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GREEN BAY -- The last time the Green Bay Packers had a losing record this late in the season, Aaron Rodgers was convalescing with a broken collarbone. Unlike 2013, when Rodgers returned for the final game of the regular season to rescue Green Bay from a 5-6-1 record and earn it an NFC North title and a playoff berth with a mark of 8-7-1, the star quarterback is playing through the team's agony.
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And, a discouraged Rodgers had some pointed words in the aftermath of the Packers' third straight loss, a 47-25 rout inflicted by the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, that left Green Bay with a 4-5 record.
"There has to be that healthy fear as a player that if you don't do your job they'll get rid of you," Rodgers said. "I think we've all got to go back and the urgency's got to pick up, the focus has to pick up. We've all got to play better, and that starts with me."
A week after Rodgers was critical of the insufficient energy carried by teammates in a stunning home loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the Packers were more apathetic Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.
They spotted the underdog Titans a 21-0 lead after the first quarter and never drew closer than 13 points the rest of the way in one of the worst defeats in Mike McCarthy's 11 years as head coach.
"A poor game on our part," McCarthy lamented.
The 47 points is the most allowed by Green Bay since it lost 51-45 in overtime to the Arizona Cardinals in an NFC wild-card playoff game during the 2009 season. The Packers also gave up 51 points in a 22-point loss at the New Orleans Saints in 2008.
That latter game was the start of a five-game losing streak late in the season that led to a 6-10 record and a third-place finish in the NFC North during Rodgers' first season as a starter.
Having been outscored 111-83 the last three games, the 2016 Packers are heading down a similar path. Green Bay sits third in the division, but it can take some solace in that co-front-runners Detroit and Minnesota are only a game ahead at 5-4.
"Obviously, we didn't like the outcome (Sunday)," McCarthy said Monday. "The video revealed a number of things that we need to correct. They're all things that we can fully correct. I really like our football team, I love the guys I'm coaching, and we have a lot of football left to play."
Though McCarthy was trying to put a positive spin on the situation, players couldn't downplay the turmoil that has arisen in Green Bay.
"Where do we think we are? Cliche as it sounds, we are where we are," wide receiver Ty Montgomery said, adding, "Losing sucks."
Defensive back Micah Hyde said good football isn't being played when the Packers have allowed at least 31 points in each of the last three games.
"That's just something good football teams can't do," Hyde said. "That's exactly what we're doing week in and week out."
McCarthy insisted Monday, however, that the team's ongoing struggles won't prompt him to shake things up with perhaps some big lineup changes heading into a Sunday night road game against the Washington Redskins.
"I'm not into shock and awe or torch-the-landscape-type person," McCarthy said. "I'm a builder, I'm a developer. I've said that since the first day I arrived here. You build a program. The culture is what makes it go. You have to invest in that culture every single day, and that's my big-picture focus."
--Even without a proven running back on the field, the Packers managed to rush for more than 100 yards in each of their previous three games.
That all changed Sunday. Despite regaining the services of veteran halfback James Starks, the Packers rushed for a season-low 69 yards in a 47-25 loss at the Tennessee Titans.
Green Bay also had a season-worst 13 rushing attempts in the game.
Head coach Mike McCarthy said his game plan, which included running the football, had to be scrapped early in the contest after the Titans raced out to a 21-0 lead before the end of the first quarter.
"We got into a game that we didn't want to get into playing offensively," McCarthy said Monday. "I wasn't really dialed into a whole lot offensively, frankly, because my call sheet didn't look anything like I thought the game we were getting ready to play."
Starks returned from a four-game absence for a knee injury and made the start Sunday. However, he had only seven carries for 33 yards.
Versatile receiver Ty Montgomery, who started two of the previous three games at running back and had 16 carries for 113 yards in those two outings, had only three carries Sunday for nine yards.
"As far as how much James played, how much Ty (played), how much no-huddle (had to be used) and all of those things, our offensive performance was clearly reflected on getting behind," McCarthy said.
A good chunk of Green Bay's sparse production on the ground against the Titans came from quarterback Aaron Rodgers' 20-yard keeper for a touchdown in the third quarter that cut the deficit to 35-22. That was as close as the Packers came on the scoreboard after getting behind by as many as 25 points.
"Just kind of the way it goes this year, unfortunately," said Rodgers, who has the only rushing touchdowns (three) for the Packers in nine games this season.
--Take away a game-opening kickoff return for a touchdown by the Indianapolis Colts in their upset win at Green Bay on Nov. 6, the Packers defense has allowed 33, 24 and 47 points during the team's three-game losing streak.
Besides the plethora of points given up, a common denominator is Green Bay played those three games without its best defensive player. Linebacker Clay Matthews has been sidelined because of a recurring hamstring injury.
McCarthy, however, was quick to douse Matthews' absence as a convenient excuse for the team's defensive woes.
"It's not about one player. It never will be," McCarthy said Monday. "There's so much more to our football team than our star players. I understand when we win games you want to prop a couple of guys up, and then when it doesn't go well we want to go the other way, too. Clay is an outstanding football player. He's injured. It's part of the game."
Instead, McCarthy pointed to legitimate reasons on the field for why young Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota lit up a banged-up defense for 295 yards and four touchdowns through the air and DeMarco Murray ignited the stunning rout with a 75-yard touchdown run on Tennessee's first play from scrimmage.
"We have an excellent group to work with," McCarthy said. "(But) we need to do things better in certain areas. We had some things go wrong communication-wise (Sunday), some things in fundamentals, and we paid for 'em. The Titans did a very good job of making us pay in those particular moments."
