Week 17 Recap: Packers 2017 Season Finally Ends
The Packers officially lost their chance at a postseason berth nearly two weeks ago. In the intervening time, head coach Mike McCarthy mentioned playing for pride numerous times, even up to the meaningless Week 17 tilt in Detroit.
If this is what playing for pride looks like, the Packers leave 2017 with little to be proud of.
Detroit, whose final game of the season was equally meaningless, looked in control from wire to wire, out maneuvering the Packers at every turn, even re-using a Packers trick play to run up the score late.
Not that it mattered, anyway. After the dismal 35-11 loss, the 2017 finally came to a merciful end. It’ll be nine months before the Packers play a meaningful game again, which should be plenty of time for some introspection and long-needed changes.
4 and Out
1 - The Packers entered the 2017 season with a clear goal at running back: avoiding the train wreck that unfolded at the position over the first half of the 2016 season. To that end, the Packers committed to using Ty Montgomery full time at the position in addition to spending three draft picks on running backs. But despite that significant investment, the Packers nearly finished 2017 with exactly zero healthy running backs. Both Jamaal Williams and Devante Mays left Sunday’s game with injuries, although they managed to time their injuries so that at least one was available at all times.
2 - Both Mike Daniels and Clay Matthews reached statistical plateaus with sacks against the Lions. Daniels recorded his fifth sack of the season on Sunday, the third time in his career he’s had at least five sacks and the first time he’s reached that mark since 2014. Meanwhile, Matthews managed his eighth sack of the season, the most he’s had in a season since he had 11 in 2014. It’s his fifth career season with eight or more sacks.
3 - A former college quarterback, Randall Cobb got an opportunity to show off his arm for the first time since his rookie season. The Packers dug deep into their playbook in the fourth quarter to cook up some kind of screen pass to Brett Hundley off an end around to Cobb. Hundley had blockers in front of him and managed to pick up ten yards and a first down. Cobb scored a touchdown later on the same drive, becoming the first Packers player since Sterling Sharpe in 1993 to complete a pass and score a receiving touchdown in the same game.
4 - We hardly need any reminders the Packers are done for the year, but here’s one more: this is the first time the Packers have wrapped up their regular season schedule before January since the 2014 season. In both 2015 and 2016, the Packers played one regular season game in the new year.