ROCK BOTTOM

Lions Maul Pack in Thanksgiving Day Rout

It doesn’t get much worse than this. In a game that had so much riding on it the Packers went out against the Detroit Lions and fell flat on their collective faces. The Lions put an old fashioned ass whipping on the Packers the likes of which has not been seen in the Mike McCarthy era in a blowout 40 - 10 win that sent the Lions home happy and the Packers just wanting to get the hell out of Dodge. The beatdown in the playoffs last year by San Fran is close but the Packers were in it for a much longer time than on Thanksgiving Day. The turkey was not on the table; the turkey was the game the Packers put up. With their playoff future literally hanging in the balance Green Bay did little to stop the Lions march to the playoffs.

The much maligned Packer defense looked as if it had finally woken up from their season long funk.

Coming into the gamer they had caused 10 turnovers in 11 games ranking them 28^th in that department. Clay Matthews forced a Reggie Bush fumble deep in the Pack’s territory and Nick Perry, finally back after a another injury riddled season stripped the Lions Matthew Stafford on a drop back and Morgan Burnett scooped up the loose ball for what would be the Pack’s only TD and final tally for the day. Sam Shields also had a pickoff went he went up against and stole the ball from Megatron. Calvin Johnson was beaten in the end zone and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the sum total of the highlight reel for Green Bay.

Matt Flynn started in place of Scott Tolzien. Tolzien had fared okay in relief of Aaron Rodgers but failed to deliver a W in the process. It has now been a month officially since the Pack last won a game and not so coincidentally that’s the last time Rodgers was under center. When Flynn was signed the Hosannas singing his praises were heard from Ashwaubegon to Milwaukee. Flynn had famously departed via free agency 2 years ago but failed to hook on as a starter in Seattle, Oakland, and Buffalo. As the Packers took hit after hit to the QB slot Flynn got a call and came back home.

His arrival and entrance into last week’s blowout against Minnesota was the breath of fresh air Packer Nation had been waiting for as he provided an immediate spark as he moved the Packers back from a huge 23- 7 hole and salvaged a tie. Flynn showed he could once again ignite the offense, command the huddle and provide some veteran leadership missing since Arod went down. It was against these Lions two years ago Flynn posted a franchise record 480 yards thru the air. But the Lions pride was stung and some payback was being prepared along with a holiday cornucopia.

That Flynn was named the starter came as no surprise to anyone. Flynn was more than filling in last

week. He deserved the shot in spite of his short week of preparation. And when the Packers needed to stand up, man up and make a serious bid to grab the NFC North Flynn showed why so many teams passed on him as a starter. There isn’t a single aspect of the offense that merits a positive comment from the debacle. Josh Sitton rattled the Lions cage earlier in the week by calling the Lions defensive line “scumbags and dirtbags”. His rant wasn’t limited to merely the players. “I’d never want to play for them. It all starts with their friggin’ coach.  The head coach (Jim) Shwartz, he’s a _____ too.” Afterwards Sitton said “I stand by what I said but I don’t want to discuss it either.

The Packers came in expecting them Lions and in particular Stafford to turn the ball over and the Lions did not disappoint. After causing only 10 turnovers all year the Packer D came away with 4 in

the game alone. But it was nowhere near enough to put a dent in the Lions. For the day the Lions hung an embarrassing 561 total yards offensively around the Pack’s defense. For the second consecutive week a team has had its’ second back put up over 90 yards rushing. Reggie Bush finished with 117 yards but Joique Bell added 94. When the likes of Toby Gerhart and Joique Bell are putting up those types of numbers it paints a pretty ugly picture of a defenses inability to stop the run. Stafford threw two picks but was otherwise able to shred the defense with 330 yards thru the air. Johnson had over 100 yards for the day and the Lions put up 37 straight points after Burnett’s TD had given Green Bay a glimmer of hope early.

The overtime game of last week took its’ toll on the Packers and with a short week to prepare for Detroit the extra stanza could not have come at a worse time. After the 10 – 3 lead the Lions came roaring back and took a bite out of the Pack. Not only was Flynn unable to move the Packers – at one point Green Bay had gone 4 consecutive 3-and-outs – Eddie Lacy was held in check by a ferocious Lions front. Lacy had his worst day as a Packer rushing for a meager 16 yards and a miniscule 1.6 yards/ carry average. Flynn wasn’t much better. Flynn had 139 yards passing but 56 of them came in a way too late to matter pass to Jordy Nelson on a 56 yard completion.

