With Aaron Rodgers under center, the Green Bay Packers’ defense simply had to be passable. For too many seasons over the last decade, it simply hasn’t been, leading to calls for Dom Capers’ job that grew so loud they became almost a parody of themselves.
Mike Pettine’s arrival came with expectations muted. He didn’t have to make this Green Bay group the 2009 Jets, just make sure they weren’t the 2011 or 2016 Packers. Play-to-play the defense wasn’t actually that bad in 2017, but when they needed to get stops — on third down and in the red zone — this was the worst situational group in the league.