Most people expected a lot out of the Packers this year.

Entering Week 14 with only a mathematically miniscule chance of even sneaking into the 7th wild card spot, the Packers have failed to live up to nearly every expectation.

WHEN THE OPPONENTS HAVE THE BALL

When opponents have the ball, they've done pretty much whatever they want all season.

The Packers were supposed to finally have a defense this year.

With a couple first round picks added to a defense that retained ascending young vets like De'Vondre Campbell and Rasul Douglas, added role players like Jarran Reed, and welcomed back a healthy Jaire Alexander, expectations were high.

Quay Walker has been a starter since day 1, but experienced some rookie moments. Fellow first round pick Devonte Wyatt, meanwhile, has struggled to even get on the field.

It's not a huge immediate impact for two first round picks, but the vets are even worse. A case can be made that every returning Packers defender has been worse than they were last year.

Kenny Clark is going through his worst season as a pro, as is Adrian Amos, and Jaire Alexander isn't far behind. Eric Stokes was benched before getting hurt. De'Vondre Campbell and Rasul Douglas looked like they returned to their pre-Packers journeyman norms. Dean Lowry has maintained his consistent underwhelmingness, and Preston Smith might be be the current leader in the clubhouse simply by maintaining a somewhat similar level of play as last year.

Rashan Gary was the one player who looked noticeably better, but he tore his ACL on Detroit's garbage turf a month ago.

Joe Barry is an easy target for the decline of the defense. How can a defense full of superstar talent play so poorly? Well, the guy who architected the worst NFL defense in the last decade has no idea.

The players have to take some blame, too, though, because missed tackles and lax effort can't be blamed on the coach. Does Barry need to do more as a coach? Yup, but that doesn't mean the professionals on the field get a pass.

This is a unit with a lot of talent that simply isn't playing like it. Kingsley Enagbare has been a surprisingly solid replacement for Rashan Gary, and there aren't really gaping holes in the lineup - just good players performing poorly. The Packers defense still has the horses to run (at least enough to stay in games), but if they haven't figured it out by now, a bye week probably won't fix what ails them.

WHEN THE PACKERS HAVE THE BALL

David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins were expected to make triumphant returns to health and launch the offense into the top tier of the league.

The reigning back-to-back MVP at quarterback, the best complementary running back duo in the league, and a diverse crop of young talented receivers were expected to blow defenses away with Matt LaFleur's cutting edge scheme and brilliant play-calling.

That didn't happen.

For starters, returning offensive linemen have struggled with health and only recently found a degree of normalcy. The constant shuffling on the line, that inexplicably featured Jake Hanson and Royce Newman, was inconsistent at best. Once Bakhtari and Jenkins settled into their familiar spots on the left side, Yosh Nijman made a successful switch to right tackle, and the Packers kept Jon Runyan at right guard next to Josh Meyers, things looked pretty good. Zach Tom has been an effective swing lineman.

That bodes well for the rest of the season, but it may be too little too late.

Early blocking issues earned Aaron Rodgers a broken thumb, which severely limited the passing game, even with stabilized blocking. To be honest, though, Rodgers wasn't lighting it up like an MVP before his the injury. The wide receiver group featured a lot of unfamiliar faces and was unsettled early. Things have improved since then (hristian Watson has emerged as a game-breaker, Romeo Doubs played better than advertised, and Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb have been steady role players) but it may be too little too late given where the Packers find themselves.

The run game has been a bright spot... when used.

AJ Dillon overcame some uncharacteristically hesitant running early in the year to return to battering ram form over the last two weeks, and Aaron Jones has been money pretty much every time he's touched the ball.

Which makes it so head-scratching that the team seemed to ignore the run so often, specifically on the goal line late against the Giants.

The offense, as a whole, has underperformed. There's plenty of reasons to explain why and it's undoubtedly a combination of all of them.

It's possible this group hits stride after a week of rest and explodes through the final four games of the year, but it might not matter.

OTHER NOTES

Special teams were expected to improve with a new coach in Rich Bisaccia and new players in Keisean Nixon and Rudy Ford.

And, somewhat surprisingly, they did.

They improved from an absolutely abysmal unit that wrecked the entire season to a mediocre group with only a few disasters, making them the most promising unit on the team.

They stuck with human fumbling machine Amari Rodgers at punt returner for reasons no one has explained even though he was a net negative every time he stepped on the field for special teams. Since cutting him, they've had some decent returns.

On the year, they've had some decent returns, haven't given up a return in a while, and even managed to block a field goal last week at a critical point in the game.

Like offense and defense, though, their improvement may be too little too late.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Expectations are the enemy of joy.

This is a terrible season if you came in expecting a Super Bowl. You're probably miserable even if you "only" expected to walk to a division title.

If you just watch each week to enjoy some free entertainment (and squint really hard to focus on the positives), you got some exciting close games. They didn't always pan out the way we wanted, but they were good games for a neutral observer.

We're not neutral observers, though, are we?

We're Packers fans who expected more than this.

We expected the offense to step up with healed linemen and exciting young receivers. We expected the defense to capitalize on it's strong playoff showing and get to the next level with vets returning to health and highly-drafted rookies raising the overall profile of the unit. We expected special teams to not be an albatross that loses every game.

Two out of three ain't bad, but we only got one out of three.

There's hope to cling on to. The Packers could win out and sneak in for an exciting, improbable playoff run. But they'll need help. Let's hope the Texans upset the Cowboys, the Bucs beat the 49ers, and the Eagles beat the Giants. Let's hope the Packers stay alive for another week.

We'll have months to talk about the future. For now, let's enjoy what's right here and keep hope alive... for at least one more week.