Dec 22nd 2008 8:00PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Bears, Packers, NFC North, NFL Fans
That’s right, folks, it’s the last Monday night game of the season. Which means nine months of Kornheiser-free football viewing starts at midnight. Parting, as they say, is such sweet sorrow. Except in this case it’s just sweet.
In any event, the Bears are hosting the Packers in a huge NFC North get-together. After consulting my Playoff Odds Abacus, it looks like Chicago needs to win out. Or maybe I’m reading it wrong. Whatever, this much is true: Green Bay’s season ends next week and it’s all because Ted Thompson traded Brett Favre to the Jets. I mean, look how good he’s doing in the Big Apple. Wait, what?
Live chat fun starts at 8:20-ish PM EST. Snyder’s bringing the egg nog.Continue Reading
Dec 18th 2008 9:00PM by Bruce Ciskie (author feed)
Filed under: Bears, Packers, NFC North, NFL Coaching
Last year, the weather in Chicago was downright frightful for the Bears’ Week 16 home game against Green Bay. The wind was howling, the wind chills dipped well below zero, and the players looked absolutely miserable.
One team played well in the conditions. The other was barely present for the proceedings. As a result, the Bears beat Green Bay 35-7.
A few weeks later, the Packers hosted the Giants in the NFC Championship. While it was clear and dry with little wind, it was very cold, with gametime temperatures close to zero. One team played like it was 70 degrees out, and that team went on to the Super Bowl, while the Packers stayed home.
Now, I’m not here to say that every team that plays in a northern climate should practice outside all the time. However, I’ve always been struck by how outdoor teams prepare for indoor games. They crank up the stereo and practice in a noisy environment. After all, it’s going to be noisy at the game.
Despite this, the Packers continue to refuse to practice outside before playing potentially bad-weather games.Continue Reading
Dec 16th 2008 1:00PM by Bruce Ciskie (author feed)
Filed under: Packers, NFC North, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching
The temptation is there.
After a 13-3 season that ended just short of a spot in the Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers are going to miss the playoffs. In fact, 2008 will only be Green Bay’s second losing season since 1992. The other losing season resulted in a new coaching staff, as Mike Sherman was fired.
We do live in an era where coaches get all the love when things are going well, and then get tossed out like last week’s trash when life gets rough. The job calls for success early and always, and no one seems to understand that not everything can always go well.
Mike McCarthy probably knew that already. If he didn’t, he has learned it now. His Packers have lost four straight, will not be in the playoffs, and can’t seem to catch a break. Of Green Bay’s nine losses, eight have come by a total of 38 points. Take out losses by nine and 11 points, and six of the Packers’ defeats have been by a of 18 points.
With this year’s Packers poised to finish no better than 7-9, should McCarthy be feeling any heat?Continue Reading
Dec 15th 2008 3:00PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Bills, Chiefs, Jaguars, Packers, Redskins, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching
There are two weeks remaining in the regular season and we’ve already seen Mike Nolan, Lane Kiffin and Scott Linehan lose their jobs for varying degrees of incompetence. But more heads will roll in the coming months, and some bone-headed decisions made yesterday will go a long way in cementing the fate of the less fortunate.
A crappy economy might be the only thing to save Jauron’s job, because after jumping out to a 4-1 start, the Bills are now sitting at 6-8. And the last two minutes of yesterday’s game against the Jets was a microcosm of their season.
With Buffalo leading 27-24 and trying to run the last 240 or so seconds off the clock, somebody thought it would be great fun to let J.P. Losman throw a pass on second-and-five from the Bills’ 27. Predictably, he fumbled, the Jets’ Shaun Ellis recovered, and 11 yards later, that’s your ball game.Continue Reading
Dec 11th 2008 11:15AM by Bruce Ciskie (author feed)
Filed under: Packers, NFC North, NFL Coaching
Wednesday, you had a chance to read a brilliant piece by our own Michael David Smith. In this week’s Every Play Counts, MDS ripped apart the underachieving failure that is the Packers’ defense.
Among the primary issues of late has been the move of cornerback Charles Woodson to safety. As MDS pointed out, Woodson has played okay. He didn’t make any spectacular plays, but he did his job adequately. The problem with the move is that it simply transferred the hole in the Packers’ defense from safety to cornerback. Because the Packers have stubbornly refused to adjust their scheme, third cornerback Tramon Williams has been constantly left alone in situations that he’s not good enough to handle by himself.
