Wild Card Recap: Packers Grasp at Destiny Falls Short

Green Bay Packers' theme song going into the Wild Card weekend should have been 'Cinderella Man' by Eminem solely for the first couple lines in the song when Em says 'Technically, I am not really supposed to be right here so fuck it, let's make the most of it." Green Bay had no business being in the playoffs. Absolutely none. They did not have their franchise quarterback for half the year, their defense looked like Swiss cheese more than times than not and they had more injuries than a M.A.S.H. unit yet they still ended up winning the division finding themselves in a home playoff game against San Francisco. Packers came very close to pulling off the upset yet it was not meant to be with old problems haunting the team along with an old nemesis dominating Green Bay again.

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. 

The Lone NFC North Survivor.

It is hard to remember a Packer game that felt tremendously nerve-wracking. It probably would have been the Wild Card round game against Philadelphia in 2010.  Super Bowl definitely had some nerves, but it did not come to the end of the game. Same goes for against Chicago in the Championship round. This game felt like my heart was coming out of my chest, and I knew by the end of it, I would either be as happy as I have been in 2013 with a suffering year as a Wisconsin sports fan or it would be just another notch on a horrible year to live in the state of Wisconsin.

While the first half featured a lack of scoring, a touchdown-fumble and an uncharacteristically bad Aaron Rodgers, the second half felt like how the game should have been going for the whole thing. A complete shootout where defense was not allowed. Green Bay's rushing defense could not stop a nosebleed letting Matt Forte run wild. Jay Culter could not have been more efficient, and did not make that one mistake everyone in the state of Wisconsin expected to happen. It is not like Packers were struggling on offense either, they were moving the ball but still found themselves down one with six minutes left after Mike McCarthy failed to go from two after an Eddie Lacy touchdown.

Usually, I am completely behind the advanced metrics crew, but here's where I disagree when it comes for going for two. If Packers defense could have made a stop, I feel like it is easier for Mike McCarthy to go for two. The reason he decided to go for one was to preserve a chance to tie up the game again if Chicago were to score another touchdown. That would not have been the case had Green Bay failed to go for two. I recognized the idea the final drive would not have been like pulling teeth with a rusty wrench yet still to call it ridiculous to go for the extra point is being a little of a extremist.

At six minutes and change left, I did not know if it would be the last drive of the game for Green Bay. When McCarthy went for it on a short fourth down from their own 22, I realized this would be it. Do or die for Green Bay for the entire season. I also began thinking about how McCarthy would be killed by the advanced metric community and the local pinheads calling into radio stations. John Kuhn found a way to the first down. Green Bay faced another short fourth down, and passed the ball to Jordy Nelson where he caught it for six yards. Packers moved slightly into Bears territory but once again, found themselves with a third straight fourth down....

People were ready to come down on Rodgers talking about how bad he looked out there, the refusal to run the football and once again, the age-old narrative that he cannot close out big games. He steps out of the pocket escaping Julius Peppers (Great, great block from John Kuhn) and he found Randall Cobb wide open down field. I could not believe it. I wanted to run around the house like I just won the lottery, but I had such a head rush from standing, it physically caused me to sit down but I had a massive smile on my face before grabbing another beer knowing Chicago had 38 seconds left with a quarterback with a huge arm and two massive wide receivers.

Thankfully, Brandon Marshall had a key drop at Green Bay's 30 and Cutler throws an interception to Sam Shields as he shorts a pass intended for Alshon Jeffery. Packers somehow is in the playoffs and are in the mix with their full arsenal back in action on offense. Game is on and who knows how this story ends.

It feels like 2003 more than anything else where Green Bay kept having inexplicable moments to keep them alive meaning Tramon Williams will have a walk-off interception and then I will cry in the divisional round. Let's hope half of that is true. San Francisco poises a huge challenge for Green Bay, but right now, it is still time to enjoy one of the most improbable NFC North division crown.

Charlie.  

