Category: Packers

By now, it should be obvious that one thing didn’t defeat the Packers in the NFC Championship Saturday.

Not the fake field goal-turned-touchdown. Not the onside kick …

… which was apparently illegal, though unnoticed by the referees. (Screwed in Seattle again?)

Not the late touchdown and two-point conversion. Not the overtime touchdown.

To blow a 16–0 lead (which is still a two-possession lead) requires a series of events to all take place, rather like a plane crash. Consider, for instance, that five Seahawk turnovers led to just six Packer points. The finish might have been different had just one of those field goals — or, for that matter, Aaron Rodgers’ end-zone interception on the Packers’ first drive — been a touchdown instead. Broadcasting friends of mine like to trot out the Third Score of Death maxim — that it’s nearly impossible to come back from a three-score deficit, which is more than 16–0.

The counter to that is that one can’t know if going up 20–0 would have been an insurmountable margin either, which gets to the point of this post. The Seahawks have much more of a let-it-all-out philosophy than the Packers, which are a fundamentally conservative organization. Coach Mike McCarthy has no trick plays in his offense, and rarely brings out trick plays on special teams, like a fake field goal or punt. A develop-from-within philosophy is fundamentally conservative as well, because it eschews spending big money on free agents that may or may not pan out. Julius Peppers and Reggie White did; Joe Johnson (remember him?) did not.

Was the safe thing to go for field goals instead of going for a touchdown on fourth-and-goal? To settle for a field goal from inside the 1, when you have good running backs and a quality offensive line, is ridiculous. I’m not sure where I saw this, but the statistics-mongers would say your chance of getting a touchdown from the 1-yard line is pretty good. As one of my favorite NFL analysts, ESPN.com’s Gregg Easterbrook, says …

… this column pounds the table so much about not kicking on fourth-and-short that it’s amazing the table has not broken. Four times in the NFC championship game, the Green Bay Packers faced fourth-and-1. Four times Mike McCarthy did the “safe” thing by sending in the kicking team. How’d that work out for you?

Answer: It didn’t.

Somehow, the Packers managed to take only 64 seconds off the clock and leave Seattle with one timeout before booming a punt. On all three snaps, Green Bay rushed directly into a nine-man box. Seattle offered Aaron Rodgers a chance to ice the contest with a long pass — and as in every other instance in the game, given the choice between conservative tactics and being bold, the Packers went conservative. This gave Seattle possession again with four minutes remaining, and the football gods decided to calm the wind and rain. …

To open the season, Green Bay scored just 16 points at Seattle. In 2012, Green Bay scored just 12 points at Seattle. No contemporary team makes it harder to reach goal-to-go than the Seahawks. If the Packers were to win the NFC championship, they needed to be aggressive when close. Play-not-to-lose tactics wouldn’t work.

Yet after reaching fourth-and-goal at the Seattle 1 in the first quarter, Mike McCarthy sent in the field goal unit, after a third-and-goal play on which the Packers just ran straight ahead, with no misdirection. (At the Indianapolis 1 yard line, Bill Belichick had a tight end shift to split wide, then another tight end shift, then a man-in-motion away from the playside, which resulted in an uncovered man for the touchdown.) After reaching fourth-and-goal at the Seattle 1, again McCarthy opted for a placement kick. Then, upon reaching fourth-and-1 on the Seattle 22, again McCarthy sent out the kicking unit.

Victories don’t come in the mail! Had McCarthy played for a touchdown in any of these three situations, the Packers likely would have won, as Seattle would have fallen too far behind.

At least these mincing, fraidy-cat kicks resulted in points. McCarthy’s worst decision came with Green Bay leading 16-0 in the third quarter and facing fourth-and-1 at midfield. Seattle is the league’s best fourth-quarter club. The previous week, Seattle had sputtered until the fourth quarter, when it came alive to crush the Panthers. Deafening noise was likely in the fourth quarter. Green Bay, in turn, tends to peter out in the fourth quarter and entered the title contest with a 320-160 first-half scoring edge but having been outscored 98-133 in the fourth quarter. Tuesday Morning Quarterback noted two weeks ago the Packers tend to lose the fourth quarter. If there’s one place the visitors will lose the fourth quarter, it’s at Seattle. So Green Bay could not sit on its hands in the third quarter. On the day, Green Bay rushed for a 4.5-yard average. Go for the first down! The Packers needed to put the Seahawks away.

Instead, McCarthy sent out the punter. Disgusted, the football gods caused Seattle to march the other way for the touchdown that brought the crowd to life. That touchdown was on a fourth-and-10 gamble. “Safe” tactics failed. Fortune favored the bold!

Overreacting to one loss is not a good thing, but this one loss cost the Packers a Super Bowl berth, when Rodgers will not be the Packers’ quarterback and Clay Matthews will not be their leading defensive player indefinitely. (I’d also point out this is one fewer Super Bowl opportunity in our lifetimes, but why kick ourselves when we’re down?)

In my lifetime there have been two other NFC Championship losses, which are, as I’ve said before, the most gut-wrenching because the loss denies you the Super Bowl experience, whether the latter ends up with a win (Super Bowls I, II, XXXI and XLV) or loss (XXIII). I wasn’t that bothered by the 1995-season-ending loss to Dallas, though annoyed by the third consecutive playoff loss to the Cowboys, because it seemed obvious to me (though not everyone) that the Packers were far from done being contenders and had progressed from second-round losses (twice to Dallas) to at least get to the NFL’s Final Four. The 2007-season-ending loss to the Giants was far worse, because it occurred at home after it appeared the stars were properly aligned for a Super Bowl trip (thanks to the Giants’ previous-week win at Dallas, the NFC’s number one seed). It seemed like the end of an era, and it was, since that was Brett Favre’s last game as a Packer quarterback.

This one? It’s hard to say. Rodgers isn’t getting younger, but this is still a rather young team. Of bigger concern is that Rodgers is not as durable as Favre was (though that’s a really high standard), since Rodgers has lost significant parts of seasons to a broken finger and collarbone and was hobbled by his thigh injury this year, so he wouldn’t seem to have as many future Super Bowl opportunities as Favre turned out to have.

The thing that bothers me the excess conservatism and playing not to lose, instead of playing to put away the Seahawks, in the second half. The Seahawks and the Patriots are both risk-takers, both tactically (during games) and strategically (going into games and over a season). New England has spent much of the postseason running strange offensive line schemes, with not only linemen as eligible receivers (which many teams now do), but receivers as linemen. (The inside five offensive linemen are ineligible receivers, but the outside two — usually tight ends or split ends — are eligible, in the case of linemen with numbers of 50 to 79, if they report to the referee before the play). The Patriots are particularly good at using players where they don’t seem to belong, such as the touchdown pass caught by linebacker Mike Vrabel in Super Bowl XXXIX, and wide receiver Troy Brown, who also ended up playing defensive back. ESPN Boston has 10 examples of coach Bill Belichick’s unconventionality.

The Packers may need to rethink not their schemes, but their philosophy in games, particularly big games.

First, some music for the day:

Chris Lempesis has a somewhat obvious recipe for getting to Super Bowl XLIX today:

The Seattle Seahawks have lost once since late October. They’ve won seven games in a row and their defense has allowed 56 points – or eight points per game, if you want to make it sound even scarier – in that span.

They have maybe the best home-field advantage in the game. It’s certainly the loudest.

They are the defending world champions and they seem completely and totally focused on winning it all again this year, further cementing their status as a potential dynasty.

Still, the Seahawks are not perfect. They have, in fact, lost some games this year. They’ve even struggled at times in victories.

For this article, seven Seattle games were studied. Those games were its four losses (to San Diego, Dallas, St. Louis and Kansas City), plus close wins over Carolina and San Francisco and a close-for-three-quarters rematch against Carolina in the divisional round last weekend.

In studying those games, some definite statistical trends emerged. To varying degrees, these things could and should give Packers fans hope that Green Bay can pull off the upset.

Perhaps the biggest thing the Packers must do is stay committed on the ground, even if it’s not always working.

In the seven games studied, only once did a team not have at least 30 rushing attempts against Seattle. That would be St. Louis, who defeated the Seahawks on October 19. The Rams still ran it 27 times, though, so they came fairly close.

Interestingly enough, even though all of those teams made a concerted effort to pound the rock, not all of them had big days on the ground.

The Rams averaged just 3.8 yards per carry, for example, finishing with 102 yards rushing. The Chargers, who beat Seattle on September 14, only had 101 yards on 37 carries (2.7 yards per attempt).

In their first meeting with Seattle, on October 26, the Panthers averaged just 3.7 yards per attempt, running it 31 times for 114 yards.

The point is, you have to keep trying with the run game. You may not rack up big yardage, but by sticking with it, it at least gives you a chance to wear down that defense, even slightly.

The Packers didn’t really do this in their week one loss at Seattle, only running the ball 21 times. In their three other losses this season, they didn’t, either, never topping more than 24 carries in any of those games (the 24 carries came against Buffalo).

In their best three wins of the season – New England, Detroit and last week against Dallas – they did, running the ball at least 29 times in each of those games.

So keep an eye on 30 – it could be a big number Sunday.

Another big number to watch is two, as in sacks allowed.

Five of the seven teams that gave the Seahawks trouble surrendered two sacks or less in those games.

Green Bay’s offensive line has been perhaps the best in the game since its bye week, so the Packers have the unit to pull this off.

Aaron Rodgers has only been sacked five times in the team’s last four games, so that’s a very good sign. With Rodgers still nursing an injured calf, the o-line will have to turn in another sterling showing Sunday.

Staying committed to the running game and keeping your quarterback upright tends to have a nice side effect, too: You find yourself in more manageable third downs. When you are in those spots against a ferocious defense like Seattle’s, you pretty much have to convert at a sizeable clip.

In the seven games studied, five of those teams converted on at least 40 percent of their third-down attempts. Only Carolina, who went 2-of-10 on third downs in the first meeting between the teams, really struggled in that department.

Green Bay did well here in week one, hitting on 6-of-12 third downs, and in the end, it didn’t mean much. For the Packers to have any chance, they will have to duplicate that type of showing Sunday. Good news on that front – Green Bay is 17-of-27 (63 percent) on third down over its last two games.

If all of these things work in Green Bay’s favor, it will have a very good chance at winning the time of possession battle.

Again, five of the seven teams who gave Seattle trouble this year won that category. That helps not only the offense, but it can be a massive boost for Green Bay’s defense, as well.

The Seahawks are not known for their offense, but it can be as explosive as any offense in the league at times, so it’s best to keep that group on the sidelines for as long as you can.

It also limits Seattle’s opportunities to wear Green Bay’s defense down with its bruising ground game. Seattle held the edge in time of possession, 33:20-26:40, in the week one matchup. That probably can’t happen again if Green Bay wants to win.

Another thing that can’t happen is failing to convert in the red zone.

Seattle’s first game with Carolina is an excellent example. The Panthers lost, 13-9, and a huge reason for that was their 0-for-3 showing in the red zone. Convert even once there and Carolina likely wins. In the other six games studied, the opposition went 15-for-20 in the red zone (75 percent).

It’s hard to even reach the red zone against Seattle, especially lately, so when Green Bay gets there Sunday, it’s fair to say it will have to cash in on at least 75 percent of its chances, if not more.

The Packers have been close to that number in their last two games, going 5-of-7 in the red zone (71.4 percent). Field goals just don’t get it done against these guys.

Winning the turnover battle and getting to the quarterback are always important, especially this time of year, but in an interesting twist, that may not be absolutely crucial for Green Bay in terms of winning.

