL that season on one of the league’s top defensive players, the Packers wound up with Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins through the following year’s draft, now ranked 107 and 101 at their positions out of 110 according to Pro Football Focus.

The problem is, when your GM refuses to pay for anyone on the open market and insists he can solve his team’s problems through the draft, you better make sure your draft classes are panning out.

That has been anything but the case in Green Bay. Since 2010, the Packers have had one of the lowest success rates in the NFL draft and that is beginning to manifest itself more and more on the field each year. A quick evaluation of the roster shows exactly where the Packers stand position by position.

Obviously, any other team would deflate footballs, pump in artificial crowd noise, and spy on their opponents to have the kind of quarterback situation Green Bay has. But outside of that, the Packers are pretty pedestrian across the board.

There is absolutely no reason that a team with the kind of passing ability of Aaron Rodgers should be this uncertain at running back. Their starter is a wide receiver picked in the third round of the 2015 draft who hasn’t played the position since high school.

His backups are a fourth-round pick who didn’t exactly face the toughest competition at BYU, a fifth-rounder who ran a 4.56 at the combine and a seventh-round selection.

At receiver, Green Bay has an aging Jordy Nelson, a banged up Randall Cobb and an unproven Davante Adams. This is one of the stronger positions on the roster, but it is not quite as dominant as it once was.

At tight end, Green Bay is pretty solid. Martellus Bennett, Lance Kendricks and Richard Rodgers form a talented group of tight ends who can help this team in the suspect running game.

While the starters along the offensive line do the job well, the Packers have had the same recurring problem over and over again every year. The lack of depth, particularly at tackle, is a situation that somehow still hasn’t been improved since Thompson took over 12 years ago.

The injury-prone Bryan Bulaga needs capable backups in the event that he gets hurt. Bulaga has only suited up for an entire 16-game season twice in seven years. Reserves Jason Spriggs, Kyle Murphy, and Justin McCray aren’t getting the job done at all.

Defensively, the highest the Packers have ranked in total defense since their Super Bowl win is 11th. The defensive line features a “star” in Mike Daniels. Widely considered the best defensive lineman on the team, Daniels hasn’t made a Pro Bowl or an All-Pro team, and has never led the team in tackles since he was drafted out of Iowa.

Next to him is a fourth-round pick from Northwestern and a defensive tackle who arrived only a week ago.

The linebackers are especially porous. The 3-4 defense requires having linebackers who can cover large portions of the field. In other words, you need linebackers with athleticism.

Blake Martinez is ranked 32nd in the NFL by PFF, and fellow fourth-round pick Jake Ryan is a total liability against the pass.

The secondary is the worst unit on the team. As mentioned earlier, cornerbacks Randall and Rollins have struggled. Davon House, who returned during the offseason on a one-year contract was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars, which is all you need to know there.

The safety position is strong for the Packers. While Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix is a bit overrated across NFL circles, he was named to his first Pro Bowl last season, albeit an alternate. Morgan Burnett has been a consistent contributor on the back end. High draft pick Josh Jones is promising while Kentrell Brice and Marwin Evans were preseason stars.

Overall, the Packers are a team with the best quarterback in the NFL, a solid group of tight ends and offensive tackles, and good safeties. Thompson has built a successful run in Green Bay, but the team has not been as successful as it could have been due to his lack of urgency, stubbornness, and unwillingness to evolve.

Sunday night in Atlanta was more than just a regular season loss. It was a microcosm of the larger issues that continue to end the Packers’ run in the playoffs year after year. Predictable offensive game-planning combined with little to no balance and a terrible defense are what has made this Packers team less powerful than you would imagine considering who their quarterback is.

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The clock is ticking on the Packers. Aaron Rodgers will turn 34 later this season and his rare athleticism will only begin to diminish over time. The Packers window is beginning to close, and before too long the team must evolve and change its managerial style in order to get the Lombardi Trophy back home, where it all started on Jan. 15, 1967.