What We Found Out Tonight

The one thing the loss to the Steelers should tell Mike McCarthy, Ted Thompson and Mark Murphy is the Packers defense under the leadership of Dom Capers cannot be depended upon to make a stop when they absolutely, positively, must make a stop.

Once again the tackling is atrocious. Morgan Burnett whiffed on the touchdown pass and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix seems to avoid tackling altogether. There were many other plays where the defensive backs took a bad angle or once again for the umpteenth time insist on tackling high instead of going for the waist and legs.

On the last drive it seems the Packers were playing in a prevent allowing the pass receivers to get open and no pass rush to stop the pass from getting there. If the Packers had a pass rush Brett Hundley played well enough to win the game. But the pass rushing specialist Vince Biegel hardly played and the rest of the defense was hard pressed to provide any pressure, especially in crunch situations.

Now I didn’t mention playing coverage, because for as long as I can remember the Packers defense under Dom Capers hasn’t been able to play coverage in any circumstance. And that continuing problem is either Capers responsibility or its falls on Joe Whitt, Jr. (cornerbacks) and Darren Perry (safeties), who ironically are the two coaches that are most respected around the league (why I don’t know).

We also found out that Brett Hundley is beginning to develop some skills and some pocket presence, but on critical possessions he reverted back to his old bad habits. I find his lack of development quite distressing for a 3rd-year player. And that is the quarterback guru himself Mike McCarthy and quarterback coach Alex Van Pelt.

Then there was decision making and that falls directly and completely on McCarthy’s shoulders. Going for that 57-yard field goal was stupid and costly. Basically, it cost the Packers the game by providing the Steelers with a short field against a suspect defense.

In addition, according to the announcers no one had ever made a field goal over 51-yards before the Steelers kicked a 53-yarder to win the game. Mason Crosby has issues with long field goals and to go for it there was a bonehead move. McCarthy ain’t a genius by any stretch of the imagination, but he normally plays things cautiously, so I have to assume that losing is getting to him.

McCarthy defended his choice BIGLY, "We had a mark (Crosby’s range) for going north and south. That was right on the fringe. I obviously have a lot of faith and trust in Mason. We knew we needed points. You look at the flow of the game. You look at time of possession. Those are the things you're thinking about all through the course of the game. How long has your defense been on the field? That's the right decision."

Well, actually Mike that wasn’t. It turned on the crowd and gave the Steelers offense momentum against the Packers defense that was just holding on and needed all the help it can get. No, Mike it was the wrong decision.

Another decision that was made and also cost the Packers a chance to get to overtime before they lost the game was when Jamaal Williams didn’t know and wasn't told that the Packers were trying to run out the clock when he went out of bounds on a 2nd-and-16 from the 12 with 39 seconds left. The official game summary listed that play as Williams being pushed out of bounds. Well, anyone who actually saw the play knows he ran out of bounds on purpose (FAKE NEWS again) and thusly used up just 7 seconds.

Once again the play was designed to use up time with a screen pass to the boundary, but again McCarthy calls this play without informing Williams to stay in bounds and compounding the problem by calling to the short side of the field. That one play gave the Steelers enough time to whip the secondary and set up the game-winning field goal. That was a FAIL of EPIC and DISASTROUS PROPORTIONS.

Here’s what McCarthy said about that play, which followed Hundley getting hit in the head on a sack, “There was a hit on the first play. The quarterback wasn’t checked. . . The play entry from the boundary went in late because I thought there was a helmet-to-helmet hit on Brett Hundley. You obviously check to see if your quarterback’s OK. That’s a natural reaction in the flow of the game. It might affect how you’re going to call the second play, too. That’s what happened as far as Jamaal. I don’t fault Jamaal for going out of bounds on the second down. Jamaal didn’t know we were out of the two-minute mode. . . . It’s football. It happens. Hey, I don’t want to see officials make calls in the fourth quarter of a game. It happens sometimes. It happened tonight. That’s the reality of what happened. No excuses. That’s where we were.”

Hundley said he didn’t tell Williams to stay in bounds either because he felt Williams should have known they were playing for overtime. Evidently not. The total lack of communication on that play was staggering.

Hundley added, “It’s football. You’ve got to get up and keep playing. Threw a screen, and we just didn’t communicate with Jamaal … letting him know what the situation is, and that’s on me as the quarterback to let him know and let our offense know what our thoughts are going into the down.”

I’m not sure it’s football to have zero communication at the crucial time of the

game. I guess it’s only football in Green Bay under the tutelage of Mike McCarthy. Once again that was a major FAIL.

On the plus side Justin Vogel continues to be a good punter and a clutch punter. He was a great pickup, so I have to give Ted Thompson a THUMBS UP for that. Also the play of former No. 1 bust Damarious Randall has been encouraging. I'm glad they had some MIDOL in their medical bag to get him back on the field after he suffered cramps. And except for the bonehead play Williams has filled in great at running back. Also forgotten and disliked tight end Richie Rodgers made a great catch and run on a key play. He was thrown to 3 times and caught the only one for 25 yards to open the drive that led to the touchdown that tied the game at 28-28.

On the negative side Lance Kendricks wasn't thrown to at all. So much for Ted Thompsons' GREAT TIGHT END RENAISSANCE with the signing of Martellus Bennett, Kendricks and Emanuel Byrd.

I could have easily accepted a blowout, but to lose the game this way was almost too much to handle. The season continues to fade away and now the Packers are in the position of having to “run the table” and that means Hundley has to beat the Bucs and the Browns before Rodgers can take over to face the Panthers, Vikings and Lions. It can be done, but with the loss tonight there is no more margin for error.