Teams gave Seattle trouble this season and didn’t necessarily do well in either of those categories. In only four of the seven games did the opponent either win or tie the turnover battle and only twice did those teams have more than two sacks.

That’s not to say Green Bay shouldn’t put massive effort into winning these categories, because of course it should. But there could be at least a small amount of wiggle room here.

When you add all this up, you get a fairly clear picture of what Green Bay will have to do to win Sunday.

The Packers don’t need to rely on gimmicks or tricks or anything crazy, really. They just have to play smart, patient football and consistently cash in on opportunities when they arise.

That last paragraph seems like master-of-the-obvious stuff, but teams usually do win big games by doing the obvious stuff, particularly when playing a stout defense like the Seahawks.

Fans pessimistic about today might be placing too much import on the season-opening loss to Seattle, because, Cheesehead TV notes, the Packers playing today aren’t the same team that opened the season for these reasons:

1. Clay Matthews at Inside Linebacker

It’s no secret the success the Packers have had on defense since the post-bye role expansion of Matthews to include inside linebacker, particularly their run defense.

At the season’s midpoint, it ranked dead last in the NFL—32nd—allowing more than 150 yards per game on the ground. But by the end of the regular season, the run defense climed up to 23rd in the NFL, giving up 119.9 yards per game.

Matthews and the rest of the Packers run defense will have to be at its best as they face the league’s No. 1 rushing offense with the Seahawks rumbling for an average of more than 170 yards per game.

It’s very possible Matthews will also be used as a spy on Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, the NFL’s 16th leading rusher, gaining 849 yards on the year.

2. Sam Barrington’s Role Expands While A.J. Hawk’s and Brad Jones’ Contracts

The starters at inside linebacker Week 1 for the Packers were Hawk and Jones, both of whom have received demotions since that time.

Although they still play small roles on the Packers defense, Hawk has been relegated primarily to the base 3-4 defense while Jones plays almost exclusively in the team’s dime look.

Back during Week 1, Hawk and Jones received the lowest grades on the Packers defense from ProFootballFocus.com, both players guilty of poor run fits, missed tackles and inadequate pass coverage. Jones, in particular, was also flagged for two penalties.

Barrington, meanwhile, has stepped up as the Packers’ inside linebacker in the Packers’ nickel defensive package, playing an average of 46 snaps per game from Week 13 onward.

Even though Barrington has been prone to miscues too, they’ve been far less glaring than Hawk and Jones. And the physical presence Barrington brings to the Packers defense has made a noticeable impact.

3. Julius Peppers Kept Fresh

In Weeks 1 through 15, Peppers played no fewer than 50 snaps per game on both defense and special teams.

The cumulative effect of such high snap counts appeared to have taken a toll as Peppers failed to record a single sack during a five-game stretch ending Week 15.

In the Packers’ last three games, including playoffs, Peppers has played 32, 35 and 37 snaps, keeping him fresher and more effective. In those three games Peppers has eight tackles, three sacks, three forced fumbles and two deflected passes.

The Packers have found a formula that works for the 34-year-old Peppers, one that figures to continue on Sunday as the hybrid linebacker/defensive end looks for the first Super Bowl championship of his 13-year career.

4. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix Goes Full-Time at Safety, Micah Hyde at Slot

Although the first round draft pick of the Packers has played in every game this season, Clinton-Dix didn’t make his first start until Week 7 when he became a full-time player on defense.

Clinton-Dix took over for Hyde at the free safety position, which has benefitted both players. Clinton-Dix has been the better safety while Hyde has settled into his comfort zone as a slot cornerback.

Following the bye week, Hyde took over the nickel cornerback responsbilities, pushing Casey Hayward into dime duty.

Since the bye week, Hyde has grabbed both of his interceptions, broke up six of his seven passes and wrapped up his only sack.

5. More Man-to-Man Coverage by the Cornerbacks

Yet another bye-week adjustment, the Packers have started to committ safety Morgan Burnett to the box more frequently, aiding in stopping the run.

At the same time, they’ve also increased their rate of blitzes under defensive coordinator Dom Capers as outlined by Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

His five-man pressure numbers on pass plays went from 36.2% in Games 1-8 to 39.3% in Games 9-16, and his all-out pressure (more than five rushers) rate almost doubled from 5.7% to 9.2%.

More responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of the Packers cornerbacks to play more man-to-man coverage with Clinton-Dix acting as the deep safety, providing Cover 1 responsbilities over the top.

As a result, the Packers have given up fewer explosive, big plays in the passing game and have only allowed three wide receivers to gain over 100 yards this season. …

7. Offensive Line Finds Continuity

Back during Week 1, Bryan Bulaga went down with a knee injury 20 snaps into the game and was replaced by Derek Sherrod in the lineup.

The Packers’ new right tackle proceeded to allow a fourth-down sack, turning the ball over on downs and then gave up a strip-sack, recovering the ball in the end zone for a safety.

Green Bay had to endure one more game without Bulaga in Week 2, but he’s been back in the lineup ever since as the Packers have had the same starting five on the offensive line for 15 straight games.

Continuity on the offensive line has been evident. They’ve allowed 30 sacks on the season, their fewest since 2007. And they’ve also opened up holes for Eddie Lacy, allowing him to gain 100-plus yards from scrimmage in each of the last 10 games, the longest streak in team history.

8. Third, Fourth, Fifth Receiving Options Emerge

The Packers aren’t worried about Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb, but the concern all season has been for other options to emerge when opponents take away the Packers’ top receiving threats.

Back during Week 1, not a single wide receivers outside of Nelson or Cobb caught a pass. Since that time, rookie Davante Adams has taken hold of the No. 3 wide receiver job and hasn’t let go.

Adams has been up and down, going through an especially rough patch during the month of December, but he stepped up big time in the Packers divisional round playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys when quarterback Aaron Rodgers identified a mismatch and targeted him 11 times, catching seven for 117 yards and a touchdown.

The Packers have also struck a comfortable balance with Andrew Quarless and Richard Rodgers at the tight end position with both players catching touchdown passes in the win over the Cowboys.

9. Lesson Learned from Avoiding Richard Sherman

Not unlike the scrapping of the “Quad” on defense, the Packers learned a valuable lesson on the offensive side of the football in Week 1, knowing they can’t be one dimensional and throw the football to only one side of the field.

“We’re a no-huddle offense, and my thought was—and I told Jordy (Nelson) in the game plan—just line him up on the left side,” explained McCarthy on Monday. “We thought Richard would come over there and guard him on the left side. That didn’t happen.”

Aaron Rodgers threw just one pass to the right side of the field beyond the line of scrimmage for a gain of just two yards. The Packers plan to adjust accordingly.

“It just depends on who’s open,” said Rodgers. “It’s always important to throw it to the right and throw it to the left a little bit.”

10. Rookies Become Battle-Tested

Outside of center Corey Linsley, who did an admirable job making his first career regular-season start in Week 1, the other rookies on the Packers roster weren’t ready for primetime.

As described above, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix hadn’t yet become a full-time starter. Davante Adams played just nine snaps on offense in the season opener. Richard Rodgers played 20.

Each of these first-year players have gone on to play key roles for the Packers this season, and they’re light years ahead of where they were back in September.

Even the role players, such as defensive lineman Mike Pennel and linebacker Jayrone Elliott, weren’t trusted to even be on the 46-man active roster back during Week 1. Now they’re week-in, week-out contributors.

I’m pretty sure the Packers won’t win today, which will bring on the Dead of Winter in Wisconsin. (Winter starts Thanksgiving weekend and runs until the end of Packer season; the Dead of Winter runs until Easter.) I hope I’m wrong about the Packers today.

I’m still not sure how the Packers managed to beat Dallas 26–21 in their NFC Divisional playoff game Sunday.

I guess the Packers won because, despite the Cowboys’ seeming dominance of the game, the Packers were opportunistic. A missed field goal led to a Packers field goal to cut the halftime deficit to 14–10. A fumble by running back DeMarco Murray led to another field goal to cut the lead to 21–16. The Packers got the game-winning score late in the fourth quarter when they unveiled their no-running-back offense and drove 80 yards through the previously stiff Cowboys defense.

After that, well …

https://vine.co/v/ODZIgmhUxr1/embed/simple

https://vine.co/v/ODZTV7z2UZ2/embed/simple

… here’s the Dallas Morning News’ Tim Cowlishaw:

It looked like a catch. That was true for innocent bystanders and neutral observers and it was painfully true for Dallas fans.

But the Cowboys are the team without a leg to stand on when it comes to sympathy for overturned officials’ calls. And yet it appeared Dez Bryant had gotten one, two, maybe three legs down to put Dallas in position to knock off the Packers right here in Lambeau Field, the site of the Cowboys’ most painful playoff defeat.

Then it was ripped away and, before you knew it, Green Bay was celebrating a 26-21 victory and a date with Seattle.

“I did think it was a catch,” Head Coach Jason Garrett said. “He had three feet down and made a move common to the game. But let me make it really clear. This game wasn’t about officiating. We had 60 minutes…and we didn’t do the things necessary to win the game.”

A week ago Lions fans and Cowboys haters couldn’t believe their eyes and ears when a pass interference flag was picked up, helping to fuel Dallas’ 24-20 rally past Detroit.

This time it was a catch Bryant made inside the one-yard line, a deep throw on fourth-and-two from the Green Bay 32, another roll of the dice from the Cowboys’ ramblin’ gamblin’ head coach. Less than five minutes to play, Packers leading 26-21, it looked like the Cowboys’ playmaking receiver had put Dallas in position to regain the lead it held for most of a cold but windless afternoon here.

In fact, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he was unaware the Packers had even challenged the call.

“I thought they were trying to decide where to mark the ball,” Jones said. “It hadn’t even occurred to me we wouldn’t have possession within a yard of the goal line.”

But, like Garrett, he stopped far short of blaming officials for the end of the Cowboys’ best season in five years.

“We’ve all agreed to go with the judgment of the officials in this league,” he said. “I don’t mean to be cavalier about it, but this isn’t a catch in the annals of NFL history. Just like it would have been a catch had it not been overturned, just like it wasn’t interference on 59 (Anthony Hitchens) last week, just like (Ndamukong) Suh played and wasn’t suspended.

“That’s real, and we’ve all said we would live with it.”

The rule might seem contradictory to other rules (the ground cannot cause a fumble, but the ground can cause an incomplete pass?), but that is the rule until the NFL changes the rule. As the previously best known victim of this rule, Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson, can attest:

Calvin Johnson ‏@cockycalvin

Difference between me and Dez? You’d never see me pout like a little baby

Packers 26, Cowboys 21: “A bad rule, ruled correctly.”
That’s how one longtime NFL operative referred to the call that changed the course of the season for Green Bay and Dallas at Lambeau Field. And when the play was adjudicated by referee Gene Steratore under the hood in Green Bay, connected to NFL vice president for officiating Dean Blandino in the officiating command center in New York, they made the call by the exact interpretation of the rule book. With just over four minutes left and Dallas trailing by five, the Cowboys made a strange call on fourth-and-two with the game on the line: a deep ball down the left sideline. Dez Bryant made a leaping catch over Packers cornerback Sam Shields. But as Bryant landed, the ball became momentarily dislodged. The initial ruling was a completed catch, gain of 31, ball down at the Packer one. Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy challenged the ruling on the field. After a long review, Steratore emerged from the hood and said the call was reversed; Bryant hadn’t completed the act of the catch. Bryant put his hands to his head and, wide-eyed, looked to be saying, “WHAT?! WHAT!”