From the sounds of it, however, the Packers and their coaching staff didn’t read Every Play Counts.Continue Reading
Dec 10th 2008 9:00AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Packers, Texans
A year after Brett Favre led them to a 13-3 record and the brink of a Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers are 5-8 and just about eliminated from playoff contention.
But while the knee-jerk reaction would be to blame the decision of the front office to trade Favre and make Aaron Rodgers the starter, folks in Green Bay are mostly supporting Rodgers. The reason? Packers fans are smart enough to see that the real problem is on the other side of the ball, where opposing offenses are pushing the Packers’ defense up and down the field.
That was on display in a big way on Sunday, when the Houston Texans rolled up 549 yards of total offense in a 24-21 win at Lambeau Field. So what’s wrong with the Packers’ defense? We explore in this week’s installment of Every Play Counts.Continue Reading
Dec 11th 2008 11:15AM by Bruce Ciskie (author feed)
Filed under: Packers, NFC North, NFL Coaching
Wednesday, you had a chance to read a brilliant piece by our own Michael David Smith. In this week’s Every Play Counts, MDS ripped apart the underachieving failure that is the Packers’ defense.
Among the primary issues of late has been the move of cornerback Charles Woodson to safety. As MDS pointed out, Woodson has played okay. He didn’t make any spectacular plays, but he did his job adequately. The problem with the move is that it simply transferred the hole in the Packers’ defense from safety to cornerback. Because the Packers have stubbornly refused to adjust their scheme, third cornerback Tramon Williams has been constantly left alone in situations that he’s not good enough to handle by himself.
From the sounds of it, however, the Packers and their coaching staff didn’t read Every Play Counts.Continue Reading
Dec 10th 2008 9:00AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Packers, Texans
A year after Brett Favre led them to a 13-3 record and the brink of a Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers are 5-8 and just about eliminated from playoff contention.
But while the knee-jerk reaction would be to blame the decision of the front office to trade Favre and make Aaron Rodgers the starter, folks in Green Bay are mostly supporting Rodgers. The reason? Packers fans are smart enough to see that the real problem is on the other side of the ball, where opposing offenses are pushing the Packers’ defense up and down the field.
That was on display in a big way on Sunday, when the Houston Texans rolled up 549 yards of total offense in a 24-21 win at Lambeau Field. So what’s wrong with the Packers’ defense? We explore in this week’s installment of Every Play Counts.Continue Reading
Dec 7th 2008 2:50PM by Bruce Ciskie (author feed)
Filed under: Packers, NFC North, NFL Coaching
The Green Bay Packers stood at 5-5 after a 37-3 win over the Chicago Bears. At that point, they had at least given themselves a puncher’s chance at the playoffs.
However, they are being plagued lately by a number of problems. We’ve talked about their defensive issues, and we’ve discussed the special teams.
The most alarming recent trend with this team might be their slow starts. Since getting to 5-5, the Packers have been blown away by the Saints and Panthers in the first quarters of those games. Against Minnesota, the Packers started slowly, recovered briefly thanks to a couple big plays, and found a way to lose.
In four of the Packers’ last five games (Chicago being a notable exception), the Packers have fallen behind. They have lost all four of those games.Continue Reading
Dec 8th 2008 9:00PM by Bruce Ciskie (author feed)
Filed under: Packers, NFC North, NFL Coaching
It was bound to happen.
The Green Bay Packers have lost three straight. They fell to 5-8 with a seemingly improbable loss to an indoor team - Houston - on a three-degree day at Lambeau Field.
It’s the kind of game the Packers used to pride themselves on winning. However, when the temperature dropped last year, the Packers became a so-so team. That trend hasn’t reversed, despite the understanding from everyone involved that it had to.
Now, as it becomes perfectly evident to everyone that the 2008 Packers aren’t going to the playoffs, the media has made it clear that they’re going to make life tough on head coach Mike McCarthy.
Greg Bedard of the transcribed some of the tougher questions from McCarthy’s weekly press conference in the paper’s Packers Blog.
While only the world’s remaining Favreophiles think this is the fault of Aaron Rodgers (or general manager Ted Thompson for swinging trade), it’s clear that the media is closing in on oft-criticized defensive coordinator Bob Sanders.Continue Reading
