It was hard to watch, but if you look at the bigger picture, it’s the result the Green Bay Packers needed. The Packers — well, the Packers’ junior varsity — dropped the season finale 35-11 to the Detroit Lions. In turn, they finished 7-9 and improved their draft spot.
The game can be boiled down four things.
- injuries
- big plays
- turnovers
- lack of offense
First, we knew the Packers would be playing without four starters, not counting Aaron Rodgers. They added cornerback Damarious Randall to that list on game day. Although Mike McCarthy said they would be playing to win, we knew the Packers would be severely overmatched from the beginning. We also had a pretty good feeling they would get killed. They did.
Second, the Packers couldn’t limit the Lions’ big plays on offense. Matthew Stafford threw for three touchdowns and all three of those came on passes of more than 50 yards. Everyone got in on the act. Golden Tate (71), Marvin Jones (56) and Kenny Golladay (54) each made a different member of the Packers’ secondary look like a fool.
Golladay beat Davon House, but it was safety Josh Jones who was supposed to provide support on the play that was the real fool. Jones made a lackadaisical Ha Ha Clinton-Dix look the same on his touchdown. Tate got behind Morgan Burnett and Blake Martinez on his TD and took it to the house.
Jones has some work to do in coverage. Clinton-Dix is just plain bad.
In the final embarrassment, the Lions had Tate hit a wide-open Matthew Stafford for a two-point conversion after their final touchdown.
Third, the Packers committed four turnovers — two interceptions by Brett Hundley, a Hundley fumble and a punt return gone wrong.
The first pick wasn’t Hundley’s fault, as it bounced off running back Jamaal Williams’ hands. The punt debacle happened when returner Trevor Davis and cornerback Donatello Brown got too close to each other. Brown wasn’t looking for the ball and it bounced right off his helmet.
Hey, what can go wrong will for this version of the Packers.
Lastly, the Packers couldn’t generate any offense. Brett Hundley will never again be confused with an NFL-caliber starting quarterback. Hundley finished with 172 yards, one touchdown and two picks. The Packers mercifully brought in Joe Callahan with just over two minutes left in the game.
Hundley was sacked four times, losing 40 yards. Three of the sacks came from Ziggy Ansah, who abused the right side of the Packers’ patchwork line, which featured Justin McCray and Lucas Patrick.
And while Jamaal Williams made some nice runs — he finished with 82 yards — he also averaged just 3.7 per carry.
The Packers had eight drives that lasted five plays or less, not counting the one-play drive before the half. So with the offense doing nothing, a tired and beat-up defense really had little chance of providing much resistance to the Lions.
This team . . . LED BY MARK MURPHY, is a fucking joke. It is becoming Graceland V.2 if you will; a mecca for the faithful and the foolish and gullible. Spending money on a fucking slide??? Mark Murphy’s vision is so god-damned myopic that he does not get that if you DO NOT CONTINUE to field a great team that the “people” will eventually NOT come anymore! Spend the fucking money on GOOD COACHES and good players! Once you do that, then there is a door to open for the “other” business that this fuck thinks that they are ready for . . . Murphy WILL RUIN THIS FRANCHISE! He is that narrow minded and focused. Fuck this team . . . especially Murphy!
You’re gonna need to change your name soon. DC is gone & maybe all 3
GLADLY! I personally do not like it, but I need it as continuous stance for change in this poorly run Packers organization . . . sometimes you need to take a stand. :)
You owe the Packers 3 dollars for that comment. Its going directly into the new swimming area fund. Slated to open in 2021.
So glad this season is over. The worst season since 2005. The 2008 team was miles better than this one. Honestly, next year’s team might be worse.
No shit hey. At least the 2008 team kept games close.
Sad that this debacle happened on the 50th anniversary of the greatest win in the history of the this franchise – The Icebowl (the day i became a Packers fan). That was a coaching staff with integrity and knowledge of the game leading tough and motivated players like Bart Starr, Chuck Mercein, Carrol Dale, Donny Anderson and Jerry Kramer on offense and Ray Nitschke, Willie Davis on D. – Herb Adderly and Bob Jeter would be laughing at the Capers’ Swiss Cheese Secondary.
Couldn’t imagine today’s Team of Porcelain playing in anything close to the conditions on this day in 1967.
Glad season is over. Some great coaches gonna be available tomorrow….. Pagano already gone. Time to drain the tundra.
Have a happy New year my friends. Had a blast reading articles and even more fun reading comments y’all posted. Helped me make it through a especially after #12 went down.
Till August.
First game i stopped watching in a long long time.
I personally have cut my Packer viewings in half since the NFC title game meltdown in Seattle. For my own sanity I had to step back. I saw this season coming though.
Today is the 1st day I have ever cheered against the Green Bay Packers. But for their benefit. It’s 2-fold
1.) Get the better draft pick
2.) Get rid of Dom Capers & perhaps Ted Thompson
Capers’ defense is as soft as a down comforter & a sissy nickel predicated off of the success of fluky turnovers.