America said the same thing. It looked like a catch. By my Twitter feed, a good 80 percent of the fans who opined considered it a catch.

For Steratore, this had to be an agonizing case of déjà vu. He’s the referee who ruled on a similar replay in 2010, overturning a potential winning touchdown catch by Calvin Johnson in Chicago. On that play, Johnson rolled over in the end zone, using the ball to try to spring up, and the ball skittered away. Steratore ruled that Johnson didn’t complete the process of the catch, and the league backed him on it.

The vital and controversial part of this rule is that as a player falls to the ground in the continuation of the act of trying to make a catch, he has to maintain control of the ball when he hits the ground.

Here, Bryant leaped high in the air, had the ball in his control, took a couple quick steps and fell to the ground. Bryant said later he was attempting to stretch the ball across the goal line as he fell. That is a questionable claim. I’ve looked at the replay from different angles at least 25 times, and there’s no clear evidence Bryant was trying to reach across the goal line.

Bryant failed to maintain possession of the ball when he hit the ground. The ball popped from his grasp when his body hit the turf, and it momentarily left his grip. He caught it while on the ground without the ball hitting the ground. But by rule, that’s not important. Bryant would have had to possess the ball without it leaving his grasp when he hit the ground.

Crucial point two: If Steratore and Blandino had ruled that Bryant fumbled the ball while making a football act “common to the game,” they could have ruled the catch good and the ball down at the one. For instance, if they ruled that he caught the ball and then extended both arms “while making a football act common to the game”—that is, while trying to extend the ball across the goal line, and with the ball never being lost from his grasp—it would have been a catch. By a very close interpretation, Steratore and Blandino ruled that Bryant lost control, and not while making a football act common to the game.

Talking to a pool reporter after the game, Steratore said: “Although the receiver is possessing the football, he must maintain possession of that football throughout the entire process of the catch. In our judgment, he maintained possession but continued to fall and never had another act common to the game. We deemed that by our judgment to be the full process of the catch, and at the time he lands and the ball hits the ground, it comes loose as it hits the ground, which would make that incomplete; although he re-possesses it, it does contact the ground when he reaches, so the repossession is irrelevant because it was ruled an incomplete pass when we had the ball hit the ground.”

To me, this is a classic case of: Hate the rule, don’t hate the ref. I agree that it looked like a catch, but by rule, it wasn’t. “That’s an incomplete pass by rule,” said FOX rules analyst Mike Pereira, who used to have Blandino’s job. “The rule is very specific. In the process of going to the ground, you must maintain possession. That’s what happened here. The ball hit the ground and popped out immediately.” Two other former officials—Mike Carey on CBS and Jim Daopolous on ESPN—were similarly decisive.

“I want to know why it wasn’t a catch,” Bryant asked one wave of reporters. And then another: “Why? Explain why that wasn’t a catch.”

I just did, but Bryant may get some satisfaction this offseason because the rule is going to be debated. Again. For years, I’ve gone to league meetings and listened to debates about the rule. (Actually, the debates are fierce in the 24 or 48 hours after egregious plays; by the time the March meetings roll around, there are often long discussions but little passion about it. That could change this year, with the intensity of interest around this call.) One league source told me Sunday night that the Competition Committee will certainly look at the rule this offseason, beginning (likely) at the group‘s first meeting in February.

Maybe there will be enough momentum for a revolutionary change—for a catch to be catch as soon as a receiver gets two feet down and possesses the ball clearly. The problem with that in the past, as another source said Sunday, is “the cheap fumble.” Think of what happens when a pass, a catch by a receiver, a thudding hit by a defender and a fumble all occur at lightning speed. Did the receiver actually have possession before getting whacked and losing control of the ball? I can recall Jeff Fisher and Rich McKay, the Competition Committee co-chairs, explaining the debate over the rule at one recent meeting and saying, basically, We all agree we don’t love this current rule. We just don’t have a better one. It’s not an easy problem to solve.

With the anger over this call, expect debate to center on either two feet down and possession constituting a catch (with the requisite likely rise in the “cheap fumble”), or a proposal that a receiver doesn’t have to maintain control when going to the ground after taking two steps.

This being a schadenfreude column, we must include memes:

Not only is it ironic that the Cowboys benefited from an official’s call one week and then didn’t the next, the Packers are now going to Seattle, home of the infamous Interceptouchdown.

One great thing about the Packers’ standing in the NFL is the great journalism covering the Packers. Here are two examples.

If you go by the measurement of Super Bowl wins, then, in the same way that Bart Starr should be considered the greatest Packer quarterback of all time (five NFL titles and two Super Bowl wins), Joe Montana should be considered the greatest quarterback of the Super Bowl era.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFsBSbx5UKY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgC54v4YrVQ

As it happens, Packer coach Mike McCarthy had Montana as one of his quarterbacks when he was the Chiefs’ quarterback coach, as Grantland points out:

McCarthy had gone to K.C. to work with his mentor Paul Hackett, the Chiefs’ new offensive coordinator and a former assistant for Bill Walsh’s San Francisco 49ers. While working together at the University of Pittsburgh, Hackett and McCarthy had installed a version of Walsh’s legendary West Coast offense, which had powered four Super Bowl titles in the 1980s. McCarthy became enamored of the system during those years with the Panthers, immersing himself in the offense that was taking over football. By the time he went to the Chiefs, McCarthy felt he was ready for any challenge.

Well, almost any challenge: Prior to the 1993 season, the Chiefs traded for Montana, the veteran quarterback with extensive West Coast offense experience and four Super Bowl titles, and the man Jerry Rice referred to as “God.” McCarthy told Milwaukee’s JournalSentinel that the gravity of the assignment didn’t register until he excitedly let some of his close friends know that he’d be coaching Montana, and one responded by asking, “What in the [expletive] are you going to teach Joe Montana?” It was a good question, and it led McCarthy to become as much Montana’s student as his teacher, soaking in all the knowledge he could from the future Hall of Famer.

More than 20 years later, on the brink of a divisional-round playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys, McCarthy again finds himself in a teacher-student partnership with an elite pupil: Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Though McCarthy is facing a similar challenge of figuring out how to help one of the game’s best quarterbacks get even better, his relationship with Rodgers is far more collaborative than his pairing with Montana ever was, allowing coach and quarterback to try to improve themselves, each other, and the very offense Walsh taught Montana so long ago. …

When the Packers fired Mike Sherman and hired McCarthy as head coach after Rodgers’s first season, it altered the direction of both McCarthy’s and Rodgers’s careers.

McCarthy was hardly a slam dunk hire, having coached relatively pedestrian offenses in New Orleans from 2000 to 2004, and having spent the 2005 season as offensive coordinator for the 49ers, a 4-12 team that finished a woeful 30th in the league in scoring and 32nd in total yards. But Packers general manager Ted Thompson brought in McCarthy hoping the coach’s deep knowledge of the West Coast offense and renowned touch with quarterbacks would tame Favre after a 29-interception season, while also developing Favre’s anointed replacement. Though Favre bounced back under McCarthy, throwing for 4,155 yards, 28 touchdowns, and only 15 interceptions in 2007 en route to the NFC title game, he began to threaten retirement, and by 2008 Thompson and the organization were ready to switch to Rodgers, convinced after witnessing his dramatic improvement that the QB had the makings of a future star.

Since his days as an assistant under Hackett at Pitt, McCarthy has run a “QB school” every offseason, where, away from the pressure of preparing for a weekly opponent, McCarthy can teach his quarterbacks the finer points of the position. In addition to extensive drill work, McCarthy often gives his quarterbacks lengthy written tests, once (according to the Sentinel) even asking his non-Montana quarterbacks in Kansas City to write an essay describing the Chiefs’ version of the West Coast offense “from a philosophical perspective.”

Rodgers has clearly benefited from McCarthy’s training. As good of a prospect as Rodgers was coming out of Cal, it’s striking how different he looks now: he’s more athletic, more natural, and has a stronger arm. While primary credit goes to the long hours Rodgers spends developing his craft on his own, McCarthy provided a structure for that process.

Specifically, when Rodgers arrived in the NFL, there was what McCarthy has labeled a “stiffness” to his game. Under McCarthy’s tutelage, that has since melted away to reveal the fluid, smooth quarterback we see today. Tedford, Rodgers’s college coach and a current CFL head man, is an excellent quarterback teacher, but his college passers tended to be a bit robotic: They all dropped back, held the ball, and released it the same way. That made sense for raw high school and junior college passers who had to quickly learn the fine points of quarterbacking in order to execute Tedford’s pro-style attack, but great NFL passers must make their fundamentals serve them, not the other way around. …

The offense Rodgers operates in Green Bay is based on the same ideas, concepts, and even specific plays that Hackett, McCarthy, and Montana used in Kansas City and that Montana and Hackett had run with the 49ers, all of which is rooted in Walsh’s West Coast offense. While most people think of short timing passes when they hear the term “West Coast offense,” Walsh’s coaching tree — and the coaching tree of his coaching tree — is so long because his insights extended beyond well-designed pass plays to encompass a uniquely thorough, detailed approach to game planning, analyzing defensive weaknesses, and teaching and developing players. Those precepts are Walsh’s true legacy, and they now fuel the Packers’ offensive success.

In McCarthy’s early years, he immersed himself in Walsh’s ideas and language — 22 Z-In, 2 Jet X-Sluggo Seam, and so on. But rather than adhering religiously to those lessons, McCarthy and Rodgers have crafted a version of Walsh’s offense that constantly evolves to keep pace with a changing game. Quoting former Chiefs assistant Jimmy Raye, McCarthy once told USA Today: “‘Football is a cycle. You’re going to see things in this league or out of this league and in college football.’ It’s very important to stay on the front side of that cycle.” The Packers’ offense may be rooted in the playbook McCarthy learned from Hackett 20-plus years ago, but it works because he and Rodgers have subtly blended in new-school tactics.

While the West Coast offense dominated the NFL in the 1990s and early 2000s, it has increasingly fallen out of favor because its emphasis on precision and preparation has too often translated into inflexibility and needless complexity. The traditional West Coast offense features a seemingly countless number of plays — former Packers coach Mike Holmgren once said his playbook contained at least 1,500 plays — because on each play each player had a specific job, such as running a post or a slant. As a result, the only way to take advantage of a shifting, evolving defense was to add yet another new play and hope to call it at the right time, in what amounted to an impossibly hard game of rock-paper-scissors.

That’s not a feasible approach against modern, malleable defenses, and with Rodgers under center, it’s also not necessary. For example, one of the Packers’ most productive pass plays is “three verticals,” in which Green Bay’s receivers have the option to change their routes based on the coverage, trusting Rodgers to see their adjustments in real time.

Chris B. Brown

On this play against the Panthers, both outside receivers, Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams, can run either straight down the field on “go” routes (as Nelson does to Rodgers’s right) or stop after 12 to 15 yards if the defender is playing soft coverage (as Adams does to Rodgers’s left). Meanwhile, the slot receiver, Randall Cobb, runs a “middle read”: If the defense plays with two safeties deep, Cobb will split the safeties and run deep down the middle, but if there’s a deep middle safety like on this play, he’ll turn his route into a square-in and break across the field into Rodgers’s vision.

While this play, which the Packers run over and over again, requires Rodgers and his receivers to all be on the same page — and requires Rodgers to process all of this information and make an accurate throw in fractions of a second — it also replaces as many as 10 different plays from the traditional West Coast offense.

