Minnesota 37 Green Bay 34 (Road to Super Bowl tougher now)

That was a "hell of a game" and Adrian Peterson does deserve to be the NFLs MVP but I am not sure if Christian Ponder has gotten a lot better or the Packers Defense failed. I am disappointed and the fact is we must swallow this loss and I don't have a lot to say about it right now!

My Packer MVP's go to Greg Jennings and Morgan Burnett so my season totals finish up like this:

Randall Cobb 4

Aaron Rodgers 4

Clay Matthews 3

James Jones 3 

Morgan Burnett 2

Tramon Williams 2

Jordy Nelson 2

Mike Neal 2

Greg Jennings 1

A.J. Hawk 1

Casey Hayward 1

Mike Daniels 1

M.D. Jennings 1

Sam Shields 1

Dezmond Moses 1

Davon House 1

Dan Barclay 1

Mason Crosby 1

Randall Cobb is my Green Bay Packer MVP of the 2012 season!

The Packers do not earn a first round bye and the hot Vikings are coming to Green Bay. Having Randall Cobb back and the Home Field do give me a lot of confidence that we will win it but having to go to SF in Round 2 will be tough!

Packers overcome a lot to get back to the Top!

Packers grind out a 23-14 victory over the Vikings to take back control of the NFC North!

Thanks to a couple of interceptions by Morgan Burnett (this week’s Defensive MVP) the PACK is BACK on top of the NFC North at 8-4 (*really 9-3) and after losing to the Seahawks for real the Bears are also 8-4 so the North will still come down to December 16^th at Chicago. The Vikings at 6-6 are still part of a wild chance for the final playoff spot in the NFC.

Another dramatic swing in the game was when the Packers lined up to go for the first down on a fourth-and-seven from the Vikings 29 in the third quarter while losing 14-10. The Vikings called a Time Out, Packers coach Mike McCarthy had a change of heart and sent slump-ridden Mason Crosby out for a 47-yard field goal attempt. After doinking a short one in earlier and missing a 53 yarder badly and then kicking the opening kickoff of the second half out of bounds, Mason Crosby appeared to be out of a job. Mason not only made this field goal but the dagger field goal late, thank you Vikings for calling that Time Out. Maybe this will be the turning point in Mason Crosby’s season and the Packers will be able to count on him down the stretch. Not MVP worth by any means.

 

 

 I give Offensive MVP to Aaron Rodgers. He had yet another solid game leading his team to victory on his 29th Birthday!

It was not just Crosby that had to overcome adversity in this game. First, just as Greg Jennings comes back to lineup, very early in the game Jordy Nelson goes out again with a hamstring problem. Then T.J. Lang gets injured and the Packers are forced to use UNDRAFTED ROOKIE Don Barclay on an already struggling Offensive Line. Like a Christmas miracle the line plays better and suddenly the Packers have a running game again. When James Starks scored on a 22 yard run I knew everything would be okay.

Everything was looking okay with the Offense but points were being left out there as we continue to have trouble getting the finals yard for first downs and wind up punting twice on 4^th and short situations in the second quarter. Still it was a 10-7 lead in the 2^nd quarter on the way to blowing out the Vikings.

All of the sudden Adrian Pederson goes off on the longest Touchdown run of his remarkable career. I was very stunned that the ONLY Minnesota Viking that is any good just gave his team the lead. A.P. continued to run through the Packers Defense in the 3^rd quarter but the Packers did manage to go up 20-14.

Somewhere around the beginning of the fourth quarter the best sign yet that this will be a Super bowl season was beginning to happen.

The Packers went on an 11 minute drive, longest in the NFL this season, which resulted in the clinching field goal by Mason Crosby. Something like that is simply not possible without a solid running game. The Packers just became a better team!

Someone said to me “Mike, can you really feel good about a win like this” my simple response is “I feel great about this win” There is no bigger wins than wins in division games. It’s been nearly two years since the Packers have lost one of these NFC North games, the ones that really count.

