Flames24Rulz

Well that's not an overreaction or anything. Anyways, just read that Favre is 8-0 in his career against Dom Capers defenses. And you were worried. The Packers will still win, just thought I'd point that out. Cook is still iffy so Jennings should be running wide open all day. I don't know, I'm not seeing it. Our offense has looked really average this season because, like the first half of last year, we're straying away from what this offense does best -- getting the ball to the WR's and having them create plays. We're seeing way too many long dropbacks from Rodgers and we're shooting ourselves in the foot because half the time, he's still running for his life due to a bad line. On the bright side, Matthews and Pickett should be ready and we'll find out whether or not Harris and/or Bigby get activated sometime tomorrow. If the Vikes give the ball to Peterson 25 times, I don't see how we're going to win the game. Your offensive line should continue to own our defensive line, especially later in the game. Having no defensive line depth absolutely sucks.

Well that's not an overreaction or anything. Anyways, just read that Favre is 8-0 in his career against Dom Capers defenses. And you were worried.

NIU ran at will against Minnesota. Penn State wins by double digits.

No thanks to getting worked up about politics.

Yep, the last two. He did a pretty good job in those two games too.

Urban Meyer, everyone.

I'm rooting for all of the ex-Hawks besides Niemi. It's not anything against him, but more so his agent and the idiotic/bandwagon fans who choose to pile on Turco while thinking Niemi's the best goaltender in the league. Oh yeah, he also plays for the Sharks.

One thing that I've noticed is that we haven't really seen that dominating edge the team had the last couple of years, particularly with shots on goal. The game on Saturday against Buffalo was particularly strange because we've been the team that outshoots opponents by 20 plus shots in the past. 4-2-1 is a pretty decent start considering how we've looked in many of the games. St. Louis looked like the better team last night, then Hossa got the PP goal to finally get us going. Besides Columbus, we've looked pretty shaky in almost every game, yet we have a decent record to show for it. Once the continuity improves between the forward lines, I think you'll see the level of play improve quite a bit.

Exactly. That's my issue with it too.

Yuck.

Our offense hasn't shown the ability to blow anyone out. Really it all comes down to handling the blitz. Backs haven't been picking up the right man, Shank can't pass protect, the o-line has had breakdowns, the tackles have been inconsistent and/or Favre isn't getting the ball out to the right man fast enough. It's been one of those things all year almost. Last year he feasted when seeing a heavy blitz and getting 1 on 1 matchups. The only way the offense is going to turn around is if they can get that corrected. We had 0 QB hits on Sunday. Zero. I think Matthews is going to play but if he doesn't, I expect Favre to have his best game of the season on Sunday night against Woodson, Jenkins, Raji, Collins, Williams and a bunch of practice squad players. Harris and Bigby are eligible to come back this week but we'll see how far along they are. It doesn't matter if we can't get a rush, though.

Not optimistic about the Sunday nighter. If Matthews can't go, it's going to be a blowout.

There's not a chance in hell that's happening. Everyone associated with the organization and 95% of the fans know Rodgers is an elite level QB.

Jared Allen is going to wake up sooner or later, one would think. I agree Minnesota's secondary isn't very good but they've actually been ok this year. Their flaws aren't any worse than Green Bay's or Chicago's right now.

He's going to need to win a playoff game, or even more than just that, for people to get off his back. I understand it. I don't agree with it, but I understand that position. I don't think it's going to be this season with how depleted we are but it needs to happen very soon otherwise the meatheads/meatballs are going to criticize Rodgers to no end.

And for some reason, Colin Cowherd decided he was going to make Aaron Rodgers his whipping boy today -- the only reason I knew about this was because one of our beat writers decided to tweet about it. So I decided to look at the 12 games that we lost by 4 points or less. 2008 L 24-27 VS Atlanta - 25/37, 313 yards, 3 TD/1 INT. Played with a separated shoulder, suffered the week before. L 16-19 in OT @ Tennessee (Titans went to 8-0) - 22/41, 314 yards, TD/INT. Packers never got the ball in OT. L 27-28 @ Minnesota - 15/26, 142 yards. Not a good game by any stretch, but he led us down the field with a chance to win and Crosby banged a 52 yard FG off the upright on the final drive of the game. L 31-35 VS Carolina - 29/45, 298 yards, 3 TD/1 INT. Decided to kick an 18 yard FG on 4th and goal at the 1 instead of going for it late. Defense proceeded to give up a TD in two plays to end the game. L 21-24 VS Houston - 19/30, 295 yards, 2 TD/1 INT. Rodgers led a game-tying drive but Houston kicked a game-winning FG as time expired. L 16-20 @ Jacksonville - 20/32, 278 yards, 1 TD/1 INT. I'll put this on Rodgers because he had a chance to win the game and threw a pick on the final drive of the game. Defense gave up a late TD after taking the lead with around 5:30 left in the game, though. L 17-20 in OT @ Chicago - 24/39, 260 yards, 2 TD/1 INT. Rodgers led the offense down the field with a chance to win at the end of regulation, but Crosby's FG was blocked. Bears won the coin toss and we never got the ball in OT. 2009 L 36-37 @ Pittsburgh - 26/48, 383 yards, 3 TD/0 INT, also a rushing TD. Pittsburgh gets a TD on the final play of the game on a drive where the Steelers went 3/3 on 4th down conversions. 2010 L 17-20 @ Chicago - 34/45, 316 yards, 1 TD/1 INT (on a hail mary at the end of the half), also a rushing TD. A costly fumble by James Jones on the final offensive drive of the game ends up being the deciding factor. W 28-26 VS Detroit - 12/17, 181 yards, 3 TD/2 INT. We could've put this game away midway through the 2nd but a jump ball INT at the Detroit 10 kept the Lions in the game. Packers had to hold on to beat a winless Lions squad. L 13-16 @ Washington in OT - 27/46, 293 yards, 1 TD/1 INT. Rodgers leads the offense down the field with a chance to win the game at the end of regulation, but Crosby misses the game-winner. An interception in OT on a helmet-to-helmet hit costs the Packers the game. L 20-23 VS Miami in OT - 18/33, 313 yards, 1 TD/1 INT, also a rushing TD. Great drive to end regulation, resulting in an extra frame. Bad field position and a three and out leads to another OT loss. Rodgers has given us chances to win almost all of those games. It's not the QB play for why we're 1-11 in those 12 games. Keep guessing.