Sportandfashion-news Packer Preview: Packers vs. Bears

I have to be honest with everyone, I did not want to have a chance at winning the division at the beginning of the week. People will call that stupid. People will call that dumb. But honestly, I was emotionally spent. I could not take it anymore. Someone asked me for my thoughts on the game and I could not tell them because the whole thought exhausted me at the beginning of the week.  When a team puts you through the meat grinder for two months, you get broken down. Does this make me a bad fan?  To some, probably but I had enough of watching Matt Flynn bungle opportunities and MD Jennings miss tackles, I just wanted closure. But things can change in an instant and it did with the return of Aaron Rodgers. 

My mood changed on an instant. I started thinking about ways Rodgers can help Green Bay move past the Bears and get into the playoffs where they might have a chance even if with all that has went wrong with the season. The classic and maybe the only classic scene of Al Pacino in The Godfather Part III sums it best for me.  The season had pulled me back in with Rodgers, and I became elated as he would be going up against a struggling Chicago Bears defense. Green Bay still needs to commit to a balanced attack on Sunday with easing Rodgers back into place and a heavy dose of Bash/Slash as my good friend Seth likes to call our running back tandem. 

Mike McCarthy needs to look at some of his previous game plans to start out with Rodgers on Sunday. The short passes he used with Flynn should be utilized greatly in the first quarter of the game. There is no real reason for Rodgers to be in seven-step drops to start the football game off.  In the second through fourth quarter, this all goes out the window. Maybe even wait until halftime, but McCarthy needs to stick to a Santorum-style playbook for the first quarter. Although what the hell do I know, Mac might show off his elephant nuts and call a four vertical route first play of the game with Rodgers hits Jordy Nelson in stride with McCarthy doing the DX chop down the field. While I feel like this is a complete joke, I could totally see it happen minus the DX chop. 

No matter what the play calling is like in the first quarter, there needs to be a consistent commitment to run the football. Chicago cannot stop the run. Eddie Lacy decimated this defense the first time around. James Starks got into a mix slightly as well. These two guys needs to be prominently featured throughout the game. Not only will this keep the defense rested, but it makes for the playaction beauties we have seen from Rodgers in the past. I do hope Starks sees some time on Sunday with Lacy's ankle being a little iffy, I do not want to see a workhouse load from Lacy. This offense figures to have a big game on Sunday in all facets of the game.   

Even with Rodgers returning, this is not a cakewalk for Green Bay. Chicago is still a potent team despite their defensive struggles this season. People can point to the Philadelphia game or giving up 24 points to Cleveland.  There is also a ground swell about Jay Cutler's record against Green Bay which is 1-8 if you have not heard enough talking heads discuss it.  The fact of the matter is for Chicago to win this football and steal all the Rodgers excitement, they need two things to happen - Matt Fore to be a factor and Cutler to limit his mistakes as much as possible.  

The one thing it seems like no one is talking about from last week's Philadelphia game is how poorly Forte played in both running the football and pass-blocking. Now, we can all have bad games, but could he be a little burned out from the season?  Forte has 267 carries already for the season which is the most since his rookie year in 2008 when he carried the ball 316 times. He did not look sharp against an average Philadelphia team, and he will need to be the x-factor on Sunday for Chicago to win this football game. One place where Forte can really take advantage is the flats. Green Bay's lack of tackling makes Forte lethal out there, and he could have a big game just being the safety valve for this Bears team. 

The other way Chicago wins this football game is for Cutler to play within himself against Green Bay. In his last two years, Cutler has four touchdowns to seven interceptions versus Packers' defenses with a marginal quarterback rating.  He tends to make inexplicable errors at the wrong time when playing Green Bay. It seems like once one thing goes wrong for Cutler, everything else just crumbles like a house of cards. That cannot happen on Sunday. With Rodgers in there, the assumption would be Green Bay's recent rash of turnovers will disappear meaning Chicago will have limited opportunities to score thus Cutler cannot be Mr. Hyde if they want to win this football game.

While I do think people are treating this like Green Bay is winning it no matter what and that makes me nervous, I still think the Packers come out victorious in this one. Rodgers will not have an iconic performance out there, but I do think he plays a large part in Green Bay winning. It will come more from a spirited game from the two running backs as well as the secondary playing well enough to help Green Bay out in a cold weather shootout. Green Bay 35 Chicago 31  

Charlie.  

