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Packers 17, Chicago 20 (OT)

You just can't make it up anymore. The Packers keep finding ways to lose close games.

In the last eight games, they've been outscored by a combined total of 6 points (194 to 200). But their record is 1-7. That's just amazing.

The special teams were the reason they lost (I'll get to that below) but first I'll focus on surrendering a big lead. The Packers have won every game this season when they've led by more 10 points or more; until the Monday night game at Chicago. That was their new, exciting, way to pull defeat from the jaws of victory.

Game Lead > 10 points Result
Week 1 vs Minnesota 17-6 Win
Week 2 at Detroit Multiple times Win
Week 6 at Seattle Multiple times Win
Week 7 vs Indianapolis 17-7 Win
Week 11 vs Chicago 14-3 Win
Week 16 at Chicago 14-3 Loss

At Football Outsiders, they tried to speculate how the Packers will lose at Chicago. The suggestion was to lose on a kickoff return for a TD. While that didn't happen, the special teams still deserve the blame. The offense played good enough to win. The defense held QB Kyle Orton to a QB rating of 48.7 and RB Matt Forte to 3.2 yards/carry. But special teams was at the heart of this loss. From the play-by-play:

First Quarter

(4:54) 4-B.Maynard punts 65 yards to end zone, Center-65-P.Mannelly, Touchback. Chicago challenged the touchback ruling, and the play was Upheld. (Timeout #1 at 04:41.)

The player not mentioned above was KR Will Blackmon. He was way out of position and at the last second, he decided to dodge the ball instead of catching it. It could have hit him, or it could have been downed at the 2. It didn't hurt the Packers, but it was a bad play, and the first of several.

Second Quarter

(9:43) (Punt formation) 10-M.Flynn right end to CHI 31 for 6 yards (20-C.Steltz, 24-M.Hamilton). CHI-92-H.Hillenmeyer was injured during the play. His return is Questionable.

Hey, it worked. I should mention the good plays on special teams too. Plus it led to a TD.

(6:21) 2-M.Crosby kicks 69 yards from GB 30 to CHI 1. 38-D.Manning to GB 29 for 70 yards (24-J.Bush, 27-W.Blackmon).

Lousy kick coverage leads to Chicago's first FG. Chicago's done nothing at all on offense, but they are only down by 4.

Third Quarter

(13:13) 4-B.Maynard punts 42 yards to GB 27, Center-65-P.Mannelly. 24-J.Bush MUFFS catch, RECOVERED by CHI-43-J.Davis at GB 27. 43-J.Davis to GB 27 for no gain (27-W.Blackmon).

F*&king CB Jarrett Bush! It leads to a Chicago TD. So far, all 10 Chicago points are possible because the Packers' special teams blew it.

(3:36) 2-M.Crosby 46 yard field goal is No Good, Short, Center-61-B.Goode, Holder-10-M.Flynn.

K Mason Crosby missed two FGs, and neither one was close at all. Unless it was a bad snap, or a bad hold, this miss was all on him.

Fourth Quarter

(7:26) 7-J.Kapinos punts 33 yards to CHI 25, Center-61-B.Goode. 23-D.Hester to CHI 49 for 24 yards (27-W.Blackmon). CHI-24-M.Hamilton was injured during the play. His return is Questionable.

D*&m net punt of 9 fracking yards. It leads to the game tying TD. Maybe the run defense would have collapsed on it's own. Forte rushed for 48 of his 73 yards on this single drive. But the special teams helped in no way at all.

(:25) 2-M.Crosby 38 yard field goal is BLOCKED (96-A.Brown), Center-61-B.Goode, Holder-10-M.Flynn, ball out of bounds at CHI 23.

Unbelievable.

OT

(11:33) 9-R.Gould 38 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-65-P.Mannelly, Holder-4-B.Maynard.

Does anyone know the last time the Packers blocked a FG?

Poll
Will the Packers continue their streak of close losses into next season?
Yes, the Curse of Favre will linger for a while longer
42 votes
No, 2009 will be a happy new year
47 votes

89 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Display:

A mocking

but not shocking way to lose.

Heres to hoping we hand Detriot their first win.

by PackaCracka on Dec 23, 2008 2:00 AM CST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

If We Lose To Detroit

I kill myself. That simple.

Gravity Says: The Phins are going to the playoffs.

by Gravity on Dec 23, 2008 2:41 AM CST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

congratulations

you can live. Happy happy new year. (I was seriously holding you to this)

by PackFaninFL on Dec 28, 2008 5:40 PM CST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Cursed ??

there must be a curse !! (Caused by Thompson …)

This should not be possible. Dominating the Bears for 3 qtrs, and then loose in OT.