This idea of multiple concepts within each play flows through Green Bay’s offense. Under Favre and in Rodgers’s early seasons, this typically meant combining multiple pass concepts within the same play and letting the QB pick the side based on the defense. More recently, however, the Packers have made extensive use of “packaged plays,” which combine run blocking from the offensive line with screens or downfield passes by the receivers, while the QB has the option to hand off to a running back or throw downfield.

Under McCarthy, Green Bay was among the first NFL teams to begin using packaged plays, which first began bubbling up in college football roughly five years ago. (McCarthy has several friends coaching college on whom he leans for new ideas, including Kevin Sumlin, the forward-thinking coach at Texas A&M.) The above inside zone running play married to quick “pop” or seam routes by the slot receivers is straight from college football, and is a simple way to keep defenses honest if they try to crash down on Eddie Lacy and Green Bay’s increasingly productive run game. It’s also a way for the Packers to use Rodgers’s quick decision-making ability without putting him in harm’s way.

But the Packers’ success doesn’t stem solely from their ability to embrace the latest and greatest; while Green Bay excels at innovating, it’s also better than any other NFL team at executing many of the same plays Walsh used with Montana, most notably the slant pass. Hard as it is to believe, few NFL teams consistently throw the quick slant anymore, as most have replaced it with skinny posts or quick square-ins, or stopped bothering altogether. Put on a Packers game, though, and it can feel like watching old 49ers game film.

It’s not uncommon for Rodgers to complete five to 10 slant passes in a game — he likes them against soft coverage because they give him easy access, and he loves them against the blitz. When New England tried to bring pressure on Rodgers late in the half, he checked into a basic slant to Nelson and, 45 yards later, Green Bay had scored.

… Rodgers is a few Super Bowls shy of earning direct comparisons to Montana, but — particularly compared to Peyton Manning’s manic nerdiness and Tom Brady’s newfound love of high fives, head butts, and F-bombs — he’s the closest thing we have to a modern-day Joe Cool: This season alone, Rodgers pointedly told Packers fans to R-E-L-A-X after a loss and, on one of the most remarkable plays I’ve ever seen, calmly threw a game-winning touchdown pass without even bothering to buckle his chin strap.

pass without even bothering to buckle his chin strap.

By all accounts, Rodgers has always been this way. At a coaching clinic in 2011, Tedford recalled that, before the aforementioned crucial game against USC, Rodgers “was just walking around in the locker room with a smile on his face and getting [his teammates] going, but also getting them relaxed. He was not going haywire and yelling and screaming. He had this confidence about himself, and his leadership ability was unbelievable.”

Of course, similarities in demeanor between Rodgers and Montana wouldn’t matter if the two weren’t also so similar on the field. “When I think about fundamental quarterback play, I think of Aaron and Joe Montana,” McCarthy told the Sentinel. “The productivity is obviously there, but just the way they play the position — their footwork, the balance, the athletic ability, the accuracy of the football, the vision.” I see it too. Montana’s gifts were his accuracy, his decision-making, and his feet, and Rodgers boasts those same attributes — plus a stronger arm.

Michael Silver flashes back to the Packers’ last game:

The counterintuitive cheer rang out like a crescendo, just after Detroit Lions defensive lineman Jason Jones charged through the line and came crashing down upon quarterback Matt Flynn, and five confused Green Bay Packers offensive linemen weren’t sure what had hit them.

“We were like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ ” said Packers guard Josh Sitton, recalling the third play from scrimmage of the second half of Green Bay’s NFC North-deciding regular-season finale. “We had just given up a sack, and we’re going, ‘Are they sarcastically cheering?’ It was about to be a new low.

“Then we got to the sideline and our offensive line coach said, ‘Hey, 12’s back out here. We’ll see what happens.’ ”

As the Packers, 78,408 fervent fans at Lambeau Field and millions of TV viewers would soon be reminded, magic happens quite frequently when Aaron Rodgers emerges from the tunnel and steps onto a football field. For the second consecutive year, Rodgers’ timely return from an injury in Week 17 would deliver a dramatic division title for the Pack. In this case, Green Bay secured a first-round bye with its 30-20 triumph over the Lions, setting up Sunday’s divisional-round clash at home against the Dallas Cowboys.

It also, in all likelihood, clinched a second regular-season Most Valuable Player trophy for a quarterback whose growing standard of greatness mesmerizes fans, coaches, opponents and teammates alike. …

And now, remarkably, Rodgers is every bit the Titletown treasure that predecessor Brett Favre was — and, true to his unrelenting nature, he’s far from satisfied. Though many highly astute football figures, including future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady, have said that Rodgers is playing quarterback at the highest level the sport has seen, the 31-year-old superstar dismisses such proclamations as “idle talk.”

As Rodgers said in a recent interview at Lambeau, “I still know I can play better, and I’m always looking for ways to get better. Whether it’s a six-touchdown game, and I’m pissed about a check I didn’t make in the second half that would have given me a chance to get seven … it’s that desire to be perfect. It’s the greatest asset sometimes, and it can be the greatest curse, because it’s hard to turn off.”

In the process, he’s turning out to be one of those players his teammates will tell their grandkids about, and whose heroic feats may only be slightly exaggerated long after his bust has settled into its permanent resting spot in Canton.

Consider the scene at Lambeau two Sundays ago. Nursing a painful left calf injury as he took the field against the Lions, Rodgers was slipping away from the pass rush late in the first half when he suddenly felt a shooting pain in the afflicted leg. That Rodgers managed to thread a 4-yard touchdown pass to receiver Randall Cobb before hitting the ground, giving the Packers a 14-0 lead, was of small consolation to the stunned masses. Rodgers would later concede that he initially thought he had torn his Achilles tendon.

“When he went down, it looked like he got shot,” said Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk, one of Rodgers’ closest friends on the team. “I didn’t think he was coming back. We figured, as a defense, ‘Let’s stand up — we need to do this.’ Then I heard the crowd.”

Just after Flynn absorbed that drive-killing sack to start the second half, Rodgers emerged from the tunnel, blessedly still in uniform. Though the Lions would score a touchdown on the ensuing drive, tying the score at 14, the sight of Rodgers taking warmup tosses on the sideline infused the stadium with a surreal sense of serenity.

“It was like a cliché movie thing,” Hawk said. “The crowd’s cheering, but this isn’t the right time. Then I saw that he had come back out — and he wasn’t in street clothes. I honestly wasn’t sure if he would try to play … or, if he did, if he was gonna last more than a few plays.

“And, of course, it was a magical second half. It was like Willis Reed, limping back out of the tunnel. Just one more story to add to his legend.”

Certainly, Rodgers earned the comparison to Reed, who stunned a Madison Square Garden crowd by surfacing just before tipoff of Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals and, despite a torn thigh muscle, propelling the New York Knicks to a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

On a more contemporary — and personal — level, he channeled the unrivaled resilience of Favre, whose penchant for playing through pain was immortalized by his record streak of 297 regular-season starts. …

In the process of affirming his ability, Rodgers has proven to be a strong-willed, ultra-competitive and exacting leader, one who carries himself with almost a coach-like presence among his peers.

“He expects everyone to put the work in just like he does,” Sitton said. “He brings a pad and a pen to every meeting and takes notes. It might be s— that he’s seen 100 times, but he prides himself on knowing every facet of this offense.”

That, not surprisingly, provokes creative tension with the man in charge of the Packers’ offense, and of the team as a whole: Mike McCarthy, who took over after Rodgers’ rookie season and is now the league’s fourth-longest-tenured head coach with his current team.

Upon hearing the suggestion that he and McCarthy are like Spinal Tap’s “two visionaries,” a reference to the infamous recording-session screaming match between guitarists David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel in the cult-classic rockumentary, Rodgers laughed and said, “That’s a good analogy.”

Said Seneca Wallace, the veteran who spent the 2013 season as a Rodgers backup: “It was interesting. You hear different stories about coaches and quarterbacks (clashing), and when the head coach also calls the plays, it’s a whole other dynamic. They’re both very opinionated. Aaron’s a very intelligent quarterback, and Mike is a very intelligent and headstrong head coach who wants things done his way.

“When you’ve got two headstrong guys going at it, it’s kind of like a chess match. Each one is trying to figure out what the next move is. They’re going to war together, and if something goes on, they’ll come back and hug it out. It’s not like it gets out of hand. Whatever they’ve got going on with their chemistry, it works for them.”

To McCarthy, the challenge is to balance “the responsibility of calling plays with Aaron, but also the responsibility of managing the game for the whole team. There’ve been times, especially as a young coach, where I was too emotionally aggressive on the sidelines.”

Rodgers, suffice it to say, is not emotionally passive — be it in practice, meetings or games.

“Coach McCarthy always talks about alpha dogs — well, they’re like two alphas going at it,” Hawk said. “Man, it’s intense. It’s really fun to watch. They spend a lot of time together, one-on-one … watching film, going over the game plan, talking over plays. There’s so much respect back and forth, and they’re both passionate.”

The two visionaries made beautiful music together this year, as Rodgers threw for 4,381 yards, completed 65.6 percent of his passes and tallied 38 scoring tosses while serving up just five interceptions. His 112.2 passer rating was second only to Tony Romo’s 113.2, and the Packers’ 12-4 record was their best since the then-defending champions went 15-1 in 2011, with Rodgers earning MVP honors.

“Mike and I have got a really good relationship,” Rodgers said. “It’s been tested over the years. There’ve been so many highs, and a couple of moments of friction. But the moments of friction just make things better between us. Because, at the end of the day, we both want the same thing: We desperately want to win, and we want to do it all the time. And we are passionate about doing things the right way, and winning.

“We love to win. And we hate to lose. We probably hate to lose more than we love to win. And that’s why we want it so badly. Our relationship has grown so much over the years. It’s just a trust that he allows me to do some things on the field, and I trust him to make the right calls. He gives me enough freedom. I try not to abuse that.

“For sure, there’s some fiery moments. But I think we both know each other well enough that the last thing that either of us want to do is disrespect each other.”

Sometimes, the friction occurs because Rodgers goes off script and doesn’t include McCarthy in the improv sketch. Whereas Saints coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees seem, in a football sense, to be completing one another’s sentences, McCarthy and Rodgers can be more like screenplay collaborators who divvy up the scenes.

“Mike might call two plays, and then they’ll go no-huddle,” Wallace said. “So of the 70 plays in a game, Aaron might end up calling 40. But it really eats at Mike when he doesn’t know what play Aaron is calling. He’ll be like, ‘What the f—? What is he calling?’ ”

In Rodgers’ defense, he’s pretty damned good at it. For starters, his football IQ is Mensa-esque. Hawk says that he occasionally picks the quarterback’s brain about offenses the Packers are preparing to face, “and he’ll start to go into a 30-minute dissertation about what defenses do, what works, what the upcoming opponent will do and why it won’t work. He goes into such depth and detail. He’s one of those dudes who thinks like 10 steps ahead. So if you ask him a question like that, you’d better not be in a hurry.”

Asked if he could emulate his old-school predecessors who routinely called their own plays, Rodgers said, “I think so.” He’s being modest — he knows so.

“Remember that game at the end of the (2011) season, after they’d already clinched home-field (advantage throughout the playoffs), when (then and current backup) Matt Flynn went off against Detroit?” Wallace said, referring to the 45-41 Green Bay victory in which Flynn set franchise records for passing yards (480, since tied by Rodgers in 2013) and touchdown passes (six, also since tied, twice, by Rodgers — before halftime of the Pack’s blowout victory over the Bears last Nov. 9).

