Packers News: Aaron Rodgers Looking For Strong Season End, Invokes 2006 Performances

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is hoping to end the 2018 NFL season strongly after what has been a very underwhelming campaign so far.

Rodgers injured his knee in Week 1 against the Chicago Bears but returned to the game in the second half to inspire a 24-23 comeback. However, it has all gone downhill for the Packers since, as the 34-year-old's knee was still not 100 percent recovered in the weeks after while the team's results were inconsistent.

Add in the reported friction between him and former head coach Mike McCarthy over the team's offense, criticism directed at Rodgers himself, as well as injuries to other key players, and it's not surprising that Green Bay is currently 4-7-1.

The most recent defeat to the struggling Arizona Cardinals over the weekend was the final straw as McCarthy was fired after a near-13 year tenure and has now been replaced by Joe Philbin. The Packers are still not mathematically out of playoff contention though, but it's extremely unlikely at this point.

Regardless, with four games left in the season, Rodgers hopes to carry over the momentum of a potentially strong end to the season into the 2019 campaign. But while he doesn't necessarily believe momentum can be carried into a new season, he did use an example from the past.

“It’s hard to carry momentum over from year-to-year,” Rodgers said Wednesday, as quoted on Packers Wire. "But there’s a lot of pride in the performance. That’s first of all, doing things the right way, playing for Joe (Philbin), giving him the best opportunity moving forward is important for us."

"(In) 2006, we were 4-8. Finished out the season winning our last four. (We) kind of felt good about ourselves all offseason and moving into training camp and went 13-3 the next season and obviously we were one play away from the Super Bowl,” he added.

If that is to be the case, the Packers need to close out games much better offensively compared to how they've done this season so far, having struggled in the second halves of games.

Rodgers claims the team will be paying a lot more attention to situational offense in the next few weeks, adding that their execution has been poor this year.

“I don’t think you scrap the whole thing,” Rodgers explained. “I just think you really need to be better in situational offense if you want to win games. We’re going to pay a little more attention – even more attention – to (situational offense) the next couple of weeks. We have to fix that if we want to win games. ... To me (execution) is the biggest problem we’ve had all season."

Every player must do their part as well as all eyes will be on the Packers in the post-McCarthy era.

“There’s a little feel of training camp,” Rodgers added. “Mike (McCarthy) is not here. There’s new voices. Everybody is kinda realizing we’re under the microscope even more.”

The Packers face the Atlanta Falcons (4-8) on Sunday next.