Sportandfashion-news Packers Classroom: Pittsburgh v. Green Bay

We give grades to the different aspects of the Packers game from Sunday or Monday.  Am I too critical sometimes? Yes.  Am I also too nice sometimes? Yes.  I do not have a teaching degree in case you were wondering. 

A-Game
Eddie Lacy- Despite his injury, a good day to be Eddie Lacy. I feel like he has made his case to be Offensive Rookie of the Year. I realize Keenan Allen had a great year, but Lacy deserves it for essentially being a big part of keeping Green Bay in the division title hunt. Lacy's jump into the end zone was one of the coolest things I saw live at Lambeau Field. It happened right by our seats and it sent the Packers fanbase into excitement. (h/t @gifdsports) 

Andy Mulumba - Am I alone here in thinking the rookie played really well when Matthews went out with injury? Le'Von Bell did have a big day, but it seemed like most of it came in the first three quarters of the game. Mulumba gave some great effort out there having six tackles with four of them being solo. We see it all the time with rookies where they round into form as the season finishes up. I think Mulumba will obviously not be Clay Matthews, but he can definitely contribute for them in the following year.

Micah Hyde - I thought this was Micah's best game of the season overall. He became a game-changer on special teams with a big kick return at least giving Green Bay a chance to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, and then on defense, he played really well. There were not many major plays through the air, and Hyde played a large part of that. Hopefully, his shoulder injury he suffered at the end of the game is not serious, and he can play against Chicago next week.

B-Game
James Jones - One of Jones' best games of the year. He really seems to come and go with major games for Green Bay (That's not a bad thing for Jones, it is more so Green Bay's system rather than Jones being inconsistent.) Matt Flynn looked the most comfortable when throwing the ball to Jones, and I do not blame him for it with some of the incredible catches Jones made on Sunday. I would expect him to take over more of the number one role on Sunday if Flynn remains at quarterback.

A.J Hawk - As we sat at Lambeau with Green Bay trailing 10 points and the crowd deader than roadkill, my buddy Seth goes 'We need something to get the fans back in.' Sure enough, Hawk makes a big balls interception of Ben Roethlisberger leading to Green Bay getting a field goal. The middle linebacker for the Packers overall has had an above average season, but one of the bigger things with Hawk is the increase in impact plays for this Packers defense.

Jarrett Boykin - Another good game for Boykin including a fantastic catch for a touchdown where I yelled he 'facialed' Cortez Allen which was probably inappropriate for Lambeau's crowd. With Jones' contract up, I have no idea how he will remain on the team with wanting more money plus the emergence of Boykin. I doubt they will keep both players. Boykin has been one of the best surprises of this bizarre Green Bay season.

C-Game
Matt Flynn - Man, he did some nice things in this game, but holy hell did he do some bad things in this game. Let's start with throwing the hitch route... Hey Matt, STOP THROWING THE GODDAMN HITCH. He does not have the arm strength for it, and they kept begging for a pick-six which sure did happened changing the landscape of this game. Flynn also had a back-breaker fumble when he needed to escape the pocket and you wonder if he would have got the first down if he slid down. I have no idea because I am a slave to technology and could not see it from my vantage point at Lambeau.

Mike McCarthy's playcalls - Most notably the hitch route, but I had no idea at times what McCarthy was thinking out there. He seems to forget Eddie Lacy and James Starks can definitely hammer it into the end zone. When Aaron Rodgers was still at quarterback, I wondered if McCarthy would overthink about play calls trying to decide whether Rodgers or Lacy deserved the ball.  The fact Green Bay only had two plays with a minute left to go in the game is pathetic. Mac deserves some of the blame, but also the quarterback is at fault.

D-Game
Clay Matthews - This is not really for the game, but more for Matthews' season as he fractures his thumb again knocking him out for the year. It was a disappointing year for Matthews whom started off so strong only to come up with multiple injuries. It will be interesting to see what the narrative will be about Clay in the following off-season. People will start saying he is injury-prone because people are goddamn idiots. Breaks are so much different than strains, sprains and tears.