The defense did a solid job for about 3 1/2 qtrs, then they get tired and break down.
Then, we get real lucky, a good return + 15, 3.05 left, and move the ball down and get a blocked FG.

However, there was two ints with less than 19 minutes to play, the offense could not capitalise and put the game away. Doesn’t matter how good Rodgers does in the first half, the offense didn’t do much in 2nd half, and can not close the game. It’s the story of the season !
Yes, the blocket FG lost the game eventually, but the offense had several oportunities to put the game out of reach.

If we loose to the Lions next week, we need to fire everyone right away, bring back Holmgren and Favre, and start over.

by Jarlsberg on Dec 23, 2008 5:51 AM CST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

If we loose to the Lions next week, we need to fire everyone right away, bring back Holmgren and Favre, and start over.

do I even need to say it?

"I'm so clean, cats think I sip Ajax."

by Mitchell_M on Dec 23, 2008 10:45 AM CST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

hey, I'm all for it

once Jarlsberg loads us all up in his time machine and takes us back to ‘92 we’ll be itching to do it all over again. I would definitely like to take another crack at my late teens and 20’s and see if I can do a little better this time. Sign me up!

Frye is honestly gotta be one of the top 10 3rd Stringers in all of the NFL right now--colbyb

by verno329 on Dec 23, 2008 11:30 AM CST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Trade question

Is there any way we can package some draft picks and send them to the 1996 packers in exchange for Favre?

by Bernie's Mustache Wax on Dec 23, 2008 4:03 PM CST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

8 games where you end up blowing away a 4th quarter lead

Is a direct result of coaching. Originally I did not have McCarthy on the hot seat, but he should be because he and his staff cannot put games away. It’s been a problem since the NFC Championship Game.

A loss to the Lions should send McCarthy packing.

Seattle, the world's worst sports city.

by SSreporters on Dec 23, 2008 1:23 PM CST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

at least we know this isn’t a knee-jerk reaction. so we should fire the guy we gave an extension to after last year. makes sense

Frye is honestly gotta be one of the top 10 3rd Stringers in all of the NFL right now--colbyb

by verno329 on Dec 23, 2008 1:57 PM CST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Hey, Dick Jauron is on the hot seat and he got an extension THIS YEAR!

McCarthy I think is now on the hot seat and should be run out of the city if he allows Detroit to win.

If not, all is well and look forward to next season. This team has so much talent and has no right to be 5-10. It’s one of the most successful franchise in NFL history and still the only fan-owned team among the 4 major leagues (NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB).

However, how can you fail to put away a team when they’re down 8 times in one season? What does that say about the coaching staff? Do they not prepare them for close games?

Offensively you have Ryan Grant, Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Aaron Rodgers, and a rising Jordy Nelson and they can’t put away a game?

Defensively Green Bay if I recall leads the league in interceptions and defensive touchdowns. Nick Collins and Charles Woodson are having phenomenal seasons, yet down the stretch they collapse?

Last night special teams was absolutely the reason they lost the game. A punt touched a Packers player and it set up a touchdown. A Manning return set up a field goal. Crosby missed 2 field goals and both were either blocked or deflected. The 2nd field goal would’ve likely won them the game.

I cannot believe a team like this, with plenty of talented players can be so incompetent down the stretch. Part of it goes on the players but they’re only executing what the coaches put out.

Maybe I’m wrong, maybe the Packers bombed on purpose to piss off Vikings fans! ;-)

Seattle, the world's worst sports city.

by SSreporters on Dec 23, 2008 2:15 PM CST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

I doubt Mike M or Ted T are on hot seats

The team will change the proverbial hitting coach – Mike Stock and maybe Sanders.

The draft should be really interesting though.

by ol Pete on Dec 23, 2008 2:35 PM CST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Ultimately this was a team loss, but it was a microcosm of the season. This team can not close games. Coaching gaffes, poor special teams play, turnovers, the inability to get a defensive stop. Meh. I mean, this is almost comical. The Bears did zilch offensively in the first half, and you get them to go 3 & out on the 1st position of the 2nd half, and you get a muffed punt? You can’t script something like that. I kinda saw the writing on the wall for the Pack at that point.

"....It is more about them than it is about the team. Cannot play with them. Cannot win with them. Cannot coach with them. Can’t do it. I want winners!" - Mike Singletary

by DennardC on Dec 23, 2008 2:48 PM CST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Minn fan here with one question...

