NFL Wild Card Round: Packers @ Bears on January 10th at 7:00 PM

[Fear The Chorizo]

We see this song and dance from MLF-led teams ad nauseum when they get big early leads.  They get both passive offensively, and seemingly cannot figure out in game adjustments once the other team does something defensively to stop how the Packers got the lead in the 1st place.  

GB was dominating that game, and they fell asleep on offense for almost 2 quarters.  

 

Passive and poor ability to adjust in-game gets you beat even with talent...that to me is MLF's legacy.

[Jopal78]

5 minutes ago, Sixtolezcano said:

AND, MLF had no answers to turn around the offensive for the second straight Bears game.

 

What’s he going to do when his RB1 (Jacobs) has a single 13 yard run then averages 2.5 yards a carry the other 18 times he carries the ball? Who are the other ball carriers? A couple of undrafted guys. That’s why Love threw the ball nearly 50 times 

 

[wallus]

There will be changes in the coaching staff this off-season.... I have no doubt 

[adambr2]

12 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

It's easy to fire someone.

If you do, and you have a team with a winning record, you better know who you think is clearly better.  (And it's not Harbaugh, he missed the playoffs six of the last 13 years.)

Can always end up with the next Ray Rhodes or Mike Sherman.

MLF basically is Mike Sherman. Sherman had plenty of regular season success. He had three straight division titles and a solid regular season record.

Like MLF, Sherman choked in the playoffs.

They both have something in common with MLF, they’re the only three coaches since Lindy Infante to not get to a Super Bowl.

Sherman wore out his welcome after 6 seasons, Rhodes just 1. MLF has been given 7.

[homer]

Two things that really irked me were the delay of game coming out of a timeout and the timeout by the frigging defense on the Bears' last drive. The first issue might have been Love's fault but the second was on the coaching staff for sure.

[homer]

I really hate replaying these games in my head. When do pitchers and catchers report for God's sake???

[adambr2]

Just now, homer said:

The two things that really irked me were the delay of game coming out of a timeout and the timeout by the frigging defense on the Bears' last drive. The first issue might have been Love's fault but the second was on the coaching staff for sure.

You knew as soon as they called the timeout on defense that 

1) it would be pointless, and 

2) it would come back to bite them 

[Joseph Zarr]

Man, the Packers really REALLY make me appreciate what we have with the Brewers. I know who the Brewers are. Watching the Packers blow meaningful games in the most improbably gut wrenching ways imaginable annually has become their organizational identity. I don't even know what they are anymore beyond this. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Delay of game after a timeout was bad, but Love also attempted to call a timeout, which I don't believe you can even do. That's embarrassing for an NFL QB. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

9 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

We see this song and dance from MLF-led teams ad nauseum when they get big early leads.  They get both passive offensively, and seemingly cannot figure out in game adjustments once the other team does something defensively to stop how the Packers got the lead in the 1st place.  

GB was dominating that game, and they fell asleep on offense for almost 2 quarters.  

 

Passive and poor ability to adjust in-game gets you beat even with talent...that to me is MLF's legacy.

For the third time...those opening sets has some really creative stuff. The 3rd quarter was Roundy's Vanilla. 

[HarryDoyle]

It absolutely boggles my mind that there are still MLF apologists after this game.

[RedStickBrew]

3 minutes ago, homer said:

I really hate replaying these games in my head. When do pitchers and catchers report for God's sake???

Badger hockey is a good bridge from now until the beginning of baseball. Give it a try 

[homer]

I take solace in the fact that Williams has a touch of Rodgers in him meaning he is all smiles and giggles when things are going well but he looks like he blames everyone else when things are going poorly. I look forward to his eventual schism with Bears receivers.

[yourout]

5 minutes ago, homer said:

Two things that really irked me were the delay of game coming out of a timeout and the timeout by the frigging defense on the Bears' last drive. The first issue might have been Love's fault but the second was on the coaching staff for sure.

The third one had no business being called when it was either. Should have ran up and spiked it.

[yourout]

Just now, RedStickBrew said:

Badger hockey is a good bridge from now until the beginning of baseball. Give it a try 

Even tonight's game which was sort of blah was fun. I still say it's the best sports value in town. Good seats good crowd good hockey and usually just over 2 hours.

[OldHeidelberg]

7 minutes ago, homer said:

I really hate replaying these games in my head. When do pitchers and catchers report for God's sake???

I don't think this one will stick with me so much, from the first two 3 and outs of the second half you could feel it coming. I expected an excruciating loss and they delivered. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

5 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

It absolutely boggles my mind that there are still MLF apologists after this game.

It's basically one guy who has stuck his flag in the "they have no talent" position and isn't ever going to come off of that no matter how badly LaFleur performs. 

LaFleur is indefensible at this point. Yes the team has roster issues, but no serious person can believe this is the guy to get this team back to respectibility. He is an OC. He needs the game management left to his HC. 

[homer]

4 minutes ago, OldHeidelberg said:

I don't think this one will stick with me so much, from the first two 3 and outs of the second half you could feel it coming. I expected an excruciating loss and they delivered. 

I didn't think they were going to win going in but the manner in which they lost is going to bother me 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

3 minutes ago, OldHeidelberg said:

I don't think this one will stick with me so much, from the first two 3 and outs of the second half you could feel it coming. I expected an excruciating loss and they delivered. 

