The Green Bay Packers’ wide receivers and Sam Winchester from Supernatural have more in common than you think.
The Trickster is a mischievous supernatural being with god-like powers. He once trapped Winchester in a time loop to teach him the inevitability of loss and death. The Trickster forced Sam to relive Tuesday over and over, with his brother Dean dying in increasingly strange and random ways each time. The Trickster wanted Sam to accept that he couldn’t save his brother, referencing Dean’s deal with a demon that meant he would die within the year.
That deal had saved Sam’s life in the previous season, but now it was time for Sam to face the inevitable loss.
After watching the Packers this season, it seems like they have struck their own deal, not with demons, but with the football gods.
The terms? They’d get a defensive coordinator who makes halftime adjustments, a quarterback who miraculously dodges a season-ending knee injury in the first game of the season, and sign Josh Jacobs and Xavier McKinney in free agency.
The fine print? Their wide receivers wouldn’t be able to catch the ball to save their lives.
Through 12 weeks, the Packers had at least one drop in eight contests. They recorded two or more drops in eight matchups and three or more in three. Their season high came in Week 9 against the Detroit Lions, with five drops.
Entering Week 12, Green Bay ranked third in dropped passes with 24. They trailed only the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants. Jayden Reed was tied with Amari Cooper and George Pickens for most drops with seven. Dontayvion Wicks’ 27.3% drop rate was the highest in the league among wideouts with at least 25 targets.
Marcus Mosher from The 33rd Team ranked the top-10 wide receivers with the best hands. He didn’t include Christian Watson despite Watson having a higher contested-catch rate than anyone on the list and zero drops. However, on Sunday Watson had a costly drop on Jordan Love’s beautiful dime, which would have been a walk-in touchdown and put Green Bay up by 17 going into halftime against the San Francisco 49ers.
Love’s drop rate was 6.1% last year, the 28th highest among quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks. In 2024, his drop rate has risen to 9.6%, ranking fourth-highest among passers with the same number of dropbacks.
Sam Winchester always woke up in the time loop to “Heat of the Moment” playing on the radio. Ironically, Green Bay’s receivers can’t afford to let the heat of the moment get to them. Despite their struggles, the Packers sit at 8-3 and have a top-10 offense in EPA/pass. However, this young group is now one and a half seasons into the playbook and scheme, leaving no excuses for continuing to drop so many passes.
While the wideouts have missed opportunities, the drops aren’t solely on them. Love hasn’t been playing perfect football, either. Before the San Francisco game, he had thrown an interception in his last 10 starts, struggling with play execution and accuracy. Still, the drops from Wicks, Reed, Doubs, and Watson are hard to ignore. Ultimately, if the ball hits your hands, you’ve got to catch it.
In Supernatural, Sam eventually realizes that saving his brother is impossible and comes to terms with Dean’s impending death by season’s end. The hounds of hell killed Dean in the final episode.
Green Bay doesn’t need to accept drops as a permanent part of its identity. Their last drop-free game came against the Arizona Cardinals on October 13. Since then, they’ve been stuck in a frustrating time loop of drops every Sunday. Still, doesn’t have to define them. With a pass-catching group as talented as any, cleaning up these mental mistakes could be the key to unlocking their offense’s full potential.