With Career at Crossroads, Can Aaron Rodgers Single-Handedly Save the Packers?

By now you’re probably aware that Aaron Rodgers hasn’t been right, nor has the Green Bay Packers offense.

Rodgers is the highest-rated passer in NFL history, but he struggled last season without top receiver Jordy Nelson. And although Nelson is back in 2016, the 32-year-old’s numbers have continued to plummet.

He ranks 26th among 31 qualified quarterbacks with a completion percentage of 60.2. His yards-per-attempt average (6.5) also ranks in the bottom 10, and an advanced formula at Pro Football Focus reveals that he’s been the league’s fifth-least-accurate qualified passer this season.

According to the same source, he’s connected on just six of 22 deep passes, which ranks last among qualified quarterbacks. 

Green Bay ranks 25th in terms of total offense, 17th in terms of points per game and in the bottom 10 when it comes to turnovers.

Primarily as a result of that, the 3-2 Packers enter Thursday’s game against the division rival Chicago Bears two full games out of first place in the NFC North. 

My colleagues at NFL1000 put together a piece on Monday that did a great job of establishing what appears to ail Rodgers and the Green Bay offense.

One conclusion drawn there by Bleacher Report NFL Lead Scout Doug Farrar is that the team’s offensive game plan under head coach Mike McCarthy is unsustainable, and it has caused Rodgers to lose his mechanical consistency. He doesn’t appear to trust a schematically limited offense and is overcompensating as a result.

That could explain why he’s become substantially less accurate than in the past, and why both he and the Green Bay offense have taken significant steps backwards.

I’ve never seen Aaron Rodgers hesitate before. He’s doing it all the time this season.

— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) October 18, 2016

The good news is that if we can see this, so can the Packers. The bad news is these types of scheme- and mechanics-based flaws aren’t easy to correct. Even if they have identified the problem, McCarthy and Rodgers can’t necessarily just flip …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com