Teddy T is gone mentally. His press conferences are a tough watch. He seems like he’s on another planet. I don’t want to seem insensitive to age but his time as a player may have led to some blows to the head too. Seems cruel but I’m being serious unfortunately. Big changes are coming
As far as the rest of the NFC North. The Minnesota Vikings look really good. But their downfall will be that their young studs will all have contracts due in 2019. They have exactly 13 months to capitalize especially this season as the SuperBowl is held in Minny this season
The Chicago Bears suck. They have sucked since I was a kid & Mitchell Trubitsky is an F quarterback whom could at best be a C- quarterback. The bears also traded-up to get him. Ouch. That team is going nowhere fast. No worries there
My Pack has 5 seasons to capitalize on Rodgers’ talent. He is 34. He will be playing at a high level until he is 39 assuming he doesn’t sustain many more injuries. & there’s always about a 27% chance he will in any given season. Cautiously mildly optimistic
Go Pack Go baby!
Once again, how embarrassing.. 27-3 against the Lions in the fourth quarter. Matthew Stafford catching a pass for a 2 point conversion. First time being swept by Detroit since 1991. Just because Rodgers is gone does not excuse this shit show. Of course Capers will be a fall guy, but the offense is terrible as well. Has been for a while. Last year WITH Rodgers they were 4-6. If Jim Caldwell gets fired for going 9-7 and spanking the Packers twice, how is McCarthy not even in the discussion for for losing his job? Oh that’s right, Rodgers wasn’t playing. Three years training Hundley and he looks like total garbage. So much for being a highly successful coach. And responsibility is on McCarthy for stubbornly sticking with that dumpster fire for so long. Kind of like he stubbornly sticks with everything else- Shawn Slocum, Capers, idiotic playcalling, etc.. The joys of having a part time head coach/ part time offensive coordinator.
Don’t forget this team got shut out at home twice this season, and they couldn’t even beat the 0-16 Browns in regulation. They needed to go to overtime with one of the worst teams in the history of the NFL. But that’s all Rodgers fault isn’t it? He needs to hold McCarthy’s hand through everything right? Kinda hard for the defense to hold up when the offense can’t stay on the field. Don’t get me wrong though, both sides of the ball are crap. I mean, what do you even say anymore? It’s the same thing every year. Like PF4L has said, this team is always worse off than the year before. Another kick to the balls while watching the game today was watching the Lions score and seeing TJ Lang running in the end zone with his arms up signaling TD for Detroit. SMFH.
If the circus won’t leave town, all you can do is watch and laugh. Yet, somehow I think I might even have a hard time doing that.
Let’s not forget, the great Packer fans who spend their hard earned money and sit on frozen aluminum benches at Lambeau. The last time they saw a Green Bay QB throw a touchdown pass there was on Sept 28th….lol. They have to wait 11 months to see another one.
That’s seriously insane.
That’s nuts….
They’re gonna need to pay a team to take Hundly off their hands….
WOW…. that’s ridiculous.
Injuries!!…The #1 built in excuse.
That excuse got old….years ago.
It is true though. Look at the 6 best teams in the NFL. Minimal injuries
Packers in 1996 = Healthy squad.
The healthiest teams (or luckiest in that regard I should say) are the winningest down the stretch year after year. It’s luck & conditioning in the injury dept.
Or….it’s 2010.
Waste of energy to bitch about it! We literally have a mental patient running this team, and rest assured he and McTubO’Shit will be laughing it up in the war room again on draft day. Capers only one to take the hit. By the way HHCD totally blows but the fruitcake won’t let him leave.
Lived through the 29 year drought. Fill up your canteens. Future of this team is gonna be painful
I love “McTubO’Shit” . . . Small joys are sometimes the best. You are possibly correct on another drought, that is why I have been bitching since 2010. You could see the ineptness even during the SB run and the wins that Rodgers and the other “talent” (which are mostly gone now) provided for a few years after 2010. It is a fucking shame that more people did not see it way back then. MM may be the worst coach to ever win a SB PERIOD.
McTubO’Shit with the apostrophe, just supplanted McRib as my favorite. The apostrophe is the winning touch. I did not watch one second of this game or any lowlight. It was not on where I live but didn’t watch any early games at all. Now onto the draft where TT can pick someone nobody has heard of and have him switch positions.
It’s nice that Capers will be gone, that day will go done in history as the revival of this team to Championship caliber, instantly fixing all that ails the Packers.
Then, we can all look forward to watching our Packers play at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta next Feb.. I’m re-starting my Super Bowl trip fund right now, cause i want great seats. I also have a bridge for sale so if that deal goes through, i’ll be sitting pretty my friends. I’m gonna start tanning now so i’m ready, i also went online and bought a new neon green speedo to wear while sippin drinks poolside. I won’t lie to you….i’ll be lookin good!!
Skipping out on your medicine again?
You question me looking good with a bronze tan, and my choice of swimwear?
