The Packers should be feeling rested after a badly-needed midseason bye week, after all, the two weeks preceding the bye basically torpedoed the entire season. The upcoming game against Detroit may be the last chance to prove that this is a functional team with an offense that can break 100 yards through the air. If they can’t do it against Matthew Stafford and the 3-4 Detroit Lions, many are going to start losing hope. Of course, none of those people work here at Pack to the Future–so I’m not worried.

In many ways, we have experienced this before. I may sound like a broken record, but the 2013 season is similar for many different reasons besides the Aaron Rodgers injury. It’s a watered-down league, much like that year, and the Rodgers-lead Packers looked to have an easy route to a division title. However, this year seems to be a little harder in that respect. The Vikings, though they have looked nothing like a Super Bowl contender in my eyes, find ways to keep winning and with every week we dawdle putting this team together, they take another step towards the division title.

I thought it might be interesting to compare the trajectory of the 2013 season to this one, at least when it comes to quarterback play. Obviously, there is no way to directly compare Hundley’s performance with that year. The poor guy has started only one game. But, it might be useful to know what the floor is for this operation. The 2013 Packers, immediately after the Rodgers injury, were bad. You might even call them woeful. But, how does that compare to the 2 games that Brett Hundley has played in this season? Let’s see.

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Here’s his current stat line:

Completion rate: 52.5%

Yards per attempt: 4.1

TD/INT Ratio: 1/4

Yards Per Game: 122

I used woeful earlier, but woeful is just a good word for the QB play in Green Bay without Aaron Rodgers. Hundley appears to have a little more moxie than the corpse of Seneca Wallace, but it could still end up that he is terrible. That being said, I am going to watch the Monday Night contest against the Lions closely–looking for any sign of life. I want to believe.

So, now, let’s look at the first two games without Rodgers in 2013 (I’m ignoring the Seneca Wallace v. Josh McCown Bears game because it’s more fun this way). These games were against the Eagles and the Giants who finished 10-6 and 7-9, respectively, and they featured the combined performances of zombie Seneca Wallace and Scott Tolzien.

Completion Rate: 66.5%

Yards per attempt: 8.6

TD/INT Ratio: 1/5

Yards Per Game: 322

I had hoped to find some consolation by doing this but I have found none. It would appear that Hundley still has some ground to make up to equal the performance of Scott Tolzien. If that sentence upsets you, you are not alone. It needs to be said that McCarthy has yet to allow Hundley the kind of leash that he gave to Tolzien. Over that two game period, Tolzien threw 73(!) times. Hundley has thrown for 58. That’s about 80% of the workload that was given to Tolzien. You could say it was because we had an unproven running game lead by a rookie back…but that’s the same exact scenario today.

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We will all find out how good Hundley is, one way or another, but it’s the makeup of this team that I’m interested in. I believe that the hardships and tribulations of the 2013 season are what lead to such a great team in 2014. Something like this can bring a team together or tear it apart. There were some great moments that year and the Packers turned into a team that you knew was going to fight every game–no matter how badly outmatched they were.

Speaking of badly outmatched, let’s take a closer look at that 2013 Thanksgiving matchup against the Lions in our look to the past for Week 9.

Green Bay Packers at the Detroit Lions

Week 13

Thanksgiving 2013

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In 2013, the Packers had the honor of being the team playing Detroit on Thanksgiving Day. The Packers had beaten the Lions 22-9 earlier in that season and it looked like Detroit was the inferior squad. After the Rodgers injury though, things changed, and the Lions took the driver’s seat in the division–with the Cutler-less Bears trailing. We all know that the Lions folded that year like a wet paper bag in a black hole, but they were somewhat formidable at the time of this late November contest.

I’m genuinely sorry to bring this up again. But it must be done. This was the Thanksgiving that more than a few of us got a little more sauced than we should have and (not naming names here) became belligerent. What do you expect? Beating the Lions is a time honored tradition in Green Bay and it felt as if the world had been turned on its head. All of this on Thanksgiving, the best holiday ever invented. This game can only be described as tragic.

The Packers came into the contest well within contention for a division title. Detroit was 6-5 and Green Bay was sitting at a bizarre 5-5-1. They only needed to reach out and grasp glory. This was the first game that Matt Flynn started after his miraculous tie against the Vikings the week before. Expectations weren’t…high…but they were expectations. It didn’t work out.

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Stafford threw for 300+ and three touchdowns as Reggie Bush and Joique Bell dominated this game, with the backs exceeding or nearing 100 yards each. In the end, the Lions rushed for 241 yards on 43 carries. Predictably, they dominated the time of possession 2 to 1. This was a rout, through and through, but the Packers made it to the second quarter, all even, at 0-0.

In fact, the lone Packers touchdown was a fumble recovered by Morgan Burnett early in the second quarter. It looked like the Packers had life again. I think that’s what was so brutal about this loss. The strong start got us hoping again. The next drive by the Lions was an interception. If the Packers had any semblance of an offense at all, they could have made this a two score game very quickly. Instead, they wasted their possessions and gave the Lions all the time they needed to recover.

Over the next two drives for both teams, the Packers went 3-and-out twice and the Lions scored on both drives–aided by the returns of former Packer Jeremy Ross. After that point, there was nothing to look forward to. By the time the Packers had their second drive of the third quarter, the Lions were already up 24-10. Much turkey was spilled on this day.

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It can be safely assumed that this is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to expectations for this year. The defense was able to force 4 turnovers in this game and still the offense never scored a touchdown. I really don’t think it will be this miserable on Monday night. But, maybe it’s good to have some perspective about a team that no one really knows what to expect from. Let’s all keep our emotions in check (and drinks at a minimum) and see how this works out. In a bottom-heavy league, just a little bit of life might be all we need for 12 to survive the season. Let us be thankful.