No Excuses For the 2008 Packers

by Brandon on Jun 2, 2009 12:00 PM CDT in Looking Ahead to 2009 Comment 8 comments

Bleacher Report takes a look back and determines sees that the Packers were three plays away from winning the 2008 NFC North championship:

If you assume the first two plays highlighted above [K Mason Crosby missing a late field goal at Minnesota and at Chicago]...went the other way, and if Longwell misses wide from the same distance Mason Crosby missed from in week 10, the Vikings lose 19-17.

This would have left the Vikings, Bears, and Packers tied with identical 8-8 records. And our Packers would have been awarded the NFC North crown as a result of their 6-0 record within their division!

It would have been a weak 8-8 division crown, but as the lowly seated Arizona Cardinals proved last season, just get into the playoffs and hope for the best.

But 2008 wasn't just a tough luck season. There were some serious problems (i.e. run defense, special teams, run offense) with the team, which Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson addressed by hiring new assistant coaches and targeting two defensive players in the 1st round. The Packers weren't some hard luck team; they just weren't very good. They deserved to miss the playoffs. Ron Wolf wrote about the 1991 Packers, who felt they were a good team that just had bad luck, and he had to fire the coaches and make some major personnel moves to let everyone know that they really weren't that good. This offseason has shown that Thompson is not waiting for his luck to change.

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Those Mason Crosby Kicks

Those were devistating. For the one in Minnesota I was sitting at a local pizza joint watching with my uncle ( who is a big Viking fan ) and as we grew silent, we were both feeling completely opposite emotions inside. Him relief, me disbelief. I always hate those endings to games, where it goes exactly the opposite of where you want it to go in one play.

GO PACK GO!!!!!!!!!!!!

by The Packer Fan on Jun 2, 2009 4:42 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

During the Minnesota one

I took of my Donald Driver jersey and my undershirt and hurled them both at the TV. I then began screaming profanities throughout the house.

by justinlewis on Jun 2, 2009 4:57 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Glad I missed it

I rarely miss watching Packer games. I’ve probably missed 5 games in the last 10 years. But I missed the game at Minnesota last season, and it was probably good for my blood pressure that I did.

by Brandon on Jun 2, 2009 11:20 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Confused

Weren’t the Vikqueens 10-6 so losing an additional game would have made them 9-7 thus still winning the division??

by Graham H on Jun 3, 2009 8:02 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Corrected

I understand now, it does show that the packers are close, but at the same time NFL games are decided by a FG every week. We lost a few, (We should have been crushed by the vikqueens that game we were outplayed in every part of the game but had a Pick 6 and a Punt Return for a TD in the 3rd or 4th quarter). All that said we are not that far away.

by Graham H on Jun 3, 2009 8:07 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The author is saying that the Vikings should have lost to the NY Giants in Week 17

Minnesota won by one point on a last second FG. But the Giants had locked up home field advantage throughout the playoffs, so they didn’t play 4 starters and benched other starters as the game went on. It’s a good point, but you still never know. That’s why they play the game.

by Brandon on Jun 4, 2009 12:29 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Eh, it's the same for every team

3-9-TB 8 (8:00) (Shotgun) 8-B.Griese pass short left to 86-J.Stevens to TB 10 for 2 yards (38-D.Manning). PENALTY on CHI-33-C.Tillman, Unnecessary Roughness, 15 yards, enforced at TB 10.

1-10-ATL 44 (:06) (Shotgun) 2-M.Ryan pass deep left to 12-M.Jenkins pushed ob at CHI 30 for 26 yards (30-M.Brown). The Replay Assistant challenged the pass completion ruling, and the play was Upheld.

Take back those two plays and the Bears are 11-5 and NFC North Champions. I felt at the end of last season that the Bears didn’t deserve to be in the playoffs. But neither did the Arizona Cardinals. So it doesn’t matter what you deserve, just get in.

by BullsFanInSeattle on Jun 3, 2009 6:52 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs