Now that the Green Bay Packers kissed their perfect season goodbye they can get back to focusing on the real task, Super Bowl 46. ESPN can take down the ticker and half the media trucks parked at Lambeau will soon be leaving. No more questions about perfection, no more questions about who will or won’t play the last two games. That ‘s good, because it’s Bear week and the Bears would love to kick the Packers while they are down.
Yesterday the Packers stunk up Arrowhead Stadium on both sides of the ball. The offense was totally ineffective against a Chiefs defense that tore apart the Packers’ makeshift offensive line. Former MVP frontrunner Aaron Rodgers was under duress all day and looked very average, as any quarterback would under that kind of heat. The ball was not coming out and when it did it was off target.
Of course some of the passes that were on target were flat out dropped by the receivers. There is just no excuse for that. Like Ron Wolf would say if you can’t catch, play guard. And the way Jermichael Finley is going guard or tackle might end up being his best position. If Finley had just held on to some of those early passes we may be talking about 14-0. His mistakes were big plays that should have occurred and could have turned the game in the Packers’ favor.
I don’t believe catching the ball can really be taught, you either can do it or you can’t. If you have to think about catching the ball you are not going to last very long. For whatever reason Finley is not right in the head and like the yips in golf, I’m not sure it can be fixed. The Packers would probable be wise to let him move on in the offseason.
The Packers’ defense was not horrible yesterday, they again had some big stops, the only thing missing was the turnover. And with no help from the offense they were on the field forever. The incredible lack of a pass rush was the biggest problem, Kyle Orton was never touched and had all day to throw. Why the Packers have been unable to generate any pass rush with essentially the same unit as last year is perplexing.
I was hoping the 49ers would lose tonight but it doesn’t look like that will happen so the Packers will need to win one of their last two to clinch hom field providing the 49ers also beat the Seahawks and Rams. Had the Packers clinched home field advantage they could have formulated a game plan for the playoffs and not worried about the Bears or Lions. Now it is Bear Week in earnest.
That could be a good thing though, the Packers can go out and take out their frustrations on the Bears. The Bears are shell of their former selves without Jay Cutler, Matt Forte and now Johnny Knox but their defense is intact, so it will not be a cake walk by any stretch.
I know one thing. Sunday can’t get here fast enough.