Like 49ers Last Year, Were Packers Exposed as Paper Tigers by Bucs?

After being outclassed by the Bucs, is there any reason to believe a potential rematch in the playoffs won’t have the same result as last year’s return trip to San Francisco?

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Last season, the Green Bay Packers were 8-2 at the bye and looking very much like one of the best teams in the NFL. Then, in a showdown at San Francisco, they got hammered 37-8. About two months later, the 49ers ran them over in the NFC Championship Game 37-20.

This season, the Packers were 4-0 at the bye and playing like one of most dominant teams in the NFL. Then, in Sunday’s showdown at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they were served a giant piece of humble pie in an embarrassing 38-10 loss.

After being outclassed in every way imaginable by the Bucs, is there any reason to believe a potential rematch in the playoffs won’t have the same result as last year’s return trip to San Francisco?

“This year’s team is not last year’s team,” safety Adrian Amos said.

Amos is right, of course. There are reasons to believe the Packers would put up a better fight in a playoff rematch. Who knows how the game would have played out had Aaron Rodgers not thrown just the third pick-six of his career. Maybe, as Rodgers said, the Packers needed a kick in the rear.

Nonetheless, it’s fair to wonder if the Packers were exposed as paper tigers by the Buccaneers. The Packers’ 4-0 record was fattened up by a mostly weak opening schedule. Minnesota (1-4), Detroit (2-3), New Orleans (3-2) and Atlanta (1-5) are a combined 7-14.

Facing a much better team, the Packers had no response after getting punched in the nose. Offensively, they couldn’t handle the speed of Buccaneers linebackers Lavonte David and Devin White. Because they couldn’t run the football, the Bucs were allowed to tee off with their pass rush, which overwhelmed what had been a strong front. Defensively, it was the same old problem of poor run defense and absolutely no playmaking in the secondary.

At age 36 and perhaps living on borrowed time in Green Bay, Rodgers knows what’s at stake. It’s about winning a championship. When Rodgers got home and sat down to enjoy a bit more of his favorite postgame beverage than usual, he didn’t expect his big-picture thoughts on the team to have changed.

“Might need to add an extra finger to the scotch, but I do feel good about the team,” Rodgers said after a miserable afternoon. “I’ve played for so long, you’re going to have a couple stinkers. I thing about the game at New York many years ago [2012] where I hit Jordy (Nelson) on an out-and-up to start the game, and we lost 38-10. Tonight kind of felt like that, unfortunately, where you kind of got off to a nice start and then just nothing. So, I feel really good about our squad. We’ve had four really, really good weeks, being efficient, winning, offensively being very explosive, defensively coming up with timely stops. 

“This is, I believe, an anomaly, not the beginning of a trend. And we’ve got a chance to prove me right next week.”

Next week is at the Houston Texans, who are 1-5 but beat Jacksonville and pushed undefeated Tennessee to overtime since firing coach Bill O’Brien.

Nonetheless, the timing to face one of the NFL’s struggling teams is perfect. That’s because what happened on Sunday was exactly what coach Matt LaFleur feared after a bye, with momentum leaking away and replaced by complacency.

“I think you’re always a little concerned when you hit the pause button when you have that momentum,” LaFleur said last week, “because I think momentum is real and, once it goes one way or the other, it just gets rolling.”

The momentum got rolling the wrong direction on Sunday and the Packers never got close to changing it. They have a chance to get rolling again the next two weeks with the game at Houston (1-5) and home against Minnesota (will be coming off bye). Then, it’s a trip to San Francisco for a Thursday night litmus test.

“I think you really try to do that every week, hit the reset button and do exactly that, reset,” LaFleur said after the game. “You can never get comfortable in this league. As soon as you get comfortable, you get your butt whipped. You’ve got to give the Bucs all the credit. They came to play and they beat us in every facet, from coaching to playing, just going out there, being more physical, executing. And I think everybody needs to be critical of themselves. That’s the only way you learn, and that’s the only way you can bounce back and get better from this.”