CARSON, Calif. -- Aaron Rodgers has seen losses send seasons two different ways. There was the 2015 loss at the Denver Broncos after a 6-0 start that turned into a three-game losing streak and a disappointing 10-6 finish for the Green Bay Packers. A year later, there was the blowout at Washington that begat his famous “run-the-table” remark.
Sunday’s manhandling by the Los Angeles Chargers felt like that kind of loss -- one that either snaps the Packers back into focus or ruins a promising start.
Losses happen. No one expected the Packers to go 15-1, not even after a 7-1 start that featured a recent offensive rebirth combined with an opportunistic defense.
But this loss went from a bad start to worse and saw Rodgers question “our routine and decisions we made the last 48 hours” after the Packers came to California a day early. After their upcoming home game against the Carolina Panthers followed by a bye, the Packers have a bicoastal two weeks of games at San Francisco and at the New York Giants, which made this feel like a seminal moment.
“We’ve got to respond the right way and go into the bye 8-2,” Rodgers said. “This week will be interesting to see the leadership step up, but I feel pretty optimistic. Much like maybe ’16 with some of those losses, where you just felt like you still had something special, even though you had a dud like today.”
The dud in Denver in 2015 -- when then-coach Mike McCarthy memorably said, “I haven’t had my ass kicked like that in a long time” -- changed that season. The Packers used the same word that day -- “humbling” -- as many did Sunday.
“It brings you back down to earth," said right tackle Bryan Bulaga, who was a member of that 2015 team. "We’ll watch it and get better. No time to sulk here. We have another good team coming in this week. Got to get ready to play.”
What determines which way a team goes after a bad loss is subjective, but Rodgers said it comes from the players.
“The character of the guys in the locker room,” Rodgers said. “I feel pretty confident that we’re going to respond.”
In that regard, accountability doesn’t look like a problem.
Not from Rodgers, who said of his season-low 161-yard passing day: “Obviously, I wasn’t super comfortable in the pocket, missed a couple throws that I usually hit. We just didn’t get into a rhythm.”
Not from Bulaga, who struggled against Chargers defensive end Melvin Ingram while playing with a banged-up right hand and said: “I think for us up front, we could put a lot of this one on us without even looking at the tape. Me, personally, didn’t play good enough, didn’t help the team out enough.”
Not from left tackle David Bakhtiari, who lost his matchup against defensive end Joey Bosa and said: “Flat-out, they played better than us. Their pass-rusher that went against me played better than me.”
And not from outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith, who, despite a sixth game this season with at least a half-sack, said: “I’ll tell you this, man, it was a wake-up call for us. Because we went 7-1, and I don’t feel like it, but some people probably got comfortable in their situations. To lose a game shows a lot and brings us back to earth to where we need to be at work each and every day.”
Passion doesn’t look like an issue, either.
Late in the game, cameras caught veteran cornerback Tramon Williams visibly upset on the sideline.
When asked why, Williams said: "We were losing, man. We felt that we should have been playing better, and we just weren't. We didn't have that spark. Emotions just start to flare. I felt that we should have been playing better, and we weren't doing it. That's what you saw."
Leave it to ultra-confident cornerback Jaire Alexander, the second-year pro, to sum up what impact this performance will have on his unit’s confidence.
“None,” Alexander said before he proceeded to spell it out in his own way. “N-U-N. None.”