After the Giants’ game, I hedged my bets a little by saying that Aaron Rodgers seemed to be “over the hump” concerning his passing difficulties. Following the Bears’ win, however, that seems like a pretty apt description.
Rodgers’ completion percentage against New York was 51.1 percent, then it soared to 73.8 percent against the Cowboys, and remained high at 69.6 percent in the Bears’ win. He hadn’t been in the 70s since weeks 1 and 2 of 2015.
Rodgers’ yardage has gone from 259, to 294, to 326 in his last three games. The last time Rodgers threw for greater yardage was when he threw for 333 in the loss to Detroit in the middle of last year. Overall, he had only three 300-plus yard games in 2015. This is another “up arrow” for the Green Bay Packers’ passing attack.
The one stat in which Rodgers has not improved is yards per attempt – an indication that the Packers are still not completing many mid-range or deep passes. His 5.82 average for his 39 completions against Chicago is very low, as is his 6.31 average for the first six games of 2016 — both of which are even lower than his 6.68 average in 2015. Green Bay ranks 29th in the league in this category, and this metric went further downward on Thursday.
Most encouraging, though, is that Rodgers’ inaccuracy has somewhat disappeared over the past two games. Whether Rodgers and the team can sustain this progress next Sunday, on the road and against a quality team, will be a much better gauge than was the home game against the injury-riddled 1-6 Bears.
It’s not time to “relax” yet, but the arrows are mostly pointing up for Rodgers and the Packers’ passing game.