“I think Aaron called 100 percent of those plays, or darn near close, from what he told me. That just tells you the respect level Mike has for him, and the level that they’re both on intellectually.”

It was that respect level that led McCarthy to implement more no-huddle packages in 2012, thus increasing Rodgers’ play-calling responsibilities. He reduced them in 2013, concluding that he was putting too much on his quarterback.

“It’s not that he couldn’t (call his own plays),” McCarthy said. “When you talk football with him, he’s ‘coach-smart’ now — he knows the line call, the blocking schemes and what every receiver is doing. Really, what we learned through our process is, it’s not that he can’t. It’s how much responsibility can one man carry on a team?

“Nobody plays faster in the league than this guy — the way he sees the game, the way he gets the ball out of his hands. I realized I was stressing out, and potentially slowing down, the best player on my team.” …

Midway through last season, a groan reverberated throughout Lambeau after Rodgers went down with a broken left clavicle during a Monday night defeat to the Bears. As the Packers struggled to stay afloat during his eight-week absence, Rodgers spent much of his time in the training room, where he and the people treating him amused themselves by sifting through letters, voicemails and emails from fans offering unconventional remedies.

“Our training staff started collecting this stuff, and we’d read them, just as a way to deal with the frustration of not being out there, to provide some comic relief at times,” Rodgers recalled. “The root of it was that people wanted to help. Some of them were interesting ideas that made you go, ‘Hmmm.’ Some of them were just pure comedy — different things they could put on (the clavicle), whether it was some sort of cream or rub, or animal extract, or some sort of light therapy that would be the cure-all.”

And what was Rodgers’ favorite suggestion? “Energy therapy,” he said, laughing. “It was a letter (in which) somebody wrote, ‘If I can just touch him … just touch his affected area, he’ll be back on the field next week.’ ”

Eight weeks later, Rodgers returned for the team’s final regular-season game, a division-title showdown with the Bears in Chicago, and delivered a miracle of his own.

Down 28-27 and facing a fourth-and-8 with 46 seconds remaining, Rodgers took a shotgun snap and faced immediate pressure from Bears pass rusher Julius Peppers (now a Packers teammate). After sliding to his left to evade the sack, Rodgers launched a 48-yard touchdown pass to Randall Cobb that ranked as one of the most stirring plays in franchise history.

Carrying on the Packers’ storied legacy is important to Rodgers. While things were understandably chilly with Favre during that surreal summer of 2008, Rodgers has made a point of helping to repair relations, ultimately facilitating plans for Favre’s jersey to be retired at Lambeau next season.

“I think Brett deserves his due for what he did for this organization, this city and this franchise,” Rodgers said. “So, it’s time to bring him back. I think that in some people’s eyes, they were worried about how I would react to that. And so it was just important for me to show those people that, you know what, I’m 100 percent on-board with this. Because it has nothing to do with me — Brett should be back in the fold, and should be honored the way he deserves to be honored.”

Rodgers, understandably, has never felt so secure in his position, even as he pushes himself and his teammates toward that elusive standard of perfection. He’s still adjusting to life as a celebrity — and now has a famous girlfriend in actress Olivia Munn, further intensifying a “life (that is) not really normal anymore.”

That said, Rodgers is determined not to stay ensconced in a football-centric bubble.

“I think he takes pride in being intellectual and in touch with what’s going on around the world,” Hawk said. “He’s obviously all about football, but it’s not just football. He’s so curious. If I mention a book that he hasn’t read yet, or hasn’t heard of, he’ll take out his phone, make a note, and actually buy it and read it.

“He’s curious, always asking questions, always learning. There are a million things he’s interested in … politics, entertainment, current events. If he walks by your lunch table and hears you talking about something, he’ll sit down and give you his opinion — and he’s not shy about debating you.”

And when Rodgers debates, as with everything he does, he’s in it to win it.

“You wanna know how competitive he is?” Sitton asked. “One day early this season, we have this play (in practice) where he basically has to launch the ball as far as he can out of bounds … running time off the clock when there are six or seven seconds left and it’s fourth down so there’s no time left for another play. I told him, ‘You don’t have the arm for that anymore. You’re too old.’ He looked at me like, ‘FU,’ and launched that ball so f—– far, it was ridiculous. That’s how he is.”

Said Hawk: “We hang out with him, and we’re big into board games and different types of charades-type games. If your team is trying to come up with topics, he’ll sit in the corner by himself coming up with terms he’s so proud of. He wants to come up with some stuff you’ve never heard of. If one of his references comes up, and the other team gets it, he’ll get so mad. He wants to dominate.” …

After emerging from the tunnel to finish off the regular-season finale against the Lions, Rodgers was clearly uncomfortable, yet he refrained from playing up the drama to his teammates. Even when he scored on an improbable sneak to put the Pack up by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, a decision that apparently was his brainchild — “I didn’t think it was the brightest call by Aaron,” Sitton said — Rodgers was all business.

“It wasn’t really a big production,” Sitton said. “At one point, he said, ‘I’m gonna need some time, guys.’ But it was definitely that feeling that the competition, that going to battle with us, was more important than his injury. It was definitely a big moment.”

Perhaps, for a man whose path to football stardom has seldom been paved with gold, Rodgers’ muted reaction to such challenging circumstances isn’t surprising. Adversity, be it Ndamukong Suh’s foot bearing down on his tender left leg late in that Lions game or a van full of sneeringly skeptical high schoolers, has been a constant part of the journey — but, in Rodgers’ eyes, his has been the road best traveled.

“It’s a lot better,” he said. “As tough as it’s been, at times, that road is a satisfying one. And as you move forward, you take the high road and try and do things the right way — you try to make it about the team, and you try to stay humble when you’re having great success. That’s the satisfying road.”

 

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did a valuable service for younger readers by reminding them that Packers football wasn’t always as good as it is now:

In fact, fans younger than 30 pretty much know only winning. Seventeen post-season appearances in the last 22 years (including an NFC Divisional Round game next Sunday at Lambeau Field). Eleven division titles since 1995. Three trips to the Super Bowl. Two quarterbacks, both headed to the Hall of Fame.

Yes, Packers fans have it pretty good. After all, they could have been born in Oakland or Cleveland. Worse yet, they could be stuck with Jay Cutler.

“I think us as Packer fans are spoiled rotten,” said Michael Hunt, who played linebacker for Green Bay from 1978 to ’80 and lives in Merrill.

“I don’t think fans understand how hard it is to (win) year after year, and have a chance to go to the Super Bowl every year,” said Gary Ellerson, a Packers running back for two years in the mid-’80s.

They have a point. Perhaps many Packers fans take success for granted. Maybe there’s a growing sense of Titletown entitlement, a smidgen of smugness, an undercurrent of complacency that has ever so slightly dulled passions.

If so, a reminder of the past is in order.

A friend of mine calls the interminable interregnum between Vince Lombardi and Ron Wolf as the “Gory Years.” The Journal Sentinel refers to it as the Sorry Years:

From 1968 through 1991, the Packers had four winning seasons. They qualified for the post-season twice and won exactly one playoff game. They went through more than 30 quarterbacks, some of whom seemingly had no idea how to throw a forward pass.

There were terrible trades and forgettable draft picks. The franchise lacked direction at the top, leadership in the locker room, talent on the field.

“There was chaos in the organization,” Dave Begel said of the three years (1978-’80) he covered the team for The Milwaukee Journal. “It was a time of chaos. They were a lousy team. They were a terrible football team.”

The Packers sank so low that Bob Harlan, who spent 37 years with the organization and now is chairman emeritus, wondered if they ever would find a way out of the abyss.

“I used to go to Super Bowls in the ’70s and ’80s and I’d see those big (inflatable) helmets on the field and I would think, ‘I’m not sure we’re ever going to have this again,’” Harlan said. “It seemed we just could not find a way to be successful.”

From Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr to future Hall of Famer Brett Favre, the list of Packer Quarterbacks In Name Only included:

• Jim Del Gaizo, 8 games
• Blair Kiel, 8
• Rich Campbell, 7
• Chuck Fusina, 7
• Don Milan, 7
• Dennis Sproul, 6
• Frank Patrick, 4
• Alan Risher, 3
• Randy Johnson, 3
• Vince Ferragamo, 3
• Bill Stevens, 3
• Bill Troup, 2
• Brian Dowling, 2
• Rick Norton, 1
• Steve Pisarkiewicz, 1
• Willie Gillus, 1

Some of that list have stories attached. Risher and Gillus played on the 1987 lockout team. Campbell was a number-one draft pick despite a throwing motion described by the Journal Sentinel as “unorthodox.” Patrick, who was 6–7 and weighed 225 pounds, was moved by Nebraska from quarterback to wide receiver, then the Packers moved him back to quarterback, only to find out why Nebraska moved him from behind center. Del Gaizo, a left-hander, was traded from Miami for two second-round draft picks, basically because he was the third-string quarterback on the then-NFL champions. Ferragamo got the Los Angeles Rams to Super Bowl XIV, and Pisarkiewicz was a number-one pick of the St. Louis Cardinals (because he apparently was a star at the University of Missouri). Dowling, the quarterback for Yale in the famous 31–31 tie with Harvard in 1968, became the “B.D.” from the Doonesbury cartoon. No, Randy Johnson didn’t later become one of the most intimidating pitchers in baseball.

The Packers also had Scott Hunter, Green Bay West graduate Jerry Tagge, Jack Concannon, John Hadl (of the infamous Lawrence Welk trade fame — he was acquired for five draft picks, and then was traded away with another player and two more draft picks), Lynn Dickey (before and after his broken leg), David Whitehurst, former UW quarterback Randy Wright, Don Majkowski and, when Majkowski held out, Anthony Dilweg.

Happily, now that people who know what they’re doing run the Packers, fans have enjoyed the work of one near-future Hall of Fame quarterback, Brett Favre, and one farther-future Hall of Fame quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. Notice as well they both have personalities. Rodgers’ is more subtle than Favre’s, but, the Wall Street Journal reports:

The only time Rodgers isn’t on the same page with his teammates is when he is telling jokes. Rodgers’s attempts at humor are so layered and dry, those who know him say, that the only thing more common than a playbook in the Packers’ locker room is the clueless comment, Is he joking?

“His jokes are what we call ‘Algebra 2,’ ” said Daryn Colledge, a Miami Dolphins offensive lineman and former Packers teammate. “I think a lot of people don’t get it.”

Rodgers’s sense of humor, though inscrutable, serves as a calming influence in Green Bay. After a 1-2 start this season, Rodgers famously told fans to “R-E-L-A-X”—a statement later backed up by the Packers’ 12-4 final record. In the locker room, Rodgers uses quips and stunts to tell his teammates the same. The comedic results are mixed.

Scenes like the following are common in Green Bay. Last week in a team meeting, Rodgers displayed a photo, randomly, of a figure in American history and asked rookie center Corey Linsley to identify him. There was no apparent purpose to this, but Linsley correctly identified John F. Kennedy.

“What’s his middle name?” Rodgers asked.

“I don’t know,” Linsley said. “Frederick?”

Half the room giggled. Half was confused. It was, teammates agree, kind of weird. (Linsley clarified that he is now aware of Kennedy’s middle name, Fitzgerald.

Then there is Rodgers’s habit of quoting “The Princess Bride.” While the 1987 romantic comedy is widely considered a classic, the allusions are lost on Rodgers’s 20-something teammates. (At 31, Rodgers is older than all but three guys on the team.) His favorite line to blurt out, he said, is from the character Vizzini: “Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates? Morons.”

