Overreaction Monday: Packers fans want Rashan Gary held accountable for once

The Green Bay Packers got back in the win column on Sunday, holding off Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams for a 24-19 victory that moves them to 3-2 on the season. Jordan Love tilted his big play/big mistake needle back in the right direction (though not entirely), Tucker Kraft enjoyed a breakout game and Jeff Hafley's defense harassed Stafford into just 5.78 yards per attempt on 45 passes. A good win, and one that showed real improvement in several key areas.

But despite all that good news, Packers fans still found themselves asking one question in the aftermath: Where oh where has Rashan Gary gone? It was another invisible week for the defensive lineman, who put up just three QB pressures and failed to record even a single QB hit — stats all the more damning given the state of the Rams offensive line right now and just how often Stafford was asked to drop back and throw. Green Bay's secondary has been improved under new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley. Its pass rush, however, has been deeply disappointing considering the talent involved. And after five weeks, Packers fans are finally fed up.

Packers fans are fed up with Rashan Gary's lack of production

Sunday's no-show is just the latest disappearing act Gary has pulled. While everyone else was teeing off on Titans QB Will Levis two weeks ago, Gary was nowhere to be found, and he was shut down entirely by the Vikings' strong offensive line in Week 4. Since recording a sack of Jalen Hurts in the opening-week loss to the Eagles, the Michigan product has zero sacks, zero tackles for loss and zero QB hits. Per Next Gen Stats, his pressure rate is 10.5 percent, by far a career low.

By just about every metric, Gary has gotten worse, and it's hard to figure out why: If anything, this was supposed to be a breakout season as he gets even further removed from his 2022 ACL surgery. The potential Gary flashed last season — 30 QB pressures, 22 hits, nine sacks and seven tackles for loss, all while coming back from a major knee injury — bought him a buffer period, but it feels like Week 5 was something of an inflection point for Packers fans.

At a certain point, potential stops being good enough. This Packers team has real championship aspirations, but it stands very little chance of realizing them unless this front seven can put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Gary was supposed to be one of the main sources of that pressure, and the excuses are now drying up for a 26-year-old fifth-year pro on his second contract who is by all accounts fully healthy. Green Bay isn't giving him a ton of help, and teams sliding their protection toward him certainly accounts for some of the dropoff in production. But Gary just signed a $107 million contract extension; with that money comes great responsibility, and it's time for Gary to start playing like it or face some real consequences.