Post Game Thread : Vikings Take The North 20-13 over GB

[Mark87]

The Green Bay Packers staged a fourth-quarter rally but failed to win their fifth straight NFC North championship with a 20-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings Sunday night at Lambeau Field.

Now the Packers (10-6), seeded No. 5 for the playoffs, will travel to No. 4 Washington to face the East Division champion Redskins (9-7) Saturday or Sunday in an NFC wild-card game.

The Vikings (11-5, seeded No. 3) claimed their first NFC North title since Brett Favre quarterbacked them in 2009 and will host the red-shot Seattle Seahawks (10-6, seeded No. 6) in the other NFC wild-card matchup.
Dates and times of the first weekend of playoff games are expected to be announced later tonight.

With the loss, the Packers ended up losing all three of their NFC North games at Lambeau Field and finished 3-3 against the Vikings, Lions and Bears.
The Packers were down 20-3 and stifled on offense through most of three quarters when they started their comeback with a 13-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 16-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers to tight end Richard Rodgers with 13 minutes 37 seconds to go in the game.

A 43-yard field goal by Mason Crosby cut the Vikings' lead to 20-13 with 5:39 left.
On the next play, Minnesota's Cordarrelle Patterson returned the kickoff 71 yards only to have the ball stripped by Crosby and recovered by Micah Hyde. Seven plays later, the Packers had a chance to tie the game with just over 2 minutes to go but Rodgers' fourth-and-goal pass was intercepted in the end zone.

The Packers had one more opportunity, getting the ball back with 58 seconds left, but couldn't cash in when a last-second Hail Mary pass failed.

Rodgers completed 28 of 44 passes for 291 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Eddie Lacy led Green Bay in rushing with just 34 yards yards on 13 carries.
Minnesota's Adrian Peterson left the game in the third quarter with an injury and didn't return until the late in the fourth. He finished with 67 yards on 19 carries.

 

[Budman]

It wasn't that much of a surprise but it's disappointing none the less. This season has had it's ups and downs. It has also been odd in the sense that we're not used to the deficiencies that reared their head this year. This game was typical in that it demonstrated those deficiencies. Poor clock management. Drops. Poor routes, poor throws and then a flurry of activity at the end of the game.

 

[Walleye67]

f we beat Washington and the Vikings beat Seattle at home, we go to Carolina in Round 2. I'd prefer that. The two teams I don't want to see in these playoffs are Arizona and Seattle.

Ah, who am I kidding. We're not going anywhere. This offense is a disaster.

 

[Cheesedog]

once again, no fire, no passion, no belief. poor game plan, bad routes, bad OL, bad DL, poor clock management.

this isn't a team headed for a hot streak in the playoffs..

They lost the division at home. MIN came into GB's house and beat them up. Packers lost 3 division games at home...

The ship hasn't sunk yet. But we're at maybe DEFCON 2... MM needs to do some serious self reflection about his system and whether it needs updating...

TT needs to do some serious self reflection on his talent evaluations and whether the NFL may have passed him by. His young roster is not that talented outside of maybe Randall and Dix..

On to WAS... not going to be pretty....

 

[Packfan35]

To me, it's just frustrating to watch teams with lesser talent on offense, and a QB that's less talented than A-A-Ron, perform much better on offense than we are. That's the area of the team that should be solid-to-great every single week.

There's clearly something wrong. I'd place about 33% of the blame on McCarthy, 23% of the blame on players under performing, and 23% of the blame on Rodgers playing well below his norm. 31% of the blame goes to Ted Thompson for failing to improve the talent and depth going into the season.

 

[CaptainD]

To me, it's just frustrating to watch teams with lesser talent on offense, and a QB that's less talented than A-A-Ron, perform much better on offense than we are. That's the area of the team that should be solid-to-great every single week.

There's clearly something wrong. I'd place about 33% of the blame on McCarthy, 23% of the blame on players under performing, and 23% of the blame on Rodgers playing well below his norm. 31% of the blame goes to Ted Thompson for failing to improve the talent and depth going into the season.

