GREEN BAY, Wis. Green Bay Packers quarterback .No wonder, if Saturdays season-ending lo s to the San Francisco 49ers was a look into the future of the pa sing game.Running back Aaron Jones caught nine pa ses for 129 yards and receiver Davante Adams, who would be the best player in free agency and perhaps unaffordable to the Packers given their mountain of a salary-cap problem, caught nine pa ses for 90 yards.Every other member of the Packers caught two pa ses for 6 yards.Rodgers only threw two pa ses to his other receivers: one catch for 6 yards to
Blake Bortles Jersey Allen Lazard to convert a third down early in the fourth quarter and one pa s to Randall Cobb with about 4 minutes to go that was almost intercepted.During a superb closing stretch to the season, Rodgers a sembled a streak of seven consecutive games with two-plus touchdowns and zero interceptions. During that span, he threw 20 touchdowns in helping the Packers score the second-most points in the NFL. Adams led the NFL with eight touchdown catches and Lazard was tied for third with five.But, as has too often been the case for Green Bay, regular-season accomplishments turned into playoff disappointment. In the 2019 NFC Championship Game at San Francisco, the legendary Rodgers two second-quarter fumbles helped put the Packers behind 17-0. In the 2020 NFC Championship Game vs. Tampa Bay, the revered Jones fumble at the start of the third quarter put the Packers in a 28-10 hole. On Saturday night, the beloved Marcedes Lewis fumble was the biggest play of the night. The Packers exploded out of the starting gate with a quick touchdown and were on their way into scoring position again when Lewis was stripped by linebacker Fred Warner. The 49ers
Lamarcus Joyner Jersey recovered the fumble; the Packers offense never recovered.We just couldnt put together another good drive, Rodgers said. That second drive was a turning point for us. Went right down the field and scored, had another good drive going, and then unfortunately Big Dog fumbled. After that point, we just kind of spun our wheels for a while until I hit Jonesey there in the 2-minute for (75 yards). Again, weve get points in that situation, go in 10-nothing at half, and then give up a kick return. We just really didnt do a whole lot.Heres the breakdown:Scroll to ContinueFirst 14 plays: 102 yards, 7 first downs, 7.29 yards per play.Final 40 plays: 161 yards
Ndamukong Suh Jersey , 7 first downs, 4.02 yards per play.39 plays without Jones 75-yard catch: 86 yards, 6 first downs, 2.21 yards per play.Rodgers accepted a lot of the responsibility for the offenses failings.I didnt have a great night tonight, Rodgers said. They did a good job of kind of getting me off the spot, and a better job of taking away some of the quick game we got going last time we played them.Rodgers lamented the turning down of some checkdowns and wished he would have attacked the 49ers zone with some hole shots. Late in the third quarter, Rodgers hit Adams for a gain of 25 to set up a field goal. A better throw, he lamented, might have given Adams a chance to take the ball closer to the goal line. And on the final drive, on the third-and-11 bomb to Adams, Lazard was running wide open on a cro sing route at the 45.That probably gets us out to about midfield and then were a couple first downs
Bryce Hager Jersey away from being in field goal range, Rodgers said. Definitely disappointed by some of the decisions I had tonight. I definitely take my fair share of blame tonight.For the 22nd consecutive year, the NFL MVP (a suming Rodgers wins it) will not win the Super Bowl. On Saturday, the hottest quarterback in the league froze under the pre sure. The pre sure of the moment and the pre sure applied by San Franciscos defense against a revamped offensive line were too much to overcome.So, the Packers will enter an offseason filled with franchise-altering decisions. The biggest revolve around the teams longtime stars, Rodgers and Adams. Will Rodgers return for his 12th shot at winning a second Super Bowl? And who will be catching his pa ses? Receivers Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown will be unrestricted free agents. So will tight end Robert Tonyan, who suffered torn ACL on Oct. 28. Lazard will be a restricted free agent and wont be cheap to keep. Randall Cobb is under contract but with a cap number of $9.64 million. Given the Packers cap problems, they could move on from him, too, to save $6.59 million.So, who would that leave? Juwann Winfree caught eight pa ses, Amari Rodgers caught four and Malik Taylor caught two. Thats 14 receptions for 117 yards. With Rodgers playing poorly, with the running game contributing just 21 yards in the second half without AJ Dillon, with the pa s protection unable to hold up against the 49ers ferocious pa s rush, the offense went into a funk it couldnt shake.A little numb, for sure. Didnt think it was going to end like this, Rodgers said.
Aaron Donald Jersey Disappointed in the offense. Ten points is obviously not enough. The defense, man, played outstanding. Special teams obviously hurt us, taking points off the board and giving them points. But offensively, scoring 10 points, never good enough.
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