 |
| Cobb's Game-Winning TD, Photo by Wm Glasheen, USA Today |
We actually had to watch most of the game on DVR Sunday night, as we had to leave the house when the game was just starting for Rosh Hashanah services, and didn't get back until about 2 hours later. In the meantime, we had turned off our cell phones and left them off, and turned off the answering machine so that we didn't have to listen to any messages coming in, and we turned off the car radio. By the time we finished watching the game, it was almost midnight, Lambeau time. So this is a bit of a stream of consciousness recap of how we learned what had happened.
We didn't know that Rodgers had been knocked out of the game, and taken off on a cart, until we got back home. When we saw the injury, I thought one of the bones in his leg had broken based on the way the Bears player landed on the leg. I was envisioning another lost season, or at a minimum wondering how many weeks Rodgers would have to miss. I wasn't feeling too excited about traveling from the west coast this coming week to watch DeShone Kizer getting beat up by the Vikings. And I was wondering how my fantasy team would survive.
But Rodgers miraculously appeared on the field, ready to play the second half. It was obvious that he was hobbled by his knee injury, and therefore obvious that he was more vulnerable than usual to oncoming pass rushers, especially from Khalil Mack, who was like a human wrecking ball in the first half. He was only expected to play limited snaps, but the Bears threw that plan out the window when they saw the instant impact he had on the game. Oh, now I get why the Bears were willing to pay so much to bring him to Chicago. But once Rodgers returned, the Packers started playing a lot of no huddle offense, and the TV announcers were exactly right in observing that the pass rush dropped off as soon as the Packers started running no huddle. They just could not keep up with the pace of the offense and started to tire out. Meanwhile, defensive coordinator Mike Pettine also made adjustments, and after the two opening drives for the Bears, the defensive squad only gave up two more field goals for the rest of the game.
I only took one call while we were watching the game. We got a call from our daughter, who was stuck in traffic on the way back from the game with her partner. I answered and immediately yelled "we are only in the third quarter, can I call you back when we are done?" She asked me how much time was left in the third quarter, and I said 5 minutes. She said, "OK, I want to talk to you about the game when you finish." On the surface, I learned nothing from this call. And yet, I did not hear the slightest hint of dejection in her voice, and I would have expected to pick up on some. The score was 20-0 at the time. I didn't say this to my wife, but I began to wonder if somehow they had pulled off a miracle.
And then it was 20-3 after Rodgers' first drive of the third quarter. Too bad they didn't get a touchdown, now they still needed three more scores (and a shutout or near shutout) to possibly win. Soon, it was 20-10, thanks to a quick drive and a sensational pass from Rodgers (on one foot) and an excellent catch by Geronimo Allison in the corner of the end zone, on a 39 yard touchdown. Hey, there were still 14 minutes left. Who knows? Around this time, my wife and I started to exchange looks, that, loosely translated, meant, "What do you think? Could they possibly do this?"
Just a few minutes later, it was 20-17, thanks to another extremely efficient, 6 play, 75 yard drive. And there were still 9 minutes left. Unfortunately, the Bears, who had been quiet for most of the second half, put together a pretty good drive, converting third downs when necessary, and eating up 6 of the 9 minutes left on the clock. But the Packers defense finally stiffened and forced a 32 yard field goal to make it 23-17.
Well, what do you know? If they could somehow pull it off, this wouldn't be the first game-winning drive Rodgers engineered in the last 3 minutes. Not even the first one against the Bears, and not the first one involving Randall Cobb. When Rodgers hit Cobb for a short pass that Cobb turned into a 75 yard TD (who knew he still had that much speed and shiftiness?), the only problem was that they scored too fast, and left over two minutes on the clock for the Bears. The Packers would have to stop the Bears on downs to preserve the win. And they did! In fact they had to do it twice, when Clay Matthews (who didn't have a very good game overall) committed an inexcusable roughing the passer penalty on what should have been the game-clinching, fourth-down incompletion. If the Bears had gone on to score and win, Matthews would have been the goat, and not the Greatest Of All Time kind, just the plain old goat. But five plays later, Nick Perry bailed out his fellow linebacker with a fourth-down strip sack, preserving the miraculous 24-23 win.
It was my wife's observation, but one with which I agreed, that this game was sort of reminiscent of the famous "Irvin Favre" game in Oakland, the night after Favre's father died. Yes, Favre and Rodgers played unbelievably well; but it was also the case that their teammates stepped up and played over their heads, in order to support their team leader. If they can preserve and maintain just a little of that extra something in coming games, it will be a big plus.
I think there are some significant take-aways from this game. The first is that maybe it isn't such a great idea to have your starting offense only play 5 plays together during the entire preseason. I understand why they do it, in view of the season-ending injury to Jordy Nelson a couple years ago, but you cannot convince me that the lack of playing time together had nothing to do with the sluggishness of the offense in the first half. To a lesser extent, I felt the same way about the defense. They seemed lost and outcoached during the first half, and I wonder if more playing time as a unit might have helped them out as well. I know the coach will have none of this, but I hope deep down inside somewhere, he takes the point.
The second thing is that the Packers should turn to the fast paced, or even no huddle offense, whenever they are having trouble getting things started. Heck, start the game with it and see what happens. It is so obvious that Rodgers is the master of the fast-paced offense, and it is equally obvious that it puts the defense at a serious disadvantage. If you have Rodgers behind center, you have a natural advantage going in. But if you really want to put the defense back on its heels, have Rodgers run the fast-paced offense.
Finally, they are going to have to play better than this to win the game on Sunday against the Vikings. No holes to be dug out of; no sluggishness on offense or defense; more pass protection and quick-release passes from the very beginning of the game, not just after your quarterback almost gets knocked out for an extended period. With an injured Rodgers, and with the Vikings looking very good against the 49ers this past week, you would think that the advantage goes to the Vikings. But it was the Vikings who took Rodgers out last year. That ought to be a little motivation for the team to play with emotion and intensity again. I just hope they start that way from the very start.
No comments:
Post a Comment