The Green Bay Packers are hurtling toward their most tumultuous off-season in over a decade.
At 4-6-1, needing to sweep the final five games and then call in chips for a lot of help from around the league just to have a shot at making the playoffs, the more realistic scenario is a second straight season on the post-season sidelines that could bring the Mike McCarthy era to a close after 13 years.
Fuel for this speculative wildfire has included the play of Aaron Rodgers.
The whispers of something being amiss with the two-time Most Valuable Player have turned into almost ear splitting cries to bring about the change.
There are several avenues to explore as to why the marriage of the quarterback and head coach may be headed toward a divorce.
Let's start with the play on the field. Rodgers' numbers outside of a couple of categories are very Rodgers-like. 20 touchdowns to just one interception (a ball that glanced off Jimmy Graham' hands). He's thrown for 3271 yards, 6th most in the league. The team's total offensive numbers have them 10th in yards per game and 8th in yards per play. The stats giving observers the most ammunition are the number of sacks (34), the team's third down conversion rate (37%) and his completion percentage (61.7%), barely above the career low from his first year as a starter.
Rodgers has explained there's been an inordinate number of throw aways this year which may be true but there have also been passes that look more like Randy Wright than Joe Montana. Balls skipping to open receivers in the flat, under or overthrown passes that have missed targets running free.
The sack numbers aren't all on the offensive line as Rodgers moves in and out of the pocket as he's done his whole career, extending plays looking for bigger results than actual play calls require, often disdaining check down options.
Davante Adams has been the only sure thing among the quarterback's perimeter targets. He's on pace for franchise record breaking reception and yardage totals. Geronimo Allison vanished quickly with injury, Randall Cobb has watched more games than he's played and Jimmy Graham took a while to get involved and then broke a thumb.
That's left Rodgers with a young cast of rookies who are not on the same wavelength when it comes to the complexities of the system. Marquez Valdes-Scantling has clearly been the quickest study.
Don't forget the sprained knee suffered on opening night. It has affected his movement through the first half of the season and more importantly, took away badly needed practice time with his new perimeter cast. I don't think Rodgers has played that badly but there's more than meets the eye, and ear.
There is language and then there is body language. Rodgers is extremely competitive and cameras often catch his scolding of the young receivers not quite in the proper position. A lot of QB's will do that but the arm waving and pointing has increased significantly this year as have the grim looking sideline shots following another foiled series.
Finally, there's an underbelly of the organization that leads many to believe the McCarthy-Rodgers split is inevitable.
The firing of Aaron's favorite position coach, Alex Van Pelt is one example. He was replaced by Frank Cignetti, new to the McCarthy system, now trying to tell a quarterback 13 years into the system, how to do things. Rodgers was aghast at Van Pelt's release, even suggesting he should have been consulted about the decision. But that's not how it went down. Van Pelt openly was seeking an offensive coordinator's position the year before his release and it was clear he wanted to move on and how Rodgers was unaware of that is beyond me.
New General Manager Brian Gutekunst made a tough, but correct financial call when it came to releasing Jordy Nelson in the spring. The move was railed by Packer fans and openly questioned by Rodgers, especially when the prospect of free agent Dez Bryant was brought up following his release by the Cowboys. Outside of one game, Nelson has not done much more for the Raiders than Valdes-Scantliing has done for the Packers. His tight relationship and on-field chemistry has been missed by Rodgers.
Now, money may do the loudest talking. McCarthy has one year left on his contract while Rodgers is just beginning the most lucrative extension in NFL history that has him under Green Bay's thumb for five more years.
Team President Mark Murphy restructured the top of the organization when he hired Gutekunst, leaving him stand above the GM, Head Coach and Executive Vice President of football operations Russ Ball in the hierarchy.
This is what will be in Murphy's ear for the next two months. The face of the franchise and the most expensive asset in the organization telling him we need an overhaul before my salad days arrive. A GM who might suggest McCarthy just re-tooled his staff with a new defensive coordinator and an injury plagued feeling out process this year needs more time. With two first round picks in 2019, badly needed impact players could be drafted. This after recent draft classes have come up glaringly empty. McCarthy certainly won't take just one additional season tacked on, he'll want a long-term extension and that is where Murphy must draw the line.
Extend the coach with a stressed relationship with his star or align himself with the player who will withdraw tens of millions of dollars from the franchise coffers before his deal comes due?
These will be the days of their lives......