NFL Power Rankings Week 9: Philadelphia Eagles make a statement vs JAX

18. Green Bay Packers

There was a time when the Green Bay Packers were all but guaranteed a playoff spot based on the play of Aaron Rodgers alone, but with the two-time league MVP currently attempting to play through an MCL strain, he looks like a shell of his former Pro Bowl self.

Case and point, the team’s Week 9 bout against the Los Angeles Rams.

While having Rogers on the field certainly kept the team in a game they had no business being competitive in, his play alone wasn’t enough to dethrone the reigning ‘best team in the league’ on their home turf, and just like that, the Packers are stuck at .500 with a 3-3-1 record.

Now granted, that’s only one game back from the division leaders, the Minnesota Vikings, but before the season began, did anyone really believe that the Packers wouldn’t be a shoe-in to make the playoffs? That’s just crazy to imagine especially after going on a pretty uncharacteristic spending spree last spring to add some big-name talent like Jimmy Graham to the roster.

But here we are, it’s the fall of 2018, and the Green Bay Packers are aggressively mediocre. What a time to be alive.