13

December

Green Bay Packers Post-Detroit: Crawling through the Wreckage

There will be no “Victory Monday” for the Green Bay Packers this morning. Instead, players will most likely be cruising the snow-covered streets of Green Bay, making their way to the warm confines of their practice facilities. While it will be warm in there, I wouldn’t say the feeling will be very cozy.

They will be met by a very unhappy coaching staff, upset as much at themselves as they are at the players.  Together, they will watch a B-Movie horror flick, the best description I can think of for the Packers abomination of a game in Detroit yesterday afternoon.

This brings back some memories from HS Football. I remember watching game films (on a projector – remember those?) after a bad loss. I remember my coach stopping after almost every play to ream somebody out for a bad performance.

I remember one particular film session, where I easily had the worst game of my High School career. I was a left tackle that year, and that game there was a defensive end I just could not block. No matter what I tried, the kid beat me on every play.

As the team was watching the film, the coach ran one particular play over and over, where I had failed to execute a rather simple block,  making sure to point me out to everyone, focusing their full attention on my horrible effort.  I was humiliated, and it has stayed with me after all these years, still haunting me. But one thing you can be sure of, I never again gave such a poor effort on the football field.

2

October

Packers-Lions Preview: 2010 NFL Week 4: Packers Looking to Recapture their Swagger

Oy.

That single word sums up the feelings of the entire fandom of the Green Bay Packers following their sickening loss to the Chicago Bears this past Monday, dropping their record to 2-1 and placing them one game behind the first place Bears.

To sum up that game in a word: penalties. Make that two words: stupid penalties. OK, three words: really stupid penalties. The 18 infractions by the Packers tied a team record that was set back in 1945. There is little to no doubt that those penalties cost the Packers the game including two that nullified Jay Cutler interceptions.

Moving right along, the Packers face the Detroit Lions at home this Sunday in a game in which the Packers must recover their swagger in order to keep their  Super Bowl aspirations alive. A win, preferably a resounding one, and the Pack is back on track. A loss however, and the season will come off the rails. The Packers have not lost to the Lions at Lambeau in 20 years and a loss now would blow up the season.

How the Packers respond to the loss to the Bears will dictate this game and possibly the rest of the season.

Breaking down the Lions

Don’t let the 0-3 record fool you, folks. The Lions are much better than last year and could be a year away from challenging for the division title.