Do you guys hate our team THAT MUCH??? OMFG

by mjmrad on Dec 23, 2008 3:47 PM CST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

I thought the CHI/GB hatred ran even deeper than ours, but perhaps it’s all so hot no one can really tell

by mjmrad on Dec 23, 2008 3:48 PM CST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

speaking for myself

I hate the Bears but I absolutely detest the Vikings with every fiber of my being. I mean, grown-ass men wearing purple, for chrissakes!

Frye is honestly gotta be one of the top 10 3rd Stringers in all of the NFL right now--colbyb

by verno329 on Dec 24, 2008 11:05 AM CST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

man...I still can't

get the STANK from the game out of my system…still deep in my bowels. For all you big mouth Chicago fans you got fucking lucky..I can’t believe we are 4 games below those guys, we are third in the league in scoring, we are have outgained and outscored our opponents this year (cumulatively).

There is something deeply wrong when you lose 7 games by 4 points or less. There is something wrong with this team at the core and I don’t know what it is. I think we seriously have to rethink this coaching staff. There must be changes…

Also…Denver, the pioneer of the zoneblocking scheme is not going to the playoffs, the Pack are out…we need to bring back the POWer running game.

Forget this I’m out.

by PackFaninFL on Dec 23, 2008 5:45 PM CST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Maybe we did....But we still won.

mjmrad is a Vikings fan. I was just telling him how Bears and Packers fans might hate each other, but even still, we agree on hating the Vikings

I'M A MAN! I'M 22!

by ChiFan13 on Dec 23, 2008 6:06 PM CST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Time Machine ?

No, unfortuneatly I don’t have one, I would also like to relive my 20’s and playing days.
My first comment was written in anger, after just watching yet another game slip away in the 4th qtr.

Bringing back Favre to play next year, would be unrealistic, but I still think it was a huge misstake to not have Favre back this year, yes, he’s looked bad in the last month, but the Jets wr’s can’t even catch a cold. The Packers would have been better of with him this year.

To bring back Holmgren in some sort of role, like Parcells role in Miami, would not be a bad move.

Mitchell_M, I know you like TT, but he’s made to many misstakes to stay. Same for McCarthy.
After the misserable 2005 season, TT fired Mike Sherman, Sherman might have hade it comeing anyway, but the injury list was a lot longer, and more key players were on it than this season. This year, the only key players to go on i.r are Cullen Jenkins and Nick Barnett, when Tauscher went down, the season was allready in the drain. I know others have missed games thie year, but the backups filled in well enough to win games. In 2005, Javon Walker, Ahman Green, Davenport, Franks… the list goes on an on. It is aslo a lot easier to replace injuries on defense, than the offensive skill posissions during the season. Ofcourse, Sherman was no more to blame for those injuries than MM is to blame for this years injuries, Sherman still got fired.
I wasn’t very happy about the hireing of MM in the first place, he came of a horrible season in SF, and both the Saints and 49’ers stunk with MM at offensive cord. He didn’t have the crudentials to lead a team. His first two years in GB, he did good, because he had Favre running the offense, but w/o Favre, MM has no one to save his bad calls, Rodgers don’t have the experience yet.
Both the Saints and 49’ers have improved big time after MM left them.

TTs list of mistakes is long:
no1. the way he treated Brett Favre this summer, ok Favre didn’t hadle it good either, but TT/MM must take most of the blame.
no2. His objective was to rebuild the team through the draft, he has failed extensively. He has drafted some great wr’s yes, but he’s been horrible with the offensive and defensive lines. Tausher, Clifton and Wells, the only solid players (before this year) on O-line, were all here long before TT arrived.
Kampman, Harris and Barnett were all brought in by Sherman. He tagged and traded Corey Williams, because he believed in Justin Harrel, what has Harrel done except for giving the medical staff something to do ?? Obviously another big misstake by TT.
TT signed only two significat FAs, Pickett and Woodson, Woodson also stated the presence of a certain future hall-of-famer as a key factor to why he signed with the Pack.

The way TT treated Favre, will also have a long term negative effect unless TT /MM are gone, with one of the all time greates ledgends in GB ever getting treated like that, no reason to believe anyone else will recieve better treatment. That will be a big factor for potential players not signing on for the Packers in the future, players want to go to a place were team management will respect and treat them well, not only the fans.
Antoher great thing about the Packers, is the very unique relationship between the fans and players, both current and former. TT has put a big wedge in the fans, splitting the ones supporting him, and the one who wanted Favre back, also causing a serious dent in the future relationship with one of the all-time greates Packer players.

