Packers’ playoff hopes on life support as they slide to 4-7 with loss to Titans
GREEN BAY, Wis. – With snow flurries falling softly inside Lambeau Field most of the night, the Green Bay Packers’ momentum came skidding to a halt against the Tennessee Titans.
Five days after appearing to revive their season with a win against the Dallas Cowboys, the Packers were helpless in a 27-17 loss to the Titans. It was a game the Packers likely needed to win to give themselves any real chance at making a late-season push to the playoffs. Instead, they fell to 4-7 this season, their sixth loss in the past seven games.
The Packers never had much of a chance Thursday night, trailing throughout. Their deficit was double digits throughout the fourth quarter after Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill completed a 16-yard touchdown to tight end Austin Hooper on the period’s first play.
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Here are some quick observations from another defeat:
Packers secondary collapses
If the Packers knew entering Thursday night they would hold Derrick Henry to 87 yards on 28 carries (3.1 yards per carry), they surely would have expected to win. That’s because their secondary, considered a strength entering this season, was built to lock down quarterbacks like Ryan Tannehill.
after the Packers released Rodgers this week.
A regular punt returner in the first two seasons of his career, Cobb’s lone return against the Titans gained only 5 yards. He did manage to field the punt cleanly without fumbling, something Rodgers struggled with throughout the past season and a half. An uneventful punt return is the starting point special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia’s unit needed. In the fourth quarter, Keisean Nixon showed how raw – but potentially explosive – he might be as a punt returner. Nixon picked up the punt on a hop and took off for 24 yards, starting the Packers’ possession across midfield. It was the Packers’ longest punt return this season, further evidence the team waited too long before changing returners.