World’s Best Preview: Packers Remain Confident

Before last week’s game against San Francisco, I asked quarterback Aaron Rodgers if the team’s league-high four victories against teams with winning records mattered.

“I think that matters. It definitely matters. That’s a confidence booster for us,” Rodgers said.

In light of a crushing 37-8 loss to the 49ers, I asked Rodgers on Wednesday if being dominated by a top team would be a blow to the team’s confidence and whether that confidence needed to be rebuilt, starting with Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.

“Well, I just think you have to win one of those to get back to where you believe you should be,” Rodgers said. “We’re 3-2 on the road. As (former offensive coordinator) Tom Clements once famously used to say, the goal is to win all your home games and split your road games. 12-4, you should have a first-round bye. So, we’re 3-2 on the road right now, we’re 5-1 at home. We lost to a really good team last week and we just didn’t play our best game obviously in two of the last three. So, we’ve got to get back to the basics and the little things and make sure we’re cleaning up the small stuff so it doesn’t become big stuff. But I don’t think there’s any lack of confidence in our belief we can win there if we have to.”

That might sound like nonsense. How can there be any belief the Packers can go out to San Francisco and turn the tables after getting trounced? However, one thing you learn from doing this for a while is athletes don’t think like you or I. To believe last Sunday’s outcome will have a lasting impact is to think like an armchair psychiatrist.

“This is Year 6 for me, this is Year 7 for Dave (Bakhtiari), Year 6 for Corey (Linsley), Year 9 10 for (Bryan) Bulaga,” right guard Billy Turner said. “There’s a lot of veteran leadership in the room. There’s not a lot that we have not been through. In situations like that, (excrement) happens. To be completely honest with you, it is what it is. You can’t be perfect every game and you can’t be perfect every play. With the exception of one team in NFL history, you can’t be perfect for an entire year. At the end of the day, it’s all about the will inside and whether you want to be great and whether you want to be successful.”

Athletes have been taught from an early age to forget the last game. It’s that pressing of the reset button that coach Matt LaFleur talks about so often. Win or lose, there’s always another game, always something to fix, always a new challenge.

The challenges seem enormous. The 49ers outgained the Packers 339-198. San Francisco gained 7.5 yards per play to 2.8 for Green Bay. The Packers failed to convert their first 14 third-down plays. After a bye week, the Packers still couldn’t figure out how to incorporate Adams, still couldn’t cover tight ends, still couldn’t compete on special teams

“It’s not even something I worry about,” Adams said. “I mean, things happen. You see how that game started. We put ourselves in a bad spot to begin with and then we go for it on fourth, which I loved the call because I like being aggressive and I think with the guys we have that’s something that we should do and we should be able to convert. That swing right there kind of hurt us. As long as we start off games fast, I feel like that’s when we have the most success.”

All of that added up to a 29-point loss the players swear will have no lingering impact and had Adams referencing “Space Jam.”

“Because you don’t start 29-0, so that literally has nothing to do with it,” Adams said. “It doesn’t matter what happened earlier. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing against the Monstars. It’s a new game. You see the type of players we have in this locker room, so you see why we do have the confidence we do. It’s just about putting the pieces together and coming together as a team consistently so we can get the job done.”

Some recent history shows the Packers might not be living in denial. In 2016, they were manhandled 30-16 by Dallas as running back Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 157 of Dallas’ 191 yards. A couple months later, with Jordy Nelson sidelined by broken ribs, the Packers won the playoff rematch at Dallas 34-31. In 2015, Green Bay lost 38-8 at Arizona in Week 16. In the playoffs a couple weeks later, the Packers took the Cardinals to overtime despite Jeff Janis and Jared Abbrederis beating the featured receivers with Nelson on injured reserve, Adams inactive and Patrick Peterson eliminating James Jones.

What if Adams had not been flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct? What if Rodgers had not fumbled moments later to hand the Niners a touchdown? Maybe the outcome would have been the same. But maybe not.

“I think the gap is execution,” Rodgers said. “It’s not ability. It’s not talent. It’s execution. I think on paper and lining up, we feel really good about our squad against anybody, but execution is the main divider between teams that put that performance on the board like they did and the way we played. I think things would be a little different hopefully next time as far as the way we go out and execute, but we have to put ourselves in a position to have that conversation again.”