Mike McCarthy has also failed, his zone blocking sceem is inconsistend, maybe because of the smaller, less physical guards TT has gotten him, but considering the climate in Green Bay, the power running game is a better fit.
Bob Sanders misserable defense, yes, he’s had a thougher year with all the injuries, but nothing he should not be able to overcome with the overall talent level of his players, he’s way to conservative.
In closeing, Ron Wolf moved back to GB last summer, not a bad idea to replace the third stooge (Mark Murphy) with him.

mjmrad, I can only speak for my self, but yes, I really hate your team (love to hate them …) + no selfrespecting REAL Viking, would ever use purple uniforms or play their homegames indoors :-)

by Jarlsberg on Dec 24, 2008 5:46 AM CST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Jarlsberg, I am with you on most of what you say, but I’ve come to look at it differently. I’m glad Brett is gone because TT wouldn’t have done what is necessary to field a competitive team. At least the Jets are going for it. TT is too busy trying to prove he’s smarter than everyone else.

The way he trashed Favre has two sides as well. The leaking of fake stories to slime him, the refusal by TT and MM to answer any questions and the constant robotic repetition of non-answers like “we’re moving on” only reveals their lack of ethics and accountability. One of the eunuchs that fake it as Packers beat reporters should throw a shoe at TT the next time he says “I did what I did for the Green Bay Packers.” I’d still love to know who hired Ari Fleischer, but the eunuchs are too busy cuddling with the Packers management to actually investigate something.

I actually think MM is a pretty good offensive coordinator. If he chooses a good D coordinator, then the coaching staff would be pretty good.

TT will be here for a while regardless in part due to the fact that he threw Favre out and the Favre haters love him for that. I’d say he’s here for at least the length of his contract if not longer.

by ol Pete on Dec 24, 2008 10:58 AM CST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Ahh where to start

If Favre had been welcomed back as the starter we would be right back in the comfortable position of having no idea what he plans on doing for the following season and we would have pissed off what appears to be our new starting QB of the future to the point that he almost certainly wouldn’t have resigned with us when his contract up. So if Favre does actually decide to retire wtf are we supposed to do? Do we try to get another QB from somewhere (draft, Matt Cassel, etc.) and what do we do with the new QB when Brett gets another itch to play? Its a never ending cycle. As for the Jets receivers, they didn’t have any trouble earlier in the season. Was that just the Flawless One overcoming their shortcomings with his sheer desire? Does he just not desire it anymore? He sure looks like he wants to be anywhere but on the field if the weather is cold now, you can’t deny that. His leading the league in picks is still not his fault I assume.

Holmgren is taking at least a one year sabbatical so no dice there.

Surely you are not advocating that Sherman should not have been fired. Did you watch the 2005 season at all? Did you see that way that we lost the mystique of Lambeau Field? We had never lost there in the playoffs before and then got absolutely humiliated there twice in three years by teams that play in domes?!?!?! He was absolutely terrified of upsetting Favre and never held him responsible for any of his bad decisions. I too was skeptical of the hiring of McCarthy because I knew very little about him at the time but watching the way that he wrangled (excuse the pun) Favre back and helped bring him back to the great player that had been went along way in convincing me to give him a chance. McCarthy didn’t try to humiliate Favre by yelling at him on the sideline after a bad decision but he held him accountable. Favre was always at his best when he his kept in control (which is a relative term regarding Favre) and not let loose to run wild. McCarthy is responsible for that whether you are willing to admit that or not.

Thompson certainly has his flaws (and I’m not even talking about his personality flaws) but overall he has done quite well. You criticize his drafting of linemen on both sides of the ball but the reason that he was drafting O-linemen was because he chose not to give big money to Rivera and Wahle. Rivera is now retired and Wahle has bounced around without making anywhere near the impact that he did in GB. That was a good decision that I didn’t necessarily agree with at the time but have been proven wrong on. You neglect to mention the trade of a 6th round pick for Ryan Grant, who (despite this years disappointing performance) played a big part in us doing so well last year. I have to point no further than his 200+ yds in the snow against Seattle after nearly costing us the game in the first 5 minutes with 2 critical fumbles. For a 6th rounder that was an absolute steal. Harrell has been an absolute bust so far, there’s no denying that but his drafting overall has built a very solid core of young talent that has underachieved this year. Last year we overachieved.

Frye is honestly gotta be one of the top 10 3rd Stringers in all of the NFL right now--colbyb

by verno329 on Dec 24, 2008 11:48 AM CST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Jets receivers have been dropping balls all year. Its a pretty mediocre receiving corps.

Favre terrorized Sherman? TT has done a good job of drafting O lineman? He’s done “quite well”?

by ol Pete on Dec 24, 2008 10:23 PM CST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

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