F-Game
Nick Perry - Man oh man. Perry jumped offsides on a field goal attempt at the end of the game. It led to the game being 38-31 instead of 34-31 (Let's be realistic) and costing Green Bay their final timeout. I could not believe a second-year player like Perry would make such a rookie mistake. It was the story of the game with Green Bay's special teams though. Granted, they had some nice kick returns, but from the fake punt to Perry's offsides just a disaster for defensive special teams.

B.J. Raji - This is a guy currently on my shit list. If I were Santa Claus, Raji is getting coal in his stocking. He is a man whom we see on this football team as a leader and he did not look like one on Sunday with a horrific personal foul call after the play against Pittsburgh. Instead of the Steelers being third and six from Green Bay's 39, Pittsburgh got the ball from the 24 and got a score out of it. Completely dumb and something Raji hopefully will never do again.

NFC North - I am going to write more about this tomorrow, but I really have no idea how Green Bay has a chance at this division yet I do not know if I want the title. I will take it, fine, but this has been a real frustrating season. I do not want it to end, but I feel like a boxer in the 12th round where I have been beat to hell yet there is still a chance for the belt even if I do not know if I can take it anymore.

Charlie.

Mack Brown Leaves the Longhorns

On Friday night, we thought Mack Brown was going to stay at Texas. People were rushing to laugh at those whom reported Brown's demise at the beginning of the week, and then Brown resigned from Texas with 40 minutes before the Heisman Trophy announcement. With Brown being out at as Longhorns coach, we are probably going to see one of the most insane coaching searches in history of football as well as what will Brown's legacy be in college football no matter if he keeps coaching in college football.

I do not think there is one head coach that I could say is off the table with Texas. There are many whom I think would say 'Thanks but no thanks' yet at the same time, they have more money than multiple small countries meaning some people whom would never listen to a new job, will actually give it some time. If nothing else, some of these coaches will take phone calls to work new deals. Nothing on whether CBS Sports is reporting Buzz Williams to be a candidate for coach of the football team.  This will be a fun time with Twitter because there are media members trying to step over other people's feet looking to find the one coach taking the job. It will happen on multiple occasions in the coming weeks.

One of the biggest fishes Texas might look to grab is Jim Harbaugh, head coach of San Francisco 49ers. Barking Carnival, SB Nation's Texas blog, made an excellent case on why Harbaugh is more realistic than other people believed it is right now. He keeps getting mentioned by everyone and it raises the question if he is happy with San Francisco right now?  I am not in Harbaugh's head, but it is interesting he turned down a two-year contract extension. It could just mean the Niners coach wants to be the highest-paid NFL coach, or it could mean he is looking for another adventure.

Another NFL coach that has been mentioned by ESPN Chris Mortensen is Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy. Not being a homer here, but I cannot see it at all.  Yes there are some ties there, but McCarthy has not coached in college since 1992. I was the ripe age of four. To say college football has changed since then is a complete understatement. It is a whole new world.  And even having a daughter in Austin, McCarthy, I believe, has four other kids to deal with right now and picking them up to move seems like something he would not do at all.  As for Harbaugh and McCarthy, if either of them end their season in the first week of January, it becomes more interesting.

I do think Harbaugh is not a fantasy selection but there are names that I think could be more of a possibility. Mark Dantonio is a name many are not mentioning right now. He built a great program at Michigan State, and while he is not the most media friendly guy, he could adapt and rebuild this program. Todd Graham has only been at Arizona State for two years, but the man does not really care about loyalty, always wanting to move up the ladder. New Texas athletic director Steve Patterson hired him at Arizona State, why would he not do the same with the Longhorns?  To me, those are two most realistic coaches whom I could see at Texas.

It is really fascinating to think about Brown's legacy in college football. People forget sometimes he won a National Championship beating USC in a virtual home game. Vince Young is one of the best college quarterbacks of the last 20 years and Brown recruited him. But he missed out on Texas high school quarterbacks like Johnny Manziel, Robert Griffin III, Matthew Stafford, Christian Ponder, Jameis Winston and Nick Foles.  Misses happened, but the fact, none of them played for the Longhorns is stunning. People will always remember Brown for this because it is the end of his legacy which we all remember more fondly then Brown's BCS Title.

Charlie.