I know this was a tough loss that ranks right up there in annals of Packers’ history, but I don’t put it in the same category as games such as these, rated in terms of pain.
1. The Super Bowl loss to Denver. Nothing else needs be said here.
2. The T.O. game when Steve Young falls down leaving center and gets up and throws the game winner with no time left. Still haven’t gotten over that one. More than likely the Packers would have had their chance to avenge their Super Bowl loss the previous season.
3. The fourth-and-26-loss to Philly. Sherman chickened out on fourth-and-one, Darren Sharper inexplicably was playing 35 yards off the line of scrimmage, and after winning the overtime toss Brett Favre promptly throws the game away with a moon ball that is picked off setting up the game winning field goal.
4. The NFC Championship loss to the Giants in Lambeau Field. The Giants miss about a dozen field goals sending the game to overtime and after winning the overtime toss Brett Favre promptly throws the game away with a moon ball that is picked off setting up the game winning field goal.
5. The loss to the Atlanta Falcons in the wildcard round that was the first Lambeau Field playoff loss in Green Bay Packers’ history. The Packers couldn’t stop Michael Vick and Favre threw two picks and completed only 20 of 42 passes as the Packers officially lost their Lambeau Field mystique.
Others receiving votes: The beat-down Randy Moss and the boys put on us in the 2005 playoffs; the six interception debacle in St. Louis in 2002. The Rams had 13 first downs and won 45-17. I was embarrassed to be a fan that day; the Bob Thomas field goal in 1983 that gave the Bears a 23-21 final game win knocking the Packers out of the playoffs and leading to the firing of head coach Bart Starr.
The loss to the Cardinals might be in the top ten but I just can’t feel that bad after the way the Packers fought back from a rough start and took it to overtime at 45-points a piece for crying out loud. This after being down 31-10 late in the third quarter. The Packers are a team on the rise and have a future MVP quarterback at the helm. Aaron Rodgers is just amazing. Even after throwing a pick on his first pass of the game on a stupid decision, he came back and threw for over 400 yards and four TDs in his first playoff start. Of course he had the big miss to Jennings in overtime that could have won the game, but if you’d said before the game we’d score 45 and lose I would have laughed at you. Rodgers will take the heat but it was the defense that let the Packers down in this game.
The Packers’ number two defense sure has a lot of work to do in the secondary. Head coach Mike McCarthy hired defensive Dom Capers to shore up the defense and in particular stop the run. Capers turned the Packers’ sieve-like run defense into the leagues best in one year. Year two his focus must be on bringing balance to the defense and shoring up pass defense. Part of that is looking at his own game plans too. Against Brett Favre, Ben Roethlisberger and Kurt Warner, Capers’ defense couldn’t get home when they brought pressure and were ripped to shreds. Even when they played coverage against those QBs they had little success.
The offseason is going to be a hard one to predict with the upcoming labor war looming, so how the Packers go about improving the secondary and offensive line is anybodies guess. Players they thought they might lose they might not and players they thought would be available may not be. I’m not confident the two sides reach an agreement in time meaning the salary cap is a thing of the past. But that is a story for another day.
I’m not in mourning by any means. We know there will be football in 2010, any lockout would not come before 2011, so the Packers have the opportunity to keep the momentum going. I think they will be favored to win the NFC next year by many. Even with the disappointing loss I think it will be a much smoother offseason than last year when the team was coming off a 6-10 record and had questions galore. The problems areas are well defined but the strengths certainly outweigh them at this point.
The Packers can beat anybody in the league and they are still young and growing. Just imagine what Rodgers, Greg Jennings and Jermichael Finley are going to do the next five years. Records are about to fall.
I think I will have one final take on the 2009 season as a whole and then focus on 2010. I like my Green Bay Packers and we might be on the verge of something special.