For a first step, let me have a little ketchup and mustard with my crow.
I predicted a blowout victory over the Giants. I was wrong. Boy, was I ever wrong.
Let’s start at the top with Coach Mike McCarthy. Hidden near the end of his post-game news conference was the following: "I have to look at myself and go back and find out why I didn’t have the team in that mode (to play hard and win the game)."
No kidding.
The head coach has a number of jobs, but right at the top is "get them ready to go." Get them in the mood. Get them with a great attitude. Make them feel that they have genuine confidence to win the game. Genuine.
Boy, from the very first minute, this team looked like it was playing not to lose the game rather than playing to win it. Where were those long passes downfield, either completions or messages that told the Giants they better cover deep and not stack the box to stop our short passing game?
All missing.
Moving right down the line, let us talk about the man who will be the league’s Most Valuable Player. MVP means that you are critically important to your team. And when you don’t show up, it has a magnified impact on the success chances of your squad.
Welcome to Sunday. Everybody talks about that "Hail Mary" pass as the turning point. I don’t think so.
I think the turning point came in the first quarter with the Packers driving deep into New York territory. Rodgers had Greg Jennings wide open with a clear path to the end zone, and promptly overthrew him. I mean badly. During the regular season he makes that pass 100 percent of the time.
From that point on it was pretty much downhill. The same horrible defense. The surprising lousy offense.
There is one more thing about Rodgers.
Television cameras sometimes allow looks under the helmet that fans in the stands never see. Several times, especially after unsuccessful plays, the camera focused on Rodgers. Several times you could clearly see his anger at mistakes made by a teammate.
One of the raps against Rodgers when he came out of college was that he spent too much time on field criticizing his own teammates for perceived mistakes. Scouts thought that might be an attempt not to take responsibility for team errors.
Whether Rodgers reverted to that form against the Giants is open to question, but it’s at least worth discussing. It sure seemed like it.
Losing this game was a lot harder to take after a 15-1 season than it would have been if the Packers had miraculously sneaked into the playoffs.
It’s more fun when the only way you can go is up, rather than when the only way you can go is down. And as Howard Cossell once shouted about a heavyweight title fight, "Down go the Packers. Down go the Packers."
And the crow is fresh.
With a history in Milwaukee stretching back decades, Dave tries to bring a unique perspective to his writing, whether it's sports, politics, theater or any other issue.
He's seen Milwaukee grow, suffer pangs of growth, strive for success and has been involved in many efforts to both shape and re-shape the city. He's a happy man, now that he's quit playing golf, and enjoys music, his children and grandchildren and the myriad of sports in this state. He loves great food and hates bullies and people who think they are smarter than everyone else.
This whole Internet thing continues to baffle him, but he's willing to play the game as long as OnMilwaukee.com keeps lending him a helping hand. He is constantly amazed that just a few dedicated people can provide so much news and information to a hungry public.
Despite some opinions to the contrary, Dave likes most stuff. But he is a skeptic who constantly wonders about the world around him. So many questions, so few answers.