What went right: It’s clear the Packers will need to run the ball effectively to be a threat in January. Against another team playing vanilla against the run, Green Bay was able to take advantage. James Starks and Alex Green combined for 124 yards on 27 attempts. Starks’ bruising style and Green’s burst complemented each other well Sunday. There weren’t many big plays to be had in the passing game against Minnesota’s Cover 2, but Jermichael Finley (60 yards on six receptions) was effective over the middle.

 

What went wrong: Peterson completely tore up the Packers’ run defense start to finish. The undermanned Green Bay defense missed tackles, was slow to react and let Peterson get to the second level as Peterson finished with 210 yards on 21 carries. On his stunning 82-yard score, Burnett, M.D. Jennings and Tramon Williams all missed tackles. The absence of Clay Matthews and C.J. Wilson certainly does not help, but Peterson had a career day.

 

It is now time to address the problems that the naysayers are pointing out:

1.       Offensive Line: This is still a problem area but now we know why Thompson and McCarthy did not feel the need to go out and find more experienced linemen. Just like all the other positions, our backups are of good quality.

2.       Running Game: For the second time this season, we had one. Will it continue, who knows?

3.       Inability to stop the run: We don’t play against A.P. every week, thankfully.

4.       Aaron Rodgers hold on to the ball too long: Well I disagree. Some of his best plays come because he is able to hang onto it and get away and find someone to throw it to. Taking a few sacks does not kill a team, interceptions do.

5.       The Kicker: To be continued…if Mason Crosby can’t do it the packers will replace him; there is no shortage of decent kickers looking for work.

YES, there are issues to clean up but it is like this with every team in the NFL. The Texans have only one loss and it was when the Packers beat em 42-24. The Falcons have only one loss but that is masking many little problems they have much like the Packers 15-1 record did a year ago. I do not advise betting money on the unpredictable NFL but if you are going to; you should put it on the Packers to win it all.

Do you agree?

 

3 in a row: The Packers are now 5-3

Packers 24 Jaguars 15

 

Yes, this was an ugly win but it beats the hell out of the ugly loss or a stolen win.

The Vikings lost badly to the Buccaneers and the Bears also won ugly vs. Carolina so overall it was still a good week for the Packers.

The Defense gave up a lot of yards but only 15 points so they were not the problem this week. My MVP goes to safety Morgan Burnett, he played his best game this season when we needed it most. 

The Special Teams was great again except Mason Crosby, again. this guy has never become the kicker we expected him to be clearly has not yet figured out the wind patterns at Lambeau field after the latest renovations. His missed Field goal made things more difficult than they had to be and the Packers never did totally put the Jaguars away until he finally made a short one in the final minute. Zach and I saw him make a 75 yarder with the wind in warm-ups too.

 

It was the blocked punt by Devon House, recovered for a Touchdown by Desmond Moses, that won the game for Green Bay. Football is truly a young man's game and these two members of the Special Teams will start to play a bigger and bigger role on the Defense as well. They were both great in pre-season and now needed in regular season. The good times have just begun.

The Offense on this day was not very good at all. It was a very choppy game. Jermichael Finley continues to drop passes and when he does make a catch for a first down he looks like an idiot in celebration. The biggest problem was the Offensive Line, again. Both starting receivers being out was also a big problem, bigger than I expected. It looks like not ALL of our receivers are starting quality. Donald Driver is nearing the end of his career but with only two Touchdowns by this group on the day, Donald's score was huge as it turns out. We might have just seen his last Touchdown and Lambeau Leap so with no good candidates, I give the Offensive MVP to Donald Driver this week. Also worth noting, Randall Cobb continues to look good and scored another Touchdown and despite everything, Aaron Rodgers looked good. When he gets a little help he is unstoppable!

Winning games when you don't play very well is the sign of a good team!

 

This Packer/Bear battle in the NFC North should be a good one all season long. No style points gained by either teams Offense this week but there are other ways to win a game.

Get healthy Packers!

The Arizona Cardinals are coming to town and they have mastered the art of winning ugly!