Sometimes in the final loss of the season, the demons of the team reared their ugly head once again. This happened with Green Bay's offense as they failed to get off to a fast start, and they struggled to score on the goal line. Packers started off the game with only six yards of offense. It seems like it might be the script is too conservative to start the game more times than not. Three straight runs to begin the game is not really what is expected when Aaron Rodgers is behind center. Mike McCarthy is really hard coach to criticize because the times you want him to be like Ted Cruz, he acts like a hippie and the times you want him to be free as a bird, he goes all Rick Santorum. But Green Bay getting off to a slow start did not help things, and the team was very fortunate San Francisco only had six points on the board thanks to the true meaning of a bend not break defense.
Goal line demon did not rear its ugly head until the fourth quarter, probably the worst time for it to happen. For the year, Green Bay is only 50 percent at red zone efficiency which is way down from years past. Granted some of that can be blamed on not having Rodgers, yet this was a major problem when this team had a 6-2 record. Packers found themselves on on the 10 yard line going in with what could have been their second straight touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. Green Bay moved the ball down there with a steady dose of short passing and Eddie Lacy bullying the usually tough San Francisco rush defense. When they went to goal line, it seems what got Green Bay down there went out the window. First down was a short-side zone read run to Randall Cobb and a five-wide set that went nowhere. Second down, the coverage forced Rodgers to throw it away and on third down, Rodgers could only gain two yards on the ground causing Green Bay to tie the game versus putting them ahead. The play calling was mind-boggling in the situation with Lacy bruising and beating up this San Francisco defense for him not to touch the ball once is maddening. Goal line play calling needs to be better next season, no question about it.
While many people will rush to point the finger at defensive coordinator Dom Capers, he really did call a good game for what he had out there. Losing Sam Shields and Mike Neal right away felt like a death sentence for this defense yet they remained tall out there. They lost another linebacker in Andy Mulumba and Capers made a quick switch to running a 4-3 defense for a couple plays which virtually unheard from the Packers coach. I have no idea if this will be his last game as Packers defensive coordinator despite what the armchair general managers want, but if it is, this is a hell of a way to go out. He did the most with limited amount of pieces out there. The only real compliant from this defense is the inability, for the third straight time, to stop The Angry Ostrich.
Colin Kaepernick kept his ownership over Green Bay and will continue to give this defense nightmares well into the 2014 year. Once again, Kaepernick did it with his arm and legs being very efficient with his passes, and he also found a way to make it work on the ground nearly running for 100 yards, his second-highest for his career. For the second straight year, there was no contain on Kaepernick letting him run wild and he only made one bad decision all game, an interception to Tramon Williams in the early stages of the game. If Green Bay wants to head back to the Super Bowl, they need to figure out Kaepernick because it is likely they will need to go through San Francisco in order to get there again. That leads me to wonder whether San Francisco is the new Dallas in terms of the one team Green Bay just cannot beat in any scenario. For as good as Brett Favre was for his career, he only beat Dallas once and it was a cold game in Lambeau Field post Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer. Aaron Rodgers record against Jim Harbaugh's San Francisco is now 0-4. They will not meet again in the regular season next year, but a postseason affair could definitely happen again whether it be again at Lambeau or a meeting at new Levi Stadium set to open next season. Either way, Green Bay needs to start beating the 49ers before Kaepernick is the new age Troy Aikman for fans.
2013 season is now in the books. It will be one where people wonder 'what if' ranging from all the injuries to what things might have been like had Rodgers stayed healthy all year. But at the end of the day, this is still a Super Bowl contender for 2014 and they will make moves to better themselves for the upcoming year.
Charlie.
Post a Comment