When Ndamukong Suh blew past Marshall Newhouse and collared Flynn in the end zone rather

than embellish his already specious history Suh was content to simply put Flynn on the ground for a safety that gave the Lions an insurmountable lead at 26 -10. Despite or perhaps in spite of Sitton’s criticism the Lions defense played a thorough and rugged game. Mike McCarthy talked of “tilting the field to your favor” after the game. “We wanted to exploit the outside” said McCarthy. “We felt we had an advantage there.” But it never quite materialized. The Lions pass rush was stout and they dared Flynn to try to throw. The Lions made life miserable for Flynn all game long. They ended with 7 sacks and a safety and continually harassed Flynn into making poor throws.

Flynn showed why he isn’t starting somewhere else in the NFL. He held the ball too long and when he did deliver his passes were off target on too many occasions. Underthrows hurt the offense and without Rodgers as each week passes without him and the losses pile up it has become obvious to anyone who watches the NFL how much Rodgers means to this franchise. There will no doubt be much howling in the media this week about the Packers not having a suitable backup for Rodgers.

The Packers invested in their draft picks and signings of Graham Harrell and B.J. Coleman, but both were busts and released. For the first time since George Bush was president – and that’s George H., not Dubya – the Packers have a quarterback problem. In the past 20 years the Packers have had exactly 3 starters: Brett Favre, Rodgers, and Flynn. This year they have had 4 different starters in 5 games – Rodgers, Seneca Wallace (IR), Tolzien and now Flynn.

Rodgers is an elite QB – one of the Top 3 in the game. All that could be done is to fill the position in his absence. But replacing Rodgers is all but impossible. To underscore the point where would the Saints be without Brees? Or the Broncos without Manning? While losing a starting QB is always a possibility finding someone else to play at the same level is an entirely different matter.

Injuries have racked the Packers hard this year. To be fair not having key personnel available is a daunting challenge. But injuries cannot be used as an excuse for failing in what McCarthy calls “…the fundamentals. Blocking and tackling. We’re just not getting it done. Our defense and coverage unit, the missed tackles (today) were more than I can ever recall. I think that was a key to our downfall on defense and special teams and we clearly lost the battle there. [It was a] very poor performance in all three [phases of the game] today. They (the Lions) got after us good.”

In the process it has become cliché to call for defensive coordinators Dom Capers’ head. A convenient excuse has become the questioning of Capers’ 3 -4 scheme and when pressed after the game McCarthy became visibly irritated when asked if it was “…more than just the players on defense…” McCarthy was quick to bite back with a flat “No.” McCarthy became more and more angry as he continued and even the head coach can’t defend his defense. “We can talk about the scheme… but you try to learn from your experience of the past. Scheme is not a crutch. When you’re in run defense you play with leverage. You’ve got a gap; you need to get off the damn block and tackle the ball carrier. You can cut it any way you want but we’re not doing that right now. We haven’t done it in a month.”

McCarthy still believes he has the players, but those players are just not putting in the work. And he

has hit the woes of his defense dead on. Yes the Packers are banged up. Tackling is a physical, painful process that necessitates an almost inhuman ability to ignore the pain of injury and make the physical play. One other area of unmentioned concern is the lack of speed and pass coverages of his inside linebackers. A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones were beaten over the middle by Johnson, Bush, Kris Durham, tight end Brandon Pettigrew and former Packer Jeremy Ross who had an extra incentive against his former team.

While the loss doesn’t officially eliminate the Packers from playoff contention the buzzards have

been seen gathering on the perimeter. Green Bay no longer holds their fate in their own hands. But with each passing week without a win and with every loss mountain in front of them gets higher and higher.

When the Packers won it all in ’10 they overcame the injuries. This year they have been overwhelmed by not only the injuries but by their opponents. The Lions came in hungry and feasted on the Pack. Green Bay gets some much needed time away over the next 10 days. Maybe Rodgers will be back. But even so by then it could just be too little too late.