Uncharted territory: Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers guiding struggling offenses on sub-.500 teams

Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers usually headline winner columns on Mondays. Not so much in 2022.

Brady’s Bucs (3-4) and Rodgers’ Packers (3-4) both lost in Week 7 to fall below .500.

It’s Brady’s first losing record through seven games since 2002 (his first full season as an NFL starter and only healthy season to miss playoffs). Meanwhile, it marked Rodgers’ first losing record through seven games in his career.

Brady and Rodgers’ combined record of 6-8 is their worst through Week 7 of a season. Their combined 1.5 passing touchdowns per game is also their worst as a duo through Week 7 since Rodgers became the Green Bay starter in 2008. The pair’s combined passer rating of 93.7 is the lowest through Week 7 since 2013 (88.0).

The state of the offenses for both all-time great quarterbacks isn’t pretty.

The Bucs were held to three points in Week 7 at Carolina, only the fifth game of Brady’s career in which his team scored three points or fewer. Two of those came in 20 seasons with New England. Three have been since TB12 joined T.B. in 2020.

Brady now has multiple losing streaks within the same season for the first time since 2018 (lost in Weeks 3-4 in 2022, now Weeks 6-7). This is the first time Brady has had a two-game losing streak to teams that each had a losing record entering the game in his career.

The Bucs were held scoreless at halftime for the fifth time since Brady moved to Tampa (all five times against NFC South opponents). Tampa has trailed at halftime in five of their seven games in 2022.

On Sunday, Brady went 32-of-49 passing for 290 pass yards, 0 TDs and 0 INTs, the most pass attempts in a game in Brady’s career in which he had 0 TDs and the fourth-fewest pass yards in a game with 49-plus pass attempts.

“No one feels good about where we’re at, no one feels good about how we’ve played or what we’re doing,” Brady said after the loss, via ESPN. “We’re all in it together. We’ve gotta go pull ourselves out of it.”

Green Bay’s previous worst start with Rodgers under center was 3-3-1 in 2018 (missed playoffs). Through seven weeks, the Packers have lost as many games in 2022 as they have in any season under Matt LaFleur (Green Bay went 13-4 in 2021).

The Packers have lost three consecutive games for the first time since Weeks 11-13, 2018 — Mike McCarthy’s final three games of his Green Bay tenure. Additionally, it’s the first time since 2006 that the Packers are at least 2.5 games back in the NFC North standings after Week 7.

Green Bay earned 232 total yards in its 23-21 loss at the Commanders, the fewest in a game since Week 1, 2021 against the Saints in Jacksonville (lost 38-3). Green Bay is averaging 17.0 offensive points per game in 2022 (14 offensive points in Week 7), the fewest through the first seven games in Rodgers’ career; it would be fewest by a Green Bay team in an entire season since 2006 — 16.7 offensive PPG.

Rodgers completed 23 of 35 attempts Sunday for 194 yards and two TDs. It marked the second time he’s thrown for under 200 yards in 2022. Things were particularly dismal in the first half. Rodgers was 9-of-15 for 47 yards in the first two quarters, only the second time in his career he has thrown 15-plus passes for fewer than 50 pass yards in any half.

In 2022, Rodgers is averaging a career low in passing yards per game (228.1) and passing yards per attempt (6.5). His 1.6 TDs per game are the second-lowest in his career, and the QB’s 94.9 passer rating is the third-worst in his 15 seasons as a starter.

Rodgers has thrown for neither 300-plus yards nor three-plus TDs in any game in 2022, the first time in his career he has not hit either mark in the first seven games. Sunday’s loss marked 11 consecutive games with fewer than 300 pass yards (longest streak since Week 11, 2015 – Week 6, 2016; 12 games).

Rodgers still believes the season can be salvaged despite a tough trip to Buffalo on tap for Week 8.

“You’re goddamn right it does,” Rodgers said, per ESPN. “I’m not worried about this squad. In fact, this might be the best thing for us. This week, nobody’s going to give us a chance, going to Buffalo onSunday Night Football, with a chance to get exposed. Shoot, this might be the best thing for us.”