McCarthy deserves plenty of blame for not adjusting a lot better to the loss of Jordy, but I'd put a higher percentage of blame also on Ted than you do.

I still remember reading an article which McGinn wrote before the Arizona game titled Slow-footed Packers face severe speed deficit against Cardinals.

He talked about how Arians and their front office remade their skill position group by targeting speed at every position and compared it to the Packers group of skill position players, minus Jordy though which obviously was a huge blow.

Some scouts then talked about how much tougher it was facing an offense with speed everywhere vs a Packers offense without a big play threat anywhere besides Cobb and he's quicker than fast. How it made the Packers so much easier to defend without anyone to fear downfield. Easier the blitz. Then the game happened.

Ted also needs to stop being so stubborn about adding a veteran backup tackle, Barclay was a human statue to blow past when he wasn't getting bull rushed right into Aaron.

This doesn't excuse the Packers offensive staff at all for not seeming to adjust and I'd move on from McCarthy, but Adams may end up not being a good pick in what was a very receiver rich draft and besides Janis, none of the other backup receivers have much speed either. Our group of tight ends might be the worst in the league.

 

[Budman]

McCarthy deserves plenty of blame for not adjusting a lot better to the loss of Jordy, but I'd put a higher percentage of blame also on Ted than you do.

I still remember reading an article which McGinn wrote before the Arizona game titled Slow-footed Packers face severe speed deficit against Cardinals.

He talked about how Arians and their front office remade their skill position group by targeting speed at every position and compared it to the Packers group of skill position players, minus Jordy though which obviously was a huge blow.

Some scouts then talked about how much tougher it was facing an offense with speed everywhere vs a Packers offense without a big play threat anywhere besides Cobb and he's quicker than fast. How it made the Packers so much easier to defend without anyone to fear downfield. Easier the blitz. Then the game happened.

Ted also needs to stop being so stubborn about adding a veteran backup tackle, Barclay was a human statue to blow past when he wasn't getting bull rushed right into Aaron.

This doesn't excuse the Packers offensive staff at all for not seeming to adjust and I'd move on from McCarthy, but Adams may end up not being a good pick in what was a very receiver rich draft and besides Janis, none of the other backup receivers have much speed either. Our group of tight ends might be the worst in the league.

That's what is so frustrating. The talent level needs upgrading. The coaching needs to be introspective and the front office needs to look at its operation.

 

[57packer]

These things are so intertwined it's hard to assess blame accurately. Yes, TT is to blame, but how much of his choice of WRs is based on MM/AR wanting route runners and guys with good hands over speed. Has that affected TTs choices. He gave them a speed guy in Janis, and MM doesn't have a clue as to how to use that speed, though I admit Janis has not been very effective when he's been given an opportunity.

The OL is a mess and so even when you do have speed outside, it's hard to go to longer routes because of the turnstiles in front of the QB.

Essentially every single defense has figured this team/scheme out. I'm not much of and X's and O's guy, but hell, I think I could put together a defensive gameplan to stop this team right now. Press outside, drop a LB and/or safety into the short middle to negate Cobb in the slot, do your best to stop the run and force the Packers to dink and dunk, something they aren't very good at. Until MM finds some ways to make team play differently, this is what he'll continue to see, even when Jordy comes back. You can minimize Jordy's damage with a single high safety shaded to his side.

 

[Half Empty]

That's what is so frustrating. The talent level needs upgrading. The coaching needs to be introspective and the front office needs to look at its operation.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

 

[Jeremy]

This one doesn't hurt too much since I'd already gone through the 5 stages of grief weeks ago with this team. I wouldn't bet $1 at 1000:1 odds of the Packers winning the SB. It's over. It's been over.

The only comfort is knowing that the team should be pretty fixable for next season. It's not markedly different than the team that should have won the SB last year. I refuse to believe that Rodgers is washed up at age 32. I don't know where the accuracy went. We saw it a few times last night. My assumption is the constant pressure has him off balance. Regardless, between the leaky protection and WRs that can't get separation I'm not sure 2011 or 2014 Aaron Rodgers or any QB in history could have made this team a SB contender.

So as we said every year in the 80s, "wait until next year".