THAT AS A WILD ONE

Packers Iced by Steelers; Still in Hunt After Bears Get Mauled

There’s been a change once again to the script. Coming into the battle against Pittsburgh Green bay held their fate in their own collective hands. The mandate was simple – win out. Period nothing else will work. Win and you are in. Lose and stay home.

Then Pittsburgh came along and upended the Pack 38 – 31 sending 79,000 + freezing souls back into the cold and a winter long seep freeze.

But no sooner could you say the Grinch stole our Christmas the Chicago Bears then handed the Packers the best present of all by being humiliated by Philadelphia 54 - 11. This comes on the heels of Detroit once again shooting itself in the foot by getting dumped and thus eliminated from the NFC North crown by the Giants in OT. In a weekend of critical divisional and conference playoff bearing games the once mighty NFC North went oh-fer. That’s 0 – 4 in wins as the Vikings also got spanked by the playoff bound Cincinnati Bengals.

Tear up the script and go to a re-write. The Packers and Bears now will have a season ending showdown for the NFC North crown in a winner-takes-all matchup next Sunday in Chicago.

So much for winning out.

Sunday’s tete-a-tete against the Steelers was hardly a classic but it was another of those cliffhanger types of games that are becoming a staple of the Green Bay diet of late. This game featured everything – turnovers, lead changes, injuries (again), penalties (again and again) to go along with a tactical gaffe by Mike Tomlin and some very weird officiating (let’s no go there… yet).

The Packers needed one more play, one more yard, one more inch, one more gear on Sunday in a wild shootout in a snowstorm. While Matt Flynn played well two key turnovers crippled the Packers. His pick 6 interception that gave the Steelers a 10 point bulge was compounded by a fumble deep in Packer territory caused by the Steel City Superman Troy Polamalu who donned a cape once more and flew over the pile into Flynn’s arm causing the ball to hit the ground.

Flynn’s two turnovers were costly. On the pick 6 TE Andrew Quarless was lined up in the backfield and was assigned to cross the backfield to pick up the backside edge rusher. ‘Q’, as he is known among his teammates, became mis-cue as he collided with Flynn’s left shoulder causing the ball to flutter aimlessly out of Flynn’s hand. Cortez Allen grabbed the soft fly ball and raced 40 yards untouched for the TD that put Pittsburgh up 31 – 21.

But there was the Packers A.J. Hawk, he of the leaping ability of the Statue of Liberty going up the ladder to snag a Ben Roethlisberger pass to get the Pack right back in it. Hawk has been a stalwart since being taken at #5 in the draft in _____. The only real knock on Hawk is he is apparently not really a #5 overall pick. His draft status should somehow make him a better player automatically. Hawk hasn’t missed a game since he arrived in Titletown and is routinely among the team leaders in tackles. His weakness in pass coverage is well documented but he A) plays every down with heart, B) isn’t afraid to stick his nose into a scrap and C) he stays on the field year in and year out. Whatever he’s drinking should be shared among his teammates.

The injury bug also rose up once again to bite hard. After getting the only sack of Roethlisberger all day Clay Matthews was reduced to crawling on his hands and knees in severe pain as he gingerly moved his surgically repaired right thumb. Matthews’s hands are as important to him as Aaron Rodgers arm is to Rodgers. Seeing Matthews leave the field in obvious discomfort made the hearts of the faithful drop. Even more disheartening was Eddie Lacy reaggravating an ankle injury and missing the 4^th quarter altogether. With DE Johnny Jolly and TE Brandon Bostick both being placed on the IR list this week there are fewer Packers left standing to even take the field.

So the weekly soap opera of “Will He Play This Week?” gets a few more cast members as the media will be salivating to find out about Rodgers, Matthews and the recently returned to practice Randall Cobb. Cobb broke a bone in his leg ion October against Baltimore and has been practicing in anticipation of getting back on the field. With Rodgers’ broken collarbone on the mend it is anyone’s guess if he will take the field on Sunday against Da Bears.

