Nobody saw it coming. Well, nobody except my 5-year-old nephew.
While the sports pundits predicted one of those classic razor-thin jousts between Green Bay and Chicago, young Connor Hjelm peered into his Lego crystal ball and saw Green Bay 42, Chicago 0. Apparently, he’s the Doogie Howser of sports touts. And pretty brave, considering he lives in a Chicago suburb.
So only the rest of us were caught off guard when Green Bay turned Chicago into a bearskin rug. That the Packers beat a mediocre Bears squad is not necessarily surprising. That they won so convincingly after being so exposed at Minnesota is a stunner. The 37-3 final marks the fifth-largest margin in 175 regular-season meetings. And anyone who watched knows the beating could’ve been worse.
Maybe you have to be a kid to figure out these Packers, because observing them is like looking at a funhouse mirror. One little move and the image changes completely.
Last week, the Packers couldn’t run the ball, couldn’t defend the run and couldn’t protect Aaron Rodgers from a Scottish terrier (especially this one). This week, Ryan Grant looks like Jim Brown, the defense is a brick wall and Rodgers doesn’t even get knocked down.
Will the real Packers please stand up? Or at least stand still for two weeks in a row?
Maybe Green Bay has found something on defense, albeit completely by accident. When middle linebacker Nick Barnett was lost for the season, the Packers had to go back to the drawing board and get creative. What they decided on, at least against Chicago, was a big dose of nickel defense, with A.J. Hawk and Brandon Chillar as the lone linebackers on the field. But does that work against teams with legitimate rushing attacks? There are three left on the schedule – Carolina, Jacksonville and, believe it or not, Houston.
Offensively, it’s harder to draw conclusions. Why did Green Bay’s lackluster running game wake up against Chicago, which had one of the league’s better rushing defenses? Because Chicago dropped a safety back in coverage? Because Grant and the offensive suddenly decided to start earning their paychecks? Because Jerry Fontenot gives a good speech?
Here’s about the only thing that’s clear after Sunday’s win: The Packers, quite simply, saved their season.
With six games left in the regular season, there’s a huge difference between a 5-5 team that’s in a three-way tie for the division lead and one that’s 4-6 and two games behind division leader Chicago.
Oh, there’s still work to be done. Six weeks is an eternity in the NFL, especially for teams as inconsistent as those in the NFC North.
So just how will it shake out? When Connor returns my phone call, I’ll let you know.
A Terryble Analysis
There was Super Bowl hero and Fox Sports analyst Terry Bradshaw, minutes before the Green Bay vs. Chicago broadcast, sounding for all the world like Brett Favre’s agent.
If Favre was still Green Bay’s quarterback, Bradshaw insisted, the Packers would be 7-2 or 8-1. And he said it with a straight face.
Funny, I didn’t know Favre played defense.
Once again, folks, Green Bay’s problems this season do not include the quarterback. The bugaboo has been the lack of a run defense and the lack of a running game. Show me how any of that is the fault of Aaron Rodgers.
Moreover, take a look at the QB stats and you’ll see that Favre and Rodgers are practically the same player this season. I say practically because Rodgers is having the slightly better run. Here’s the 2008 passer rating chart: Rodgers is fifth at 94.5 and Favre is sixth at 93.0. Rodgers has 15 touchdowns against eight interceptions, while Favre has 18 TDs and 12 INTs.
Might Favre still have better intangibles than Rodgers? Sure. But those intangibles won’t do anything to stop an opposing running back. And the Packers players thought enough of Rodgers’ leadership to let him lead the pregame fire-it-up huddle before Sunday’s Bears game.
“You think I like Brett Favre?” Bradshaw said to his fellow studio hosts after his diatribe.
Yes, Terry, we do. And it’s clouding your judgment.
Quote of Note
“It sounds like they’re overbidding.”
– Doug Melvin, Brewers general manager, on the Yankees’ reported $140 million contract offer to CC Sabathia.
To which I reply, of course they are. They’re the Yankees. And now that New York is officially willing to make him CC $abathia, the slim chance of getting him back in Milwaukee just dwindled to none.
In Other News…
Most Valuable Brewers
Milwaukee had two of the top six vote-getters in the National League MVP race. Ryan Braun finished a somewhat surprising third and CC Sabathia was sixth. Nice to know the Crew gets to keep one of them around.
Crown him
Let’s just all agree that Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is too long a name. Especially if you’re doing play-by-play at a Bucks game. Because whenever he does something noteworthy, you miss five seconds of action while saying his name. And Mbah a Moute is doing lots of noteworthy stuff.
The solution? A proper nickname. Crown him “Prince Bam.” Prince because he’s legit royalty in his native country of Cameroon. Bam from the contraction of his last three names (excluding the silent M in Mbah). Case closed. Print the T-shirts.
Bucky’s Bowl
Now that the Wisconsin Badgers have salvaged their bowl eligibility, and Bret Bielema’s job, the next question is where they’ll end up.
Stuart Mandel of SI.com has them in the always-exciting Champs Sports bowl against Florida State. Collegefooballnews.com has the Badgers in the same bowl, but facing Maryland. And over at CBSsportsline.com, the pick du jour puts Wisconsin in the Insight Bowl against Kansas. None of those may sound too exciting, but anything’s a lot better than being home for the holidays.
Secretary of Pigskin Defense?
Speaking of college football, maybe Lou Holtz should start campaigning for a spot in Barack Obama’s cabinet. After all, the president-elect seems pretty firm in his desire for a progressive pigskin policy.
In Obama’s first sit-down interview since the election, a wide-ranging conversation that aired Sunday on “60 Minutes,” the final question touched on a college football playoff. Not for the first time this year, Obama launched into the subject with enthusiasm.
“I think any sensible person would say that if you’ve got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season and many of them have one loss or two losses, there’s no clear decisive winner, that we should be creating a playoff system,” Obama said.
“Eight teams. That would be three rounds to determine a national champion,” he continued. “It would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don’t know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So I’m gonna throw my weight around a little bit. I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Judging from the BCS’s response, they probably voted for John McCain.
And Finally…
RIP, Pete Newell.
The legendary basketball coach died at age 93 on Monday. Without him, a lot of NBA big men wouldn’t be nearly so big.
Tune in every Tuesday morning during the 6 o’clock hour when I join Doug Russell and Mike Wickett on SportsRadio 1250 AM for Tuesdays with Howie. You can also find the segments in their Audio Vault. And don’t forget to check out our new fitness column, Training with Tim.