“They probably don’t get the reference, no,” Rodgers said.

“He does make jokes that fall on deaf ears,” said fullback John Kuhn. “But that’s what happens when you make a lot of jokes.”

Teammates say that Rodgers, during pregame walk-throughs, will stare at players with an angry look until the player expresses concern. Then Rodgers will laugh.

“It takes a really long time to figure it out,” Linsley said of Rodgers’s humor.

Rodgers’s jokes, teammates say, are almost entirely for his own entertainment. To them, that suggests a confidence that puts them at ease. “He’s about as relaxed and calm in this locker room as you can get,” said Packers offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga. “His demeanor has an effect on us. There’s never any panic in this locker room. Everything about him says, ‘Take a breather; we are going to be all right.’ ”

There is anxiety in the Green Bay locker room, but it is from players dreading falling victim to one of Rodgers’s quips.

During midweek meetings, in between breakdowns of offensive plays, Rodgers will award a “Man of the Week” award, in which he scours Google Images for less-than-flattering photos of teammates. He found one of tight end Andrew Quarless while he played at Penn State and blasted it on the video board in the meeting room. “He spends a lot of time on the Internet, trying to find anything,” Quarless said.

Rodgers spent plenty of time this season making fun of video that emerged of backup quarterback Matt Flynn, who danced on teammates’ shoulders at a Pearl Jam concert in October. “I’m out where people can see me, seeing my favorite band, trying to get the crowd pumped up. Why am I supposed to be embarrassed?” Flynn said. “He’s trying to roast everyone and it doesn’t work on me. Anything people think I’m embarrassed by I am actually proud of.”

Nothing, Bulaga said, compares with the oddness of the Saturday meetings that Rodgers runs with the offense.

“He has these little gigs every Saturday, he has 10 to 15 minutes to do whatever he wants,” Bulaga said. That means Rodgers focuses on football and addressing the entire offense on what needs to be done—until he starts getting weird. In one meeting this season, Rodgers randomly began to show what he called great commercials of the year. Bulaga knew what was coming, even if no one else did. It was all a setup to eventually show Bulaga’s commercial for cellphones featuring coach Mike McCarthy.

“There is no self-doubt in [Rodgers],” Bulaga said.

Rodgers’s eccentric sense of humor can be effective on opponents, too. Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive lineman Michael Johnson said that Rodgers’s on-field demeanor is so biting and confusing that he compared him with Clive Owen’s mysterious character in the caper movie “Inside Man.” Buccaneers linebacker Mason Foster said that Rodgers is likely to throw for a big play, then calmly walk by you and ask how your alma mater is doing.

“He went to Cal, so he just walks up and asks me how Washington is doing,” Foster said. “In between plays.”

The major flaw in this story is that it includes no mention of Rodgers’ famous photobombs of each week’s team captain photo, which can be found on, of course, its own website:

After a win I didn’t anticipate, over New England Sunday, the Packers now share the NFC’s best record.

Green Bay Packer Nation explains one reason with a fascinating breakdown of the play that essentially clinched the game (though it didn’t seem that way at the time) just before halftime:

The Patriots defensive set showed a lot of pressure with the safety playing up and over the front side of the initial set. Aaron didn’t like this set and called a timeout. Note the position of the Patriots safety and that James Starks is in for the run or pass pro:

After the timeout, a couple things happen. First of all, check out the new position of the safety:

This is a peculiar position for the safety on a third and two. Obviously the Patriots respect the Packers receiving corps and want a center fielder but this is quite deep. But the Patriots are still showing pressure so Rodgers sends Starks out in motion to force a linebacker out of blitz position.

This creates a trips left formation which gives the safety a lot to think about. At the same time, Rodgers now knows that the linebackers left at the line of scrimmage no longer have to worry about a run play. In this motion, Aaron Rodgers slides his chips to the middle of the table, trusting his line and his legs to buy him the time he needs. Now, singled up with the safety fifteen yards deep, it is time for Jordy Nelson to do his magic.

Nelson knows exactly where the weak spot on the field is, and he also knows that a veteran like Revis will likely be playing outside leverage to avoid a reception and clock stoppage, this is even more true as Revis knows he has a safety playing center field to crash on anything across the middle. It is interesting to me that right before this play, the safety drops even a bit deeper and also gets caught way outside, allowing Jordy not just a play, but a touchdown. This happens in part because the Patriots have seen so much tape of Jordy burning safeties from the sideline in, but Jordy forces the issue.

Jordy’s first step is a chop step that establishes Revis’ outside technique, then there is a subtle, almost double move straight up and then across the middle. The safety is so focused on Jordy that he too ends up way out of position and after Cobb took Revis completely out of the play with a downfield block, it was Jordy off to the races…and we all know who won.

This game is a game of inches and while there were still 14 seconds on the clock as Jordy was taken out of bounds, Had Jordy not had the athleticism to finish this play and touch the pylon just before his knee went down out of bounds, there is no guarantee that the Packers would have gotten in the endzone against the stingy Patriots red zone defense. Because of Jordy Nelson’s elite athleticism…this is what we saw:

Meanwhile, former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sportswriter Greg Bedard introduces Sports Illustrated Monday Morning Quarterback readers to Packers coach Mike McCarthy:

As far as the customary post-game handshake between coaches, New England’s Bill Belichick usually goes with the less-is-more approach, especially after close losses like Sunday’s 26-21 defeat at the hands of the Packers.

That’s why it was so significant that at Lambeau Field on Sunday night, Belichick and McCarthy embraced and then Belichick spent several seconds talking to McCarthy, with a few headshakes mixed in for emphasis. Translation: “That’s a damn fine football team you have that was hell to prepare and play against. You guys do a great job.”

“I’ll just say this: he was very gracious, and that’s about as far as I’ll go,” said McCarthy, who aced the first rule of Belichick Club—you don’t talk about Belichick Club. “He has set the standard for an NFL head coach, definitely in my time in the league. It’s awesome to go up and compete against his team and no one does it better than what he’s done.”

It certainly helps that the two teams are in different conferences and only meet once every four years (if McCarthy was in the AFC East, it wouldn’t happen regularly if at all), but that should not diminish the symbolism of the moment. It certainly wasn’t lost on me, someone who has covered both men up close in my career.

Here was Belichick, certainly the best coach in the NFL today if not ever, clueing us all on this fact: Michael John McCarthy is one of the great coaches in the NFL. And it’s time for everyone to regard him as such.

There is a certain segment of the Packers’ fan base that compares all who follow to Vince Lombardi and think world championships are a birthright. They will not give McCarthy his due until he adds another Super Bowl ring to his résumé, and even that might not be good enough.

There are plenty of fans around the country who hear McCarthy’s name and say, “Yeah, well I coach pretty well with Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers too.” (More on that below.)

I’ve certainly had my criticisms of McCarthy, who I think a lot of personally. On the rare occasions when his game plans are wrong he’s slow to adapt, if he adapts at all. He can get way too pass-happy. Calling the plays causes him to miss some game-management situations. McCarthy can coach emotional, whether it’s challenging plays or being too aggressive with play calling. He can be loyal to a fault when it comes to accurately assessing the talents of his players and coaching staff.

But the McCarthy I saw against the Patriots, and two weeks prior during the 53-20 victory over the NFC East-leading Eagles, was a more mature and evolved McCarthy. Mike 2.0? Maybe, considering that McCarthy said before this season, his ninth at the helm of the Packers, that he felt like he was at halftime of his career. He just seems much more in control of the game and his team.

McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers methodically took the Patriots apart throughout Sunday’s contest with 6.8 yards per play, converted 59 percent of third downs and had only one possession end in their own territory (prior to the game-ending kneel down). This was the first time since cornerback Brandon Browner returned from suspension that a Patriots opponent wasn’t flustered by how New England played them defensively. The Packers seemed to expect the Patriots would largely eliminate Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb, and they were prepared for that. When the Patriots changed matchups on third downs and in the red zone, or because of ineffectiveness, the Packers didn’t flinch. Usually that rattles an opponent (ahem, Peyton Manning).

McCarthy’s game-planning was superb. He hit the Patriots’ weaknesses on defense like he was spinning a dial (and even found a few new ones). The Packers hit them with the power run game. They put Nelson in motion and ran crossing routes against Browner because he doesn’t move well horizontally. They threw a touchdown on safety Patrick Chung.

McCarthy saw something in Darrelle Revis’ play that told him that in Cover-1, the skinny post was going to be there (and the Packers were really the first team to challenge free safety Devin McCourty). The result was Nelson’s huge touchdown before halftime. McCarthy used a variety of formations and personnel groupings to target matchups, especially with Cobb out of the backfield. He deftly straddled the line of not running the ball enough. It was as brilliant an offensive strategy against this version of the Patriots’ defense that you’re ever going to see. That’s part of what had Belichick so chatty after the game.

Of course, the Packers’ execution of the game plan, led by the spectacular (after the first two erratic drives) Rodgers, was top notch. If anyone had any doubts going intothis season or this game that Rodgers is the best quarterback—if not outright offensive weapon—in the league, then this game should have settled it for you. Rodgers is the best. Period. Has been for a while. That’s also why Belichick sought him out for a few words after the game by walking back across the field; another gesture that’s rare and only reserved for the best.

Here’s the thing about that, and about Favre’s 2007 season when he would have been MVP if it wasn’t for Brady’s records and 16-0 regular season: Neither Rodgers’ ascension or the final act of Favre’s career happens without McCarthy. Favre was reckless in ’05 and ’06 (McCarthy’s first season), with 38 touchdowns against 47 interceptions. He looked like his career was slipping away. The ’06 season was certainly rocky for Favre and McCarthy, who was brought in to bring stability to the team and discipline to Favre. The team was undermanned and Favre wasn’t a happy camper as McCarthy’s refused to let him do whatever he wanted.

It all paid off in ’07, as Favre was in command and executing at a high level as he took the Packers to the NFC Championship Game. That probably doesn’t happen without McCarthy.

Then there’s Rodgers. For all his current greatness, people tend to forget that Rodgers was a completely different style of quarterback when he entered the league in 2005. Rodgers carried the ball high and operated like an athletic robot under Jeff Tedford at Cal (Tedford’s quarterbacks consistently failed in the NFL). But thanks to McCarthy’s legendary offseason quarterbacks school, Rodgers was completely reprogrammed into the perfect weapon you see annihilating opponents today. Many think Rodgers walked into the NFL like this. Even though Rodgers deserves all the accolades that have and will come his way, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The Packers have established themselves as the Super Bowl favorite. McCarthy, with a career winning percentage of .655 (91-48-1), is now second among active coaches who have coached more than four years and 15th all-time, just behind Belichick (.658, 208-108-0). McCarthy has a Super Bowl ring.

 

Yesterday I posted here video of Packers touchdowns against Da Bears, and Jay Cutler interceptions by the Packers.

Those videos are now out of date by, respectively, seven touchdowns and two interceptions in the Packers’ 55-14 rout of Da Bears.

Which, predictably, makes the Chicago media not very happy this morning.

Our tour of truculence starts with the Chicago Tribune’s Dan Wiederer:

If the Bears had hoped to use their time off in Week 9 to sharpen their offensive attack, the first half Sunday night at Lambeau Field instead spoke to a team that had somehow found a way to get sloppier during its time off. Much sloppier.

On seven drives before halftime against the Packers, the Bears went scoreless and they had nearly as many penalties (three) in the first quarter as first downs (four).

