Green Bay Packers: Aaron Rodgers Sends Message To Ted Thompson

The Green Bay Packers season came to screeching halt in Atlanta. In his post-game interview, Aaron Rodgers sent a clear message to the front office.

Heading into Sunday’s NFC Championship Game, the Packers learned all of their injured players would be available. Unfortunately, even with Jordy Nelson, Davante Adams, and Morgan Burnett, Green Bay was the lesser team.

While the 44-21 score made the Falcons superiority obvious, one didn’t even need to watch the game to reach the same conclusion. By examining the Packers depth chart, one would find Ladarius Gunter (#1 cornerback), Joe Thomas (starting linebacker), and a host of other mediocre players starting on defense.

This deficiency in talent is what led Aaron Rodgers to make the remark, “We’ve just got to make sure we’re going all-in every year to win.” The desired recipient of this message was not the fans, teammates or coaching staff. Rather, these words were meant for the ears of Ted Thompson.

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Coach Mike McCarthy chose to explain the loss by praising the Falcons and saying his team “ran out of gas.” However, Sunday’s performance revealed the Packers need more than a fill-up to make another Super Bowl appearance.

While no one expects McCarthy to be overly talkative in his post-game interview, it was refreshing to hear Aaron Rodgers express the same sentiment of the team’s fans. Traditionally, NFL post-game interviews hover on the extremes of emotional tirades or recitals of public relations notecards.

By demanding that Ted Thompson go “all-in,” in shaping next year’s roster, Rodgers let the world know the General Manager is at fault.

In years past, we heard Rodgers accept blame or simply give credit to the other team. But after finishing the season at 33 years old, the pressure is on to form his legacy. Anything other than a full commitment from the front office is no longer acceptable for the league’s top quarterback.

Any discussion involving the firing of Dom Capers is just surface talk. A proper evaluation of his coaching is impossible due to lack of talent he was given. Even though Capers time in Green Bay may be over, Rodgers is telling us that coaching is not the issue.

While Ted Thompson could easily defend himself with the numerous Divisional Championships and 2010 Super Bowl victory, the problem is the team he put together can not defend an opposing offense. In yet another season this has cost the Packers a chance to play for the title.

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With many speculating that Ted Thompson will retire at his contract’s expiry (2018), that leaves him one more year to go “all-in,” and leave the game on top. Now the question is, will he respond to Aaron Rodgers’ demand and explore all options to improve next year’s team?

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