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. McManus missing the kick, followed by the immediate 3 and out, I was already thinking it and made several posts during the 3rd. Nothing about this was surprising. Nothing. 

It's gotten so bad I was relieved the Bears didn't do an onside kick. 

They did fool me yet again with the Golden TD. I thought for a minute they might hold on. 

[HarryDoyle]

Still waiting for Matt "all gas, no brakes" LeFleur to show up.

[adambr2]

24 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

It absolutely boggles my mind that there are still MLF apologists after this game.

I posted in Bears v Packers game two that MLF can’t hold Ben Johnson’s jockstrap and was soundly thumbs downed.

MLF is in the lower tier of NFL head coaches. 

[yourout]

Just now, adambr2 said:

I posted in Bears v Packers game two that MLF can’t hold Ben Johnson’s jockstrap and was soundly thumbs downed.

MLF is in the lower tier of NFL head coaches. 

He certainly the worst game manager in the division and that's saying something when you got Campbell in Detroit.

[HarveysWBs]

You can parse this any way you want, or grind whatever axe is closest at hand.

Special teams is the easiest call, and no one is going to shed tears for Bisaccia or McManus getting shown the door. But they say success has many fathers and failure is an orphan. That can’t be allowed to pass anymore. Every level of this organization had its fingerprints all over this thing.

Both lines were bad, and they’ve been a problem all year, and they were unacceptably shallow all year. And the entire world knew CB was a glaring weakness. Wouldn’t you know it, those things still hurt the Packers tonight. That’s on Gutekunst.

Hafley sounds great at the mic, but his defense just gave up a historic comeback to a QB that routinely can’t hit the broadside of a barn and for whom they had no answers. Nothing he dialed up worked late and while you can say the third quarter offense did his group no favors, I’m not going to defend 25 late points given up when the offense didn’t turn the ball over. That doesn’t fly.

And the offense. The magic is gone on the o-line. Steno and Butkus are out of leash. They made their bones on getting maximum production out of some B-grade investment there, but they’re running on reputation and it hasn’t been reality for a while. That second half screamed for ball control and churning some ground yards and they got stuffed in a locker by a Bears front that doesn’t intimidate anyone.

But when the chips are down, and everything else is falling down around their ears, the one thing that has to be a constant in Green Bay is the QB and playcaller. At the very least, they have to know how to move the sticks, play situationally sound football, and bleed out a trailing opponent, especially an inferior one (though at this rate, it’ll be nearly impossible to say the Bears should be dogs in next year’s matchups). LaFleur and Love have accomplished much that can be praised, and they were always going to look diminished after Rodgers left. But even accounting for that, they choked again in the second half of a playoff game. They come up small in the biggest moments.

But the point is, the whole team comes up small. Running it back is unthinkable, but once you start firing one person, I can’t fathom how you’d defend any of the others when it’s been this bad. The whole team needs a new identity. I can’t see any other way forward.

[OldHeidelberg]

16 minutes ago, homer said:

I didn't think they were going to win going in but the manner in which they lost is going to bother me 

We got all the bounces, converted some big 4th downs and they still ran us out of the gym in the 4th quarter. I don't feel like we were the better team and should have won right now. 

[yourout]

5 minutes ago, HarveysWBs said:

You can parse this any way you want, or grind whatever axe is closest at hand.

Special teams is the easiest call, and no one is going to shed tears for Bisaccia or McManus getting shown the door. But they say success has many fathers and failure is an orphan. That can’t be allowed to pass anymore. Every level of this organization had its fingerprints all over this thing.

Both lines were bad, and they’ve been a problem all year, and they were unacceptably shallow all year. And the entire world knew CB was a glaring weakness. Wouldn’t you know it, those things still hurt the Packers tonight. That’s on Gutekunst.

Hafley sounds great at the mic, but his defense just gave up a historic comeback to a QB that routinely can’t hit the broadside of a barn and for whom they had no answers. Nothing he dialed up worked late and while you can say the third quarter offense did his group no favors, I’m not going to defend 25 late points given up when the offense didn’t turn the ball over. That doesn’t fly.

And the offense. The magic is gone on the o-line. Steno and Butkus are out of leash. They made their bones on getting maximum production out of some B-grade investment there, but they’re running on reputation and it hasn’t been reality for a while. That second half screamed for ball control and churning some ground yards and they got stuffed in a locker by a Bears front that doesn’t intimidate anyone.

But when the chips are down, and everything else is falling down around their ears, the one thing that has to be a constant in Green Bay is the QB and playcaller. At the very least, they have to know how to move the sticks, play situationally sound football, and bleed out a trailing opponent, especially an inferior one (though at this rate, it’ll be nearly impossible to say the Bears should be dogs in next year’s matchups). LaFleur and Love have accomplished much that can be praised, and they were always going to look diminished after Rodgers left. But even accounting for that, they choked again in the second half of a playoff game. They come up small in the biggest moments.

But the point is, the whole team comes up small. Running it back is unthinkable, but once you start firing one person, I can’t fathom how you’d defend any of the others when it’s been this bad. The whole team needs a new identity. I can’t see any other way forward.

I think it's time for a complete reboot.. 

We don't have enough pieces and we don't have good enough coaches. 

It would be painful for a year or two but if you get the right people it can be turned around pretty quick..