GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Green Bay Packers' struggles should be pinned more on general manager Ted Thompson for failing to build a roster that could withstand injuries than on coach Mike McCarthy, according to Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian.
Polian, an ESPN NFL analyst, described the Packers as a team with no running game, an unreliable tight end and a Pro Bowl receiver in Jordy Nelson who’s not back to form after tearing his ACL.
“That’s a combination of building a roster and injuries, which no one can control,” Polian said Wednesday on SportsCenter. “So no, that’s not Mike McCarthy’s fault. He’s trying to do the best he can with a very, very short deck. I don’t see any change in how this team is prepared or how they play. They don’t have a reliable tight end … and secondly they have no running game. That’s not coaching. That has to do with getting a roster that can compete, and it’s largely due to injury so there’s not much you can do about that other than try and suck it up and get better next year. I don’t see any problem with the coaching.”
McCarthy has come under fire from the outside during the Packers’ three-game losing streak and after Sunday’s 47-25 loss at Tennessee, McCarthy vigorously defended his program by saying: "Let's just state the facts: I'm a highly successful NFL head coach.”
McCarthy, who has a 108-60-1 record in his 11 seasons as the Packers coach and has made seven straight playoff appearances, is just 9-12 in his last 21 games, including playoffs. This season has been especially difficult given the injuries that have virtually wiped out their running back position, which was thin to begin with when the season started. Thompson kept just two halfbacks -- Eddie Lacy and James Starks -- on the opening-day roster and both were injured by mid-October.
The Packers aren’t the only preseason Super Bowl favorite to struggle this season. The Steelers also stand at 4-5, and Polian drew some parallels between the two teams.
“The coach is always accountable, but when you look at the performance of a team you have to judge three things: You have to judge whether or not their personnel is adequate to compete, you have to judge whether or not that personnel has been decimated by injury and then you have to judge whether or not the schemes and the coaching are taking into account the status of your roster today versus what it might have been in training camp,” Polian said. “In all three cases, I think both of these teams come up a little short, Green Bay most notably in the running game. They have none. They don’t have any running backs on their roster. They have no running game to speak of. That’s why they’re dropping back 71 percent of the time. Can’t win doing that. In addition to that Jordy Nelson is not back from his injury.”
Starks returned last week against the Titans but carried only seven times. The Packers have passed on 71.4 percent of their offensive plays this season, the highest of the Aaron Rodgers' era and the second-highest in the NFL this season (behind only Jacksonville). They’re also the only team in the NFL without a rushing touchdown from an actual running back.
“I always want to run the ball more, but I also want to throw it 55 times a game, too,” he said. “That’s the way games are. You have to run the football. Everything starts with running the football. You can’t extend your offensive line and your pass-protection unit the way we have. Running the football is very important for a number of different reasons.”