On October 27, the Packers defeated the Vikings with ease in Minneapolis. In victory, Aaron Rodgers completed 24-of-29 passes for 285 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and this was without receivers James Jones and Randall Cobb and tight end Jermichael Finley in the lineup.
The win, Green Bay’s fourth in a row, improved the Packers’ record to 5-2. The Packers were imposing, serious contenders.
Then, eight days later, Rodgers suffered a broken collarbone, and everything thereafter was a greater struggle for Green Bay, which did rally to win the NFC North on the final day of the season.
On Wednesday, three days after the Packers’ 2013 campaign ended with a wild-card loss to San Francisco, coach Mike McCarthy was asked about the 5-2 start and whether the team, as it was playing at that time, could have been one of the best he had led in Green Bay.
“I think it could have been,” McCarthy said. “I hate doing this, especially because I call the plays. I felt that this was going to be the best offense that we’ve ever had here. I thought we were going to go past 2011. When we (came) out of the Minnesota game, I thought we really, really hit our stride because we had a couple bumps there. We got the no-huddle offense where it needed to be. We changed a lot of the mechanics from the past.
“I felt very, very good about our offense, and our numbers reflected it, too, more importantly, our internal numbers, or the things that we were trying to get done. And (the) defense was playing very well.”
The 2013 Packers had promise — lots of it.
But did they ever have terrible injury luck.