Thanks for the responses.
I agree it's possible Rodgers has a bounce back year. Not everything was his fault.
I will say the offensive line was NOT "awful" - they finished 3rd in PFF's rankings. They started the year rough but got better each week. That they thought Hanson/Newman was a good pairing on the right OL makes me wonder about the coaching/self-scouting of the team. Overall Rodgers pressured rate % was down and the Jones/Dillon gained 1800-ish yards rushing.
Bakh won't get much better, he's about as good as he's going to be going forward. If the knee isn't an issue anymore he can be good player. Jenkins might get a little better with more time from the knee injury. I think that side of the line is pretty good but you're not likely to see much improvement there.
I'm not sure how much better Myers, Runyan or Njiman get.
It's possible the rookies (Tom, Watson, Doubs, etc.) make a leap. I certainly hope they do. It's just as possible they have a Sophomore Slump.
They're bringing Joe Barry back; how much better can they be with him at DC? Walker should be better, Wyatt too. Stokes and Gary will be coming back from bad injuries and probably won't play until mid-season. They were atrocious vs. the run. Counting on internal improvement from the rookies is a real thing, but it's not the only thing.
They will start the year over the cap and will have to redo some contracts or cut players. They probably will get a new K who might not be as clutch. They might not be able to afford Nixon who helped their ST look good. A number of starters are UFAs and either won't or shouldn't be back. (Lewis, Lazard, Tonyan, Cobb, Crosby, Amos, Lowry, Reed) You might get addition by subtraction there.
Finally we get to Rodgers, who had his most interceptions since 2008. His accuracy has declined, his mobility has declined, and his Y/C, Y/A, and ANY/A were also the lowest of his career as a starter. He crossed the 250 passing yards threshold 3 times this season, and hasn't passed for 300 since Week 10 of the previous season. He had 5 games this season -- including 3 of the final 6 -- where he didn't crack 200 yards passing. This is not a QB with performance trending up. I cannot stress that enough.
You could argue the decline started last season...he started to look iffy leading up to and especially in that SF playoff game. he's 40 - maybe he hates getting hit, maybe it's the cold.
He's been a great QB but he isn't one anymore. You're paying him to lift the team, I don't think he can do that either. He will need to be surrounded by playmakers who will have to do the heavy lifting. Hard to do that when you don't have cap space.
I hope I'm wrong, but I think:
he comes back to GB & they pay his $59M
he leads them to 10-7 and a WC playoff exit before deciding he's had enough, disappearing into the jungle and leaving a cap mess behind.
They never find out what they have in Jordan Love and lose him in FA and
GB starts all over from scratch in 2024.