You might have been able to make that argument a couple of weeks ago, but not since they traded for Moss. He's one of the best in the league and Harvin is decent. For some reason, I completely blanked on that.

I think they are off to a slow start due in large part to their biggest flaw, relying on an old prima donna QB who refuses to practice. I was watching the Vikes-Cowboys game with a few friends and I think all of us decided that the weak link of that team is none other than the QB himself. You can make the argument that they have no real legitimate WR's right now but over the course of the last 15 years, I've heard that Brett Favre makes wide receivers. That Percy Harvin guy isn't all that bad either. I think the Vikings have the fewest flaws right now in the division, though. I don't really think it's particularly close either. The Packers and Bears both have pretty big question marks in quite a few areas on the field. Once Minnesota gets out of this tough part of their schedule, they'll be able to see light at the end of the tunnel. We're banged up and in the midst of our tough stretch while the Bears end the season with their tough portion of the schedule. I think 9 wins will take the North too but unfortunately, I think Minnesota is best lined up to do it right now.

The division hasn't been NFC West bad, but it hasn't been all that much better.

He's not blaming the coach with no reasoning. It makes sense that when a team has a brutally miserable record in close games that reflects on the coach. Obviously the players have to play, but when you are talking about a close game its things like which team executes better, which play calling is better, who makes the least mistakes, who puts the right personel in there, that make the difference. Most of those are things that the coach has a big hand in. I don't watch enough of the Packers to know if McCarthy really is a big issue, but with a miserable record like that, I'd immediately look towards the coach upon reading that. I didn't have any idea the Pack was so terrible in close games. There's probably shared blame for it, but ultimately it's MM who will be held accountable if it continues. The Packers have now lost as many games in 6 weeks of play that many thought they would lose all year. And the upcoming schedule for them isn't really all that easy: they've got MIN twice, Dallas, NYJ, and ATL before they get another breather against DET. So something needs to change for them and change quickly. Kind of like the Bears. If I'm a Minny fan I'm pretty hopeful right now. It makes it easier seeing the two teams ahead of you laying eggs. The NFC North is an exercise in mediocrity this year. If Minnesota beats us next week, I think they'll probably end up winning the division.

Or Aaron Rodgers... Not really, but ok. Most of those games included Rodgers leading our team down the field and putting us in a position to score before either Crosby blew it or our defense couldn't get a stop on the final drive of the game. More parallels to the 2008 season include many of those 12 decisions happening that season and four of them already occurring this year. I'm not understanding why some people are ripping Rodgers. He hasn't been as great as he has been the last two years, but a large portion of that is because of how he's being utilized in terms of playcalling. Our WR's are overrated, more than anything else. It was nice to see Jennings have a good game but Jones and Nelson definitely aren't the best 3 and 4 WR's in the league. Those two guys have contributed to quite a large number of drops this season. Driver had four drops alone last week including a couple of significant ones later in that game. The simple fact is that our head coach is an idiot. I've been saying it since that 2008 and that statistic in close games is really telling in a head coach's ability to, you know, coach football games.

By the way, we're 1-11 in our last 12 games decided by 4 points or less. That's a huge strike against MM.

You play the refs when you play the Vikings, especially when their offense is on the field.

Cullimore was really bad yesterday too. Leddy hasn't been great, but he's been better than Cullimore and Scott.

Oh and lol at the Packers being a perennial powerhouse. A team that has two playoff wins in 13 years is a powerhouse? Compared to the Lions, yeah. Fair enough but that doesn't mean we're actually a powerhouse.