Top five performers for Packers in Week 12 loss vs. Vikings
By Jesse Fry
The Green Bay Packers’ top five performers in their Week 12 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
A 4-6-1 record, that’s a tough pill to swallow. Though mathematically still in the hunt, this team is all but eliminated.
In what has become the identity of this team, the Packers played well in the first half and lackluster in the second half.
It seems after the Packers’ first 15 scripted plays, they can’t adjust to the other team’s adjustments. The league has clearly caught up to coach Mike McCarthy. And unlike other coaches in the league, McCarthy has not evolved.
Granted the second half was filled with lineup shuffling due to injury on offense. An already banged up unit was being held together by second-stringers along the line as well as at receiver.
On defense Kentrell Brice was being evaluated for a concussion and would not return. Special teams were not exempt from injury, as returner Trevor Davis left with a hamstring injury.
But this is still a team with a two-time MVP at quarterback, a transcendent player who tilts the field in his team’s favor. They should be able to overcome injuries to role players as long as he’s healthy. Except Rodgers has not played up to the standard and level he set for himself in sometime.
The Packers followed the same recipe they have all season on the road in this loss. Play tough in the first half, come out flat in the second, play horribly on third down, special teams gaffs and then have a turnover at the worst possible time.
The perfect microcosm of the Packers this season played out during the final five minutes left in the game. The defense played just well enough to force a punt, Tramon Williams has the ball glance off him and the Vikings recover.
The Packers do just enough again to have a chance, then after Rodgers marches the team into the red zone, he throws a pass that is just out of the reach of a wide-open Davante Adams and the team falls short.
In his post-game press conference, Rodgers gave a blueprint of how the Packers can still make the playoffs, win out and hope for help, but with two more road games does anyone actually believe that will happen?
Here are my top performers from Week 12.