A false start by Jermon Bushrod on third-and-11 on the opening series proved costly. Two possessions later, Bushrod was beaten badly for a sack by Clay Matthews, a play that also included an unnecessary-roughness penalty against Jordan Mills that pushed the Bears into a fourth-and-32 situation.

Quarterback Jay Cutler threw a first-quarter interception and also had a delay of game penalty himself.

And after vowing to make a greater commitment to offensive balance in the second half of the season, the Bears instead threw the ball or were sacked on 26 of their 38 plays in the first half.

As if their own offensive ineptitude wasn’t enough, the Packers’ ease in moving the ball only furthered the agony. Green Bay scored touchdowns on six of its first seven drives and at halftime had a 42-0 lead and a 358-162 advantage in total yardage.

That’s just half of it: Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw six touchdown passes in the first half alone, the first time in his career he had evenreached four before halftime. Two of those were deep balls to Jordy Nelson, who had TD receptions of 73 and 40 yards on his way to six grabs and 152 yards — in the first half. Nelson also drew a 53-yard pass interference penalty against cornerback Tim Jennings.

Nothing special: The Bears’ obligatory special teams blunder came with 11:49 left in the third quarter when safety Danny McCray slipped in punt protection right after the snap. That left Packers receiver Jarrett Boykin to get to punterPat O’Donnell so quickly that the Bears rookie never even got his drop to his right foot.

In fact, Boykin actually knocked the ball with his right foot first.

What was originally announced as a blocked punt was soon corrected to be an O’Donnell fumble and a Boykin recovery.

Boykin’s getting to the ball before the punter has to be seen to be believed:

Which prompts the Tribune’s Steve Rosenbloom, always a good source during Chicago sports disaster, to ask:

I started writing this at the end of the first quarter, hoping to get it posted by halftime because I wanted the Bears to fire Marc Trestman before the start of the third quarter.

Geez, it was 42-0, Packers, at halftime, so how much worse could it be if the coach had been whacked after two quarters? Trestman’s team has allowed 80 points in the last two first halves combined, so again, how much worse could it be without the guy?

Trestman deserves it. Bears fans deserves to see him whacked. What happened on Sunday night in front of God and NBC was a pathetic excuse for preparation and execution by a coach who has become a disaster at preparing his team to execute.

The Bears organization, however, deserves to see Trestman stay because those wonks are too stupid to know how awful this is. If they cared, they’d have listened to me when I screamed that Trestman should’ve been canned after the Dolphins game. Certainly after the Patriots game.

But no. Nobody at the toxic waste dump that is Halas Hall did a thing about it. Bears wonks have a high tolerance for being a laughingstock, as we all know.

And that’s how you get a 42-0 national TV embarrassment against the Bears’ biggest rival in their biggest game of a death-spiral of a season. Trestman’s Bears came out bad and stupid, and then looked like they quit or wanted to.

In the first quarter alone, Trestman’s offense was flagged for a false start, delay-of-game, and a personal foul.

Oh, and Jay Cutler threw his regularly scheduled interception and the Bears ran Matt Forte just twice in the first eight plays against the worst rushing defense in the league.

That’s some valuable work Trestman and his staff did during the off week, eh?

You know how little the Packers feared the Bears offense? They went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1 way back when the game was scoreless. They didn’t value the field goal. The Packers knew they’d get the ball back without trouble.

And they did. And they scored TD after TD after TD.

Trestman’s defensive coordinator still can’t teach his players to communicate checks and coverages. This goes back to Chris Conte and last season’s finale against the same Packers. This is an on-going embarrassment and now a national joke.

Bad enough that Mel Tucker and his defense are too stupid to double-cover Jordy Nelson, but they’re also too inept to even single-cover him for more than five yards. Nice coaching, teaching and execution.

That’s some complementary football, Coach Trestman.

But wait. There’s more stupidity. Trestman’s special teams coach continues to tell his guys to bring the ball out of the end zone on kickoff returns when nobody can get to the 20-yard line without Uber.

At 3-6, the Bears are done. They are hopeless. They are leaderless. They appeared heartless at times in the first half Sunday. How much more damning evidence does Emery need?

Emery has to fire Trestman now. He has no other option if he wants to keep his job, and even then, Emery still might get whacked.

Emery’s odd choice of coach has destroyed all hope for the next three years because the Trestman decision was tied to the $54 million the GM guaranteed to Cutler.

Emery could’ve franchise-tagged the erratic quarterback for one year and let him walk if he played as badly as, well, he has played this year. Emery could’ve whacked Trestman, too, and started over.

How good would that option be now? How dreadful will the remainder of Cutler’s contract feel now?

It’s over. Trestman’s career here. Emery’s career here. Maybe Ted Phillips’, too. Maybe they can get a group rate for the national convention of village idiots.

The Chicago Sun-Times’ Rick Morrissey agrees (did they work together on this in the Lambeau Field press box?):

The right thing would have been for general manager Phil Emery to make his way down to the Bears’ locker room at halftime and inform head coach Marc Trestman that his services would no longer be needed for the second half of Sunday’s game and beyond. And then for Emery to fire himself too.

From there, it would have logically followed that the McCaskeys would see the error of their ways and divest themselves of their ownership of the Bears and go into something better suited to their unique talents. Butter churning, perhaps. Or pizza delivery.

But that was never going to happen, even though the Bears were trailing the hated Packers 42-0 at halftime, an embarrassment of such epic proportions that one of the McCaskeys was rumored to have blushed.

My guess is that the Bears will cut a third-string cornerback after Sunday night’s debacle, but I suppose a ritual sacrifice of defensive coordinator Mel Tucker is possible. The obvious result of the inexcusable 55-14 loss to the Packers should be Trestman’s dismissal at the end of the season, but that is not going to happen.

It’s not how the McCaskeys work. They work at the speed of elevator music, and Trestman is only two years into a four-year contract. What happened at Lambeau Field on Sunday is a fire-able offense, but it will not end that way for Trestman because these are the Bears. It’s why they haven’t won a Super Bowl in 28 years and won’t anytime soon.

This game is a complete repudiation of the Trestman Way, whatever that is. After all the hue and cry following a miserable 51-23 loss to the Patriots and after a bye week, this is how the Bears respond? In the fetal position on national television?

“Based on what I saw this week (in practice), I was confounded to see the type of play we had (Sunday night),’’ Trestman said after the game. “Our coaches did a tremendous job preparing our guys this week, and our guys did a tremendous job of preparing. But none of it translated to the game.’’

The fact that the Bears have struggled offensively in the first half in three straight games? Trestman called that “confounding’’ too. A confounded coach — not a good thing.

The Bears have enough talent that a clobbering of this magnitude should not happen. But when your coach talks about “mutual respect’’ and “humility’’ and seems to want to inspire his troops with sonnets rather than sledgehammers, something like Sunday night can happen very easily.

A 3-5 team with its clichéd back against the wall? A season riding on the outcome? I’m sorry, but this falls directly on Trestman. The Bears look unprepared, overmatched and not very much in the mood to play football. And I know is who’s responsible.

“You ask about what’s going on during the week?’’ Trestman said. “Our guys are locked in – as good a team at working, meetings, being compliant, doing the things we’re asking them to do. This is a really good group of men.’’

Oh, brother.

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw six touchdowns in the first half. Six. Two of them were to Jordy Nelson, who was so open on both scores that he kept looking for the “Candid Camera’’ crew.

The Bears are stuck with Trestman and Jay Cutler. It’s why Emery won’t fire Trestman. He’s responsible for the presence of both men. He hired the coach, and he gave the quarterback $54 million in guaranteed money over three years. Admitting he was wrong twice? He might as well tell the world he doesn’t know the first thing about football.

The other reason Trestman isn’t going anywhere isn’t a very good one. But Cutler doesn’t need a new offensive system. He needs continuity. I know: This continuity stinks. But this is where the Bears are. They’re stuck with a quarterback who is very, very average, a coach with all the motivational skills of a goalpost, a general manager who doesn’t see what the problem is and a family of owners that doesn’t have the foggiest idea about anything, including fogs.

Have I left anyone out?

The Tribune’s David Waugh throws gasoline on the fire:

You’re on the clock, Bears Chairman George McCaskey.

Call the family together. Close the doors. Discuss the future. It’s time.

It’s time to re-evaluate everything: your team president, Ted Phillips; your general manager, Phil Emery; your head coach, Marc Trestman; every aspect of the family business; every member of the coaching staff; and every player in the lineup. Everything.

Spare the niceties. Forget protocol. Follow your gut, not some time-honored tradition of management philosophy written in a dated policy handbook. It’s time to restore some pride in an organization in which it’s gone missing, to do something that stamps this trend as unacceptable. This is still the team George Halas founded in 1920. Remind the NFL that heritage still means something, convention be damned.

I know it’s only November and the idea sounds rash to an organization that prefers a more deliberate approach. I know it’s the middle of the season, but this one ended for all intents and purposes Sunday night in Wisconsin. I also know desperate times call for desperate measures and no word better describes the state of the Bears after a third straight loss.

You’re on the clock, George McCaskey, not so much because your football team stinks — and boy, they stunk worse than a block of Muenster in a 55-14 laugher Sunday night at Lambeau Field — but because they failed to compete. They packed it in against the hated Packers, who led 42-0 at halftime. They showed up scared and it only got worse with every awful series.

Bear down, Chicago Bears, like the song says? What rhymes with cower?

You cannot ignore what has happened to your grandfather’s team, George McCaskey, the team so many Chicagoans invest so much time, money and emotion in every Sunday — the team that makes Chicago a Bears town every day of the year. You cannot embrace the status quo after giving up 106 points the last two games. You cannot respond to such an absence of heart on the field without using your head at Halas Hall.

If you believe the Bears possess better talent than their 3-6 record suggests, hold Trestman accountable for failing to put those players in position to succeed. If you believe the Bears roster lacks the playmakers and depth necessary to compete with playoff teams, pin that on Emery. If you believe it is a combination of both, start plotting for a complete overhaul that might be necessary to fix this mess. Those who think the Bears’ problems lie only with Jay Cutler haven’t been paying attention.

Is Phillips the right president to lead the next phase or would the organization be better served led by a football guy? Is Emery, the man who hired Trestman over Bruce Arians, the right football architect to rebuild this team into a playoff contender it obviously isn’t? Is Trestman capable of regaining the respect in the locker room he so clearly never had this season?

Fire defensive coordinator Mel Tucker immediately? Give play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer? Cut or bench somebody?

At this point, no option should be taken off the table. The table has no legs.

At this point, a correction: I reported the 51-23 loss to the Patriots represented rock bottom for the Bears under Trestman. Obviously, Sunday’s embarrassment made that statement inaccurate. The Tribune regrets the error.

Sports Mockery contributed a bunch of Cutler jokes during the first half:

Jay Cutler’s pass intended for the Packers nearly picked off by Bears

Drinking game, every time @AaronRodgers12 throws a TD or #JayCutler throws a pick, take a drink. PS, you should be drunk by now.

At this rate, Jay Cutler may have his jersey retired by the Packers before Brett Favre.

If a Bears player is open in the woods and no one is around to cover him, does Jay Cutler still throw an interception?

The Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley acts as if someone died:

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to bury the Chicago Bears.

Lord knows, the Packers did the same to them Sunday night.

The Bears’ 55-14 loss in front of a Lambeau Field record 78,292 fans, dressed in funereal black winter coats, has to be among the most embarrassing in their history.