The fact that the Packers needed to rely on the Eagles to sit this game is borne by the fact they really have no one else to blame but themselves. Two costly penalties when it mattered most undermined the effort. As the game wound down with the score tied at 31 and the Packers needing to march the distance Flynn was rocked by Polamalu causing the fumble. On a 4^th and 3 field goal attempt inside the red zone Nick Perry jumped offside giving Pittsburgh a first down. Holding the ball and the timeout advantage Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin did not opt for taking a knee to set up a chip shot potential winning kick. There were a few head being scratched as to why Tomlin did not did not exercise some caution. Maybe it was seeing Green Bay’s Mason Crosby’s plant foot slip on the Packers chance at a chip shot that was blocked. Maybe the cold and snow froze his thought process. Whatever Tomlin’s reasoning behind not playing it down the Packers appeared to allow a quick score in an effort to have more time on the clock.

The ensuing kickoff caused hearts to literally race as Micah Hyde broke off a 71 yard return weaving through the Steeler coverage. Had Hyde been able to find one more gear, get one more step things could have been different. But he was caught at the Steeler 30 setting up the furious last ditch attempt to score. As Hyde lay exhausted on the field after landing on the ball he had the wind knocked out of him as much as the Steelers had the wind knocked from their sails.

The officiating in the game was a coin flip of it’s anybody’s guess as to what is going to be called and what won’t. It’s not uncommon for the officials to huddle together in an attempt to get the call right but these meetings were beginning to resemble board meetings in their duration. After Steeler rookie RB LeVeon Bell fumbled inside the Steeler 5 yard line setting up Green Bay nicely in the 3^rd quarter the defense stiffened and held forcing a field goal try. On the short try Mason Crosby’s plant foot slid in the snow and the Steelers block of Crosby’s kick the ball spun to the left sideline where it appeared the Steeler’s Ryan Clark scooped it up and attempted a lateral that went awry. When Ziggy Hood of the Steelers swatted the ball forward out of bounds yellow flags flecked the white covered field.  With Mike McCarthy screaming that the ball had been batted forward the first meeting was to determine that yes, that did actually happen. Green Bay ball.

Huh?

The replay showed a clear possession by the Steelers. McCarthy saw the same thing on the Jumbotron and winced. Just about that time Tomlin exploded heaving his red challenge flag almost into the stands in a rage. Another conference. As both sidelines shivered the Jumbotron showed the inevitable. Then another conference. Finally referee Carl Cheffers announced that the Packers had the ball because the play was not reviewable.

Huh?

On the Packers final drive Matt Flynn drove the Pack down to the 1 yard line. With only 20 seconds left Don Barclay and T.J. Lang came off the ball too quickly drawing a false start penalty, a penalty C Evan Dietrich-Smith later put on his own shoulders. “That’s on me” said EDS afterwards. “I couldn’t hear [Flynn] and held the ball too long.” The penalty coupled with the fact that the Packers were out of timeouts meant a 10 second runoff of time would be attached. Then the officials struck again. According to Dietrich-Smith “The ref told me to get my hand off the ball. Then the clock started and we couldn’t snap it because of that.” The ball was not snapped until the clock wound down to 4 seconds. Flynn did not see a wide open Jordy Nelson on a middle in route opting for Jarrett Boykin instead. Had Boykin been an inch taller or the ball a couple inches lower overtime would have ensued.

Perhaps it was fate that led to the defeat. In this star crossed season almost anything is possible. CB Tramon Williams got away with an obvious hold over the middle when he was tugging on TE Heath Miller’s jersey. In a season where officiating blunders have made as many headlines as the plays being made this game will earn deficient marks across the board for the officiating crew.

For the Steelers it means they have the faintest of hope. They need to win and at the same time Baltimore, Miami and San Diego all have to lose to get into the playoffs. While it is a bizarre scenario it could happen. In this topsy turvy season don’t bet against it. The Ravens face the divisional champion Bengals, the Chargers host Kansas City and Miami is home against the Jets while Pittsburgh squares off against Cleveland at home. Their formula involves four other games while the Packers have their last shot.

Go to Chicago and win.

Now the questions can begin – will Rodgers play? Will Matthews play? Will Cobb play? The only thing that is certain is the same as it was entering the Pittsburgh contest – win or go home.