Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy is under immense pressure after another defeat in Seattle left his team on the brink of missing out on the playoffs.
The Packers arrived into Thursday night's game having not won on the road against the Seahawks since 2008 and made it four defeats in four attempts after losing 27-24. The defeat leaves Green Bay with a 4-5-1 record which significantly complicates their chances of reaching the playoffs, particularly given they travel to Minnesota a week from this Sunday night.
Leading by one point with 8:23 left in the game, Aaron Rodgers was sacked on third down and the Packers settled for a field goal that extended their lead to 24-20. It turned out not be enough as the Seahawks hit back with 5:08 to play when Russell Wilson found Ed Dickson in the end zone with a 15-yard touchdown pass.
The Packers had a chance to hit back soon after but McCarthy opted to punt the ball away with 4:20 left on fourth-and-2, despite the fact he had only one timeout left. His hopes that the defense would give Rodgers another shot never materialized as the Seahawks controlled possession and ran down the clock.
After the game, McCarthy admitted the Packers had "played the numbers with one timeout plus the two-minute warning", but the gamble backfired spectacularly and left him open to a barrage of criticism.
one of my favorite storylines of the year is every Packers fan I follow tweeting "hey, we should give the ball to Aaron Jones like 300% more than we do" and Mike McCarthy realizing it in mid-November
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) November 16, 2018
A Mike McCarthy masterpiece: Blow your timeouts so you don’t use your challenge but you do punt on fourth-and-2 when your D is getting steamrolled.
— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) November 16, 2018
Bummer to see Aaron Rodgers come up small in the end. But why not go for it on fourth down? Why not challenge the Lockett catch? Mike McCarthy is bad.
— Dan Hanzus (@DanHanzus) November 16, 2018
Not sure what’s worse...Mike McCarthy only having 1 timeout at the end of the game...or Mike McCarthy choosing to punt on 4th and 2 knowing he only had 1 timeout at the end of the game.
— Cousin Sal (@TheCousinSal) November 16, 2018
Some of the worst losses of the Mike McCarthy tenure have come in Seattle. They absolutely should have won this game and won it relatively handily. Embarrassing loss all around.
— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) November 16, 2018
Green Bay under .500 on Thanksgiving. Rodgers has started all 10 games.
— Peter King (@peter_king) November 16, 2018
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Regardless how the Packers got there, that portends bad things for Mike McCarthy. Very bad.
Obviously Mike McCarthy will get blamed for this loss for not challenging the big completion to Lockett, which was not a catch. Look for ARodg to subtly blame him. At this rate McCarthy will be Baker Mayfield's head coach next year.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) November 16, 2018
Mike McCarthy trusted his defense over Aaron Rodgers needing only 2 yards to gain
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) November 16, 2018
Mike McCarthy’s incompetence knows no bounds.
— Cian (@Cianaf) November 16, 2018
Gotta believe Mike McCarthy has six games left as head coach of the Green Bay Packers.
— Zach Kruse (@zachkruse2) November 16, 2018
In McCarthy's first 10 years in Green Bay, the Packers made the playoffs on eight occasions, winning Super Bowl XLV and reaching the NFC Championship Game three times. However, they missed out on the playoffs for the first time in nine years last season and McCarthy has increasingly been accused of holding back Rodgers through a mixture of questionable plays and trades.
The quarterback was clearly frustrated after the game, suggesting his team had been "terrible on third down" and must make the most of their scoring opportunities from now on.
"Situationally, we've got to score touchdowns in the red zone," he told ESPN.
"We had a chance in the first quarter to go up a couple scores -- didn't. Had a chance in the fourth quarter to go up by eight -- didn't get it done. Situational football."
The 34-year-old completed 21 of his 30 passes for 332 yards and two touchdowns but was sacked five times and continued to suffer from a chronic lack of support. With the exception of Davante Adams and Aaron Jones, who had 166 receiving yards and 103 yards from scrimmage respectively, the Packers' offense looked blunt. Robert Tonyan had 54 receiving yards but they all came from one reception.
After their trip to Minnesota, the Packers face home games against the Cardinals, the Falcons and the Lions with back-to-back road games against the Bears and the Jets sandwiched in between.
The margin of error for Green Bay keeps getting smaller.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Dan Cancian is currently a reporter for Newsweek based in London, England. Prior to joining Newsweek in January 2018, he ... Read more
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