Jay Cutler threw a pass off his own right guard’s head, which ricocheted to the Packers and turned into an 82-yard interception return. He threw an interception in the first quarter, too, when the game was close, and later fumbled when sacked by Julius Peppers.

He completed 22-for-37 for 272 yards and one touchdown, but never seemed comfortable. And the offense never seemed competent, moving away from their run-first strategy in the first quarter.

“To play like that, it’s embarrassing,” said Cutler, who has beaten the Packers only once.

And that was after a bye week in which the Bears vowed to fix the flaws that had led to a 28-point loss in New England. Cutler said he couldn’t remember if that had ever happened to him.

“Or maybe,” he said. “I just don’t want to remember.”

There’s little reason to think the 3-6 team will improve enough to finish .500 this season. Playoffs?

Aaron Rodgers threw six first-half touchdowns, each more humiliating than the next. The first came on fourth-and-goal from the Bears’ 1, the next — after Micah Hyde’s interception of Cutler — on third-and-1 from the Bears’ 3.

When the Bears blew coverage and let Jordy Nelson to run wide open for a 73-yard touchdown catch, it came immediately after the break between the first and second periods. The Bears had time to prepare, and messed up.

Nelson then caught a 40-yard score, wide open again. And Eddie Lacy took a screen 56 yards for a touchdown.

Up 35-0, former Bears star Julius Peppers sacked Cutler, forcing a fumble and setting up an 18-yard touchdown pass to Randall Cobb with 14 seconds left to play in the half.

The second half wasn’t much better: Bears punter Pat O’Donnell fumbled the drop to his foot, leading to a Packers field goal.

The Arlington Daily Herald’s Bob LeGere:

In the latest in a long line of Bears teams that could not defeat the Packers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau Field, Sunday night’s nationally televised humiliation was the most embarrassing loss of all.

The 55-14 final score doesn’t begin to describe the depths to which the Bears plummeted.

It was 28-0 Packers less than 18 minutes in.

Several thousand Bears fans were among the Lambeau Field-record 78,292 in attendance. Years from now, none of them will admit they paid money to see this fiasco.

While losing 11 of the previous 14 meeting with the Packers, the Bears had been pummeled by double digits five times.

But this one was worse than any of them. Way worse.

“The level of play is not anywhere near where it needs to be, and it starts with me,” coach Marc Trestman said. “The bottom line is we weren’t good enough in all three phases. We broke down in all three phases.”

It was 42-0 at halftime and, if the game was played with Illinois high school schools, it would have been a running clock after halftime. That could only have helped an outclassed and overmatched Bears team that plummeted to 3-6 with its fifth loss in six games.

Never, ever should “Bears” and “playoffs” be mentioned in the same sentence for the remainder of the season.

The Daily Herald’s Mike Spellman adds:

What in the name of Chester Marcol was that all about?

Just call it the …

Lambeau “Bleep.”

Wasted energy:

Yeah, you can rage about that historically hideous, epically ugly joke of a game, but first a question: The Bears sure played like they didn’t care, so why should we?

You know it’s bad when …

You hear, “This is downright embarrassing” from NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth — less than a minute into the second quarter!

The Herald’s Barry Rozner agrees:

Unless you believed the Bears would go 7-1 in the second half and make the playoffs, you knew the season was over three weeks ago.

All that remained was to see if Marc Trestman could use the remaining games to convince his bosses — and his players — that he really is an NFL head coach.

It continued Sunday night to look as though he belongs on a CFL sideline as the Packers hit the Bears early and often in a fight that could have been stopped — in a merciful world — 12 seconds into the second quarter when Green Bay took a 21-0 lead en route to a ferocious rout, a 55-14 shellacking at Lambeau Field.

Yeah, you only thought the New England game was bad, until Sunday when the Bears looked like a high school team playing a Packers squad that marched up and down the field as if they had no opponent.

For all intents and purposes, they didn’t. The Bears had no intention of matching up with Green Bay and their only purpose was to view the monuments in a hallowed hall featuring the ghosts of so many greats.

The Bears looked like they had seen a ghost as Aaron Rodgers shredded the defense for an opponent’s record 6 touchdowns in the first half, while the Bears’ offense under the leadership of Trestman and Jay Cutler looked as hopeless as they’ve been helpless the last three games.

“We’re not a good football team right now,” Trestman accurately assessed in his halftime interview with WBBM 780-AM. “We played 30 minutes of terrible football in all three phases. We have to just start over. That’s all we can do.”

That’s what owner George McCaskey has to do.

But to believe the Bears would make a change at the top after this season is to also believe that the Bears don’t care about the significance of shaking the stability Cutler finally has after so many years of change.

He’s had more than a dozen head coaches, offensive coordinators, QB coaches and offensive systems since he entered the league nine years ago. And while it’s true that the continuity from last year to this has done nothing to improve Cutler’s decision-making, it would be a gamble to change yet again when the Bears have spent so much money to lock up their “franchise” quarterback.

Nevertheless, the Bears are just 3-8 going back to the final two losses of 2013, when a single victory would have put them in the playoffs.

And if anyone’s going to evaluate Trestman, who seems to have no idea what he’s doing, then GM Phil Emery deserves just as thorough an examination.

At the very least, he reached for Trestman when better candidates were available, and his drafting remains bizarre at best and dreadful at worst. Emery — along with Jerry Angelo — is the reason the Bears have had to spend in free agency, trying to fill holes as a result of poor drafting.

The contrast to Green Bay is striking, with the Packers owning the most players in the league that have played only for them, and the Bears have the fewest homegrown players in the NFL.

But the sad reality remains that without a quarterback it doesn’t matter.

Green Bay has the best player in the league in Rodgers, while the Bears have Cutler, who is the same QB he was when he arrived in Chicago, and if the reason for keeping Trestman is Cutler, it’s no reason at all.

ESPN Chicago’s Jon Greenberg wants everyone gone:

If Virginia McCaskey sent me a telegram asking for my advice on how to fix the Chicago Bears, this is what I’d write back to her:

Fire everyone you can. Cut the rest. Sell the team.

Sure, that’s harsh advice for the proud matriarch of Papa Bear’s franchise.

But after another blowout loss for a completely listless squad, it’s an idealistic checklist of what the Bears need to do in the next couple of months to right this sinking ship.

Fire coach Marc Trestman and his staff and general manager Phil Emery. Get the new guys to blow up the roster. Convince the McCaskey family to sell the franchise to someone with a couple of billion dollars and a clue.

Or you know, just keep practicing hard and praying for good results. Whatever works.

I don’t want to overreact in the wake of a nationally televised 55-14 debacle to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night at Lambeau Field, but what else is there to say about a team that is not just bad, but awful in every phase of the game?

Fans hate watching this team, and it’s the second week of November. …

Two weeks ago, the New England Patriotstook a 38-7 lead into the locker room en route to a 51-23 shellacking. After a blissful bye week for Bears fans, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers led 42-0 after two quarters, which tied the 1983 Packers for the second-biggest halftime edge in NFL history.

No team had given up 50 points in back-to-back games since the 1923 Rochester Jeffersons were walloped by the Chicago Cardinals and Rock Island Independents en route to an 0-4 season. At least Rochester fans had to suffer through only four games before going out to practice their Charleston.

Self-flagellating Bears fans have seven more games to go, three of which will be broadcast across the country. …

The Bears are 3-6, and after watching this game, one wonders how they won three. With playoff-caliber talent, especially on offense, they are arguably one of the worst teams in the NFL. That’s what should be a call for change. The Bears have lost with bad teams before, but losing like this with a decent team is shameful. …

In all seriousness, I’m loath to ever seriously ask for someone to be fired or cut. But I can’t see much of an argument why Emery and Trestman hold the solutions to this team’s many, many problems.

I was all for re-signing Cutler last season, because the team had mortgaged its present to build an offense around him. And thanks to his “elite extension,” Cutler is a Bear for another two years. But he’s looking more and more like a sunk cost. Cutler is essentially a good arm attached to a mediocre quarterback.

All the Bears’ problems boil down to this: The people who run this organization aren’t very good at running a football team.

When you have a former accountant acting as team president and a former ticket executive running the family business, who’s to say they would hire the right people anyway?

One thing is for sure, the status quo at Halas Hall is not working and the ritualistic sacrifice of coordinators and assistant coaches might not be the answer this time.

The Score’s Dan Bernstein:

It turns out that not playing football is indeed the best thing for the Bears, because any lukewarm attempt to do so is a convincing argument for regime change. Swiftly.

To say the Bears quit in a 55-14 loss to the Packers on Sunday night that dropped them to 3-6 would be unfair, because it would assume that anything was ever even begun at Lambeau Field. This is what the Long Quit looks like – the culmination of weeks of steady, noticeable erosion of a team’s belief in its coach and, in turn, itself.

The seeds for this game were planted in training camp and sown by a weak, permissive culture devoid of authority and accountability. Trestman’s spinelessness and circle-talking prattle, general manager Phil Emery’s manufactured arguments in support of bad players who he thinks are good, Jay Cutler’s inherent blithe indifference and Brandon Marshall’s over-romanticized pathological narcissism have conspired to bring them here.

And here is beyond bad.

There’s nothing for Trestman to say, now. Any previous buy-in from any hopeful player in that locker room has been sold short, cashed out at a loss. Not one word from him can stop that at this point, nor can one from any other Bear trying to take the lead by posing in front of reporters. What was the word Marshall used that time, again?

“Unacceptable.” That’s it. There are others applicable, too.

“Downright embarrassing,” analyst Cris Collinsworth declared on NBC. “This is a proud franchise that’s being humiliated here tonight.”

And that was early in the second quarter, before it got historic.

“This much talent and nothing to show for it,” is what Collinsworth concluded, just ahead of the 82-yard interception return for touchdown that made it 55-7, Packers. Afterward, Collinsworth could only offer a quiet, “This will not sit well.”

Professional football teams aren’t allowed to perform so unsatisfactorily without some kind of response beyond the plaintive wails and acid invective of insulted fans. No teams are, but particularly one that had just completed its midseason break for introspection and recalibration.

Trestman’s vaunted “toolbox of concepts” is empty. Even in the mythical Pandora’s Box, after the release of all its similarly hideous contents upon the world, the Spirit of Hope remained at the bottom. Not so in this case. There’s no reasonable cause for anything like that. Not anymore, and not one bit.

The Bears were built to win now, don’t forget. This very time is the dead center of the championship window, for which a quarterback was locked in, an aging receiver rewarded and at least one over-scouted veteran defensive lineman signed.

This was supposed to be really good. Not just meh, not bad and certainly not whatever this has become. The contemplation of longer-term ramification of such abject failure is so much more than sobering, especially when any look at the Bears’ current reality demands first the consumption of some strong stuff.

If anything is to be salvaged from the wreck – and it’s possible that nothing can – it starts with a cold look at who is under contract and what voices may need to be heard to get the best out of some sunk commitments. You have heard that before, I understand, and all too recently.

But these coaches, at least and in this moment, have been reduced to useless ciphers. This group won’t be here when and if the Bears ever pull out of their unconscionable tailspin and contend for anything important.

If this isn’t enough, what does enough look like?

Thanks to Vimeo, you can enjoy this pregame entertainment:

Most of these interceptions should be appalling for Bears fans to watch. Other than a couple of good plays by Packer defensive backs, nearly all of these picks are either (1) throws where a Bears receiver wasn’t in the same zip code as where the pass was thrown, or (2) forced throws.

Cutler’s previous excuse may have been a group of bad receivers. I don’t think he has that excuse anymore.