I’ll have you know AARP Magazine approached me to be on their cover. Don’t be a hater.
Good one my friend…..
The number one reason this team was awful this season is the quarterback situation.
Unlike a lot of you guys I remember the terrible Packer teams of the 70s and 80s. The quarterbacks on those teams, Dilweg, Wright, Tomczak, Whitehurst, were all much better than Hundley.
I
I was pretty young, but a huge Packer fan even back then, i remember Randy Wright, mainly because i couldn’t stand him. Even as a kid, i thought he played like a pussy.
BTW Deep….the QB going out might be the #1 reason this team suffers, but it uncovered the layers of other problems. Problems that a lot of us knew were there already.
As a kid I got David Whitehurst’s autograph after practice, man he was bad, but I was a kid and he played for the Packers.
I was in High School in Green Bay in the early to mid 70’s . . . I remember. I saw those shit shows, I KNOW what they look like. They look like TT, MM and DC teams RUN by Mark Murphy . . . That is why I bitch! I saw it first hand. It sucks no matter the decade! Bad IS Bad.
Oh, I remember….
Low point for me was 1989 draft – GB passing on HOFers Barry Sanders, Deon Sanders and Derrick Thomas to pick ………
Tony Mandarich – the biggest all time flop 2nd overall draft pick in NFL history…
For you youngsters : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Mandarich
Yep!
Mandarich was a epic flop, no doubt. But show me someone who didn’t think he was worth the pick at the time.
I raise my hand virtually !
He was the #1 offensive line prospect of all time at the time. He was a freak, basically the Julius Peppers of offensive tackles
Other than draft position and hype, Mandarich wasn’t much worse than a lot of TT’s picks on defense. Justin Harrel, Khyri Thorton, Jerel Worthy, Datone Jones, etc…
Callahan came in and started with 4 consecutive completions. Did Hundley ever complete 4 in a row?
A couple days ago I implied that there was no good news. I was wrong: Dumber and Dumbererer did not do the Packers game.
I’m sensing a lot of angst and negativity in these post. As the voice of reason in here, i’ll try to concentrate on the positives, let me take a look on the brighter side ……because that’s just who i am.
On the positive side…..
1) The defense tightened up and kept Stafford under 350 passing yards and under a 141 passer rating.. Some Packer players overheard Stafford saying he was gonna throw for 400 yards…Mike Daniels walked up to him and said..”Not today, not against our defense you won’t Mother fucker.”
2) Mr. Daniels, said he was fed up with all the shit talk about his performance this season. So Mike shut up all his critics by wreaking havoc on the Lions with 3 tackles and one sack (having a career day), showing us exactly why he keeps Offensive Coordinators up at night.
3) Brett Hundley lit it up at times, finishing with over 170 yards, and reaching a passer rating of over 55 with a TD pass that made Aaron Rodgers look on in envy. all that and only 2 interceptions. This performance should solidify Hundley’s wish of a team trading a 1st round pick for him, AND, getting an explanation from them why they passed on drafting him. I wish Hundley the best of luck going forward with his new team as their starting QB. Well done my friend!!
4) I would be disrespectful if i didn’t mention Jeff Janis as he got extensive playing time to show all his fans what an impact he could make, being Hundley’s favorite receiver. I don’t recall his stats for the game but i’ll come back to that, maybe.
5) It’s a shame the season is now over as the offense is just starting to hit it’s stride, today they completed over 25% of their 3rd down attempts.
6) Honorable mentions….. Randall Cobb had a 108 passer rating, and Joe Callahan completed 71% of his passes.
Before i forget, like i forgot at Xmas….Everyone have a Happy New Years and stay safe tonight.
Thank you for reading and keeping this positive with me, lets GET EM NEXT YEAR!!!…..YEEE-HAWWWW.
Exactly how MM, TT and MM see things.
7) THEY DIDNT GET SHUTOUT….
7) Their pad level was real good today
8) Execution
8a) Great execution on the opening kickoff
8b) Not so great execution for the remaining 59 minutes and 55 seconds.
8c) Now time for Murphy to execute the necessary leadership changes.
Aside from all the needs (again) on d, better shore up that right side of the line or they will be looking at a repeat of seeing Rodgers get hurt. Enough with the no name undrafted “gems” from small schools. I’m sure bualaga won’t be ready, they know since now, so get a damn competent replacement. With the d, same shit every year. Can’t wait for free agency and the draft to see the same ol shit repeat itself. The wr situation will be interesting as well. That position is quickly becoming a weakness with no depth just like the rest of the team. As always, there will be guys out there that have proven they can play and with Rodgers throwing them the ball, can be serviceable, but we’ll go with Clark Allison and Davis cuz they’ve invested so much in them and the talent has to be there right??
Any of the highly coveted defensive coordinators would likely go elsewhere or command a lot of cash to go to gb and inherit what TT provides them. Dix and fackerrel were more examples of terrible picks and the stubbornness of refusing to give others a shot simply because of where they were drafted.
This ^^^^