Football is full of cliches. One of them that I really hate is when a team loses a game and comes out and says "We beat ourselves." I always think to myself, "Well, maybe you had 5 turnovers because the defense confused you." Or "Maybe you got called for holding 10 times because their defensive line was beating your offensive line." In such cases, you're not really "beating yourselves". You're being beaten by the other team because they're forcing you into such things. However, after watching tonight's Bears/Packers game, I might be willing to give that cliche another chance.
In the first quarter, the Packers started strong - running the ball, of all things, right at the Bears and taking it in for the score. 3-and-out for the Bears and the Packers are rolling down the field. Short catch by Jones and he fumbles the ball away. The Packers come away with 0 points when it looked like they were headed for 7, but I tip my hat to Tillman by knocking the ball away from the rookie. Live. Learn. Move on.
Following possession for the Packers. They run the same play. They have the same result. Jones makes a short catch and fails to secure the football and has it knocked away once again. Honestly, after you had it knocked away once, you'd think you'd make sure it didn't happen again - at least not the very next time you got the ball.
In the second quarter, I'd say the Packers got screwed on a penalty. On a Chicago field goal, Williams is called for lining up over the center. Well, he "kinda" did. He lined up in front of him, but was angled to hit the next guy over. And, when the play actually executed, Williams barely touched the center - certainly didn't take a cheap shot at an exposed player. The center was, in fact, the only Bear to not get plowed into upon the snap. The result, of course, was a field goal turning into a touchdown for the Bears.
The real killer was in the final minutes of the first half. Favre manages the 2-minute drill very well. The Packers started at their own 15 with just over two minutes to play and Favre has 'em rolling down the field, despite only 1 timeout. With 27 seconds on the clock, Favre hits Jennings for a 28 yard gain all the way down to the Chicago 26. Favre has the team hustling to the line and, just as he's about to spike the ball to stop the clock, the coach uses their final time out, with 18 seconds remaining.
Now, I'm no rocket scientist, but I figure they had a few options here. For one, they could have called that timeout as soon as Jennings went down, saving them about 9 seconds. Another option would have been to allow Favre to spike the ball with 17 seconds to play and you'd still have a timeout. Yet another option would have been to simply let the clock run down to 3 or 4 seconds and call timeout so that you could kick a field goal and not have to kick the ball back to the Bears.
Nowhere in there would I expect a coach to allow the clock to run while the team sets up for a spike and only when they're just about to do so, call a timeout. While the Bears may have made a couple nice plays to force the first two fumbles, the Bears can't force the Packers' coaching staff to horribly manage the clock and take away the offense's chance at going for the end zone. With 17 seconds to play and a timeout, or 25 seconds and no timeouts, you have options. With 18 seconds and no timeouts, you've resigned yourself to a field goal.
Coming out in the 3rd quarter, the Packers looked primed to roll. Taking away his two spikes to stop the clock, Favre had only one incompletion all game. The running game, to my surprise was working - possibly because the Bears were focusing on the passing game. The Bears were only hanging around because of those two fumbles and a poor call (in my opinion) by the officials. Steer clear of additional problems in the second half and you're all set, right?
This is where the Green Bay coaching staff decided to take matters into their own hands. With 30 minutes to play, the coaching staff completely changes their game plan and, rather than trusting in the guy that had been nearly perfect for the first half, they decided to run the ball straight at the Bears. In the third quarter, Favre was 1 for 2 with an interception. Sure, the interception was poor on Favre's part, but what the heck is up with 2 attempts? Meanwhile, DeShawn Wynn carried the ball 8 times for 19 yards. For anyone scoring at home, that's about 2.5 yards per carry. Even with only one completion, Favre was averaging 6.5 per pass attempt (all two of 'em).
I remember when the Packers had 3rd and 1 at the Chicago 11 and the Packers tried to run for the first down. I said to my wife, "Well, they didn't get it, but it's good to see that the Packers are confident enough in their running game to at least try running on 3rd and 1, as opposed to getting 1st and goal at the 1 and throwing 4 straight incompletions, as they've done in the past." However, two possessions later, the Packers went run, run, run and three and out. That included a run attempt on 3rd and 6. Confidence with your running game is one thing - trying to establish yourself as a team that can run for a 1st down on third and 6 when you're facing linebackers like Urlacher and Briggs is another. Throw the ball.
Going forward to the final quarter, the Packers had 4 possessions in which to accomplish something. In all but the final drive, the Packers had a penalty - 2 holding penalties and one case where Bush (the weak link in the secondary last week, and again this week) ran out of bounds of his own accord.
The Bears finally take the lead late in the game and leave the Packers with 1:58 to play and only one timeout. Didn't we do this in the first half? In this case, the Packers didn't have the luxury of settling for a field goal - they had to cover 73 yards in 118 seconds. As I said before, I'm no rocket scientist, but I do have a minor in mathematics and, as best I can tell, if you're running passes over the middle to gain 8 yards and it takes about 15-20 seconds to run that play over and over again, you should hit paydirt after about 140 seconds. Perhaps the Packers should hire a mathematician because those numbers just don't work out so well.
The Packers needed to try to go to the sidelines or deeper down field to make something happen. Of course those areas would be covered - the Bears were giving the Packers the middle of the field and the Pack did exactly what the Bears wanted them to do - burn up all that clock on their own accord.
The turnovers were costly, no doubt, as was Jones' drop at the Chicago 15 with time running low. However, it's been quite some time since I've seen a game as poorly managed as this one. Between the horrible clock management and the complete reversal of strategy entering the second half, the Green Bay coaching staff just handed a division rival a win at home.
Labels: Football, Sports
