#487 Packers Unscripted: Finding focus

day after the game review of the proceedings. And it was really kind of funny because he had notched his tenth win, becoming the first Packers head coach in the one year history of the Green Bay Packers to reach double digit wins in his first season in Green Bay. But big surprise, he didn't do anything to celebrate it whatsoever.

He was a little frustrated with the way some of the things had gone on Offen in the game, and so afterward he went straight up to his desk on the third floor in the atrium and put on the game film and started grinding away trying to figure out how to get this thing where he wants it to be, the whole ten wins and all that. You know, it's like, okay, he'll he'll relish it. However it shakes out in the

off season. But this guy is. This guy is absolutely laser focused on getting the Packers to a level that he hasn't seen yet. Yeah, and I think that's what when you break it all down and you see a team that's ten and three but still has areas to improve, that's the motivation right now for him in this Packers offense. It's very interesting because right now, as it stands, the Packers are ten and three, and we're gonna talk about playoffs scenarios. That's gonna be a topic moving forward here

until week seventeen. But unlike many other years, you know, Mike McCarthy always used to like to say, you get to ten wins, you can start thinking playoffs. This is a different type of year because of just how top heavy and you know the NF he has been, and how basically six teams have really separated themselves. Now with the Rams getting that win from the rest of the pack, and then you have whatever is happening right now in

the NFC East. I mean just it's like the Hare and Hall of the NFL right now that you won't understand that reference, but it's like, does anyone want to win this thing? Yeah? For a second, there I was that first half on Monday, and I was like, oh, well, maybe Eli Manning wants to come back and win this thing. Who knows. But that being said, the Packers have to stay concentrated because there is scenarios here, Mike, where the Packers could win eleven games and miss the playoffs depending

on how certain things you know, come together. Now, there are two lynchpin games to this whole thing. It's the Packers and Vikings next week, and it's the forty Niners and Rams, which I believe is also a Week sixteen. A lot of implications based off of both of those, but for either one of those to have huge implications for weeks sixteen, you have to get through the Packers and the Bears. In the Rams and the Cowboys, the Packers and Bears, I mean that that matchup right there.

The Packers win that game, in the Rams lose, the Packers do technically have a playoff spot clinched. If I have that math correct, Yes, that is that is correct. This week. A Packers win and a Rams loss guarantees the Packers a playoff spot of one sort or another. But here's the spoiler alert. If that scenario plays out, I guarantee you next Monday, Matt Lafleur is not gonna want to talk about that. He's gonna want to talk

about the twelve win and winning the division. That's the way he's driven, and then that's the way the scenarios played out. The Packers have worked so hard. I mean, you can talk about the ups and the downs of this season, but they've put themselves in a position, Mike on December ten to have ten victories. A team that had been playing and clawing from behind for the better

part of three years. Well, now suddenly they're the ones going around that final turn of the track with the wind in their back and trying to finish this race strong. But you know, there's other teams that were gonna try to have a good kick too, and are going to try to usurp them there on that final you know, hundred meters or what have you. That's why the motivation,

that's why the attention to detail has to be there. Because, as we've talked about now a little bit, and we'll preview it more tomorrow, the Chicago Bears are for real. I mean, they are still a good football team that has a not so great record. They're making a charge, but they're making a charge of the Packers have to hold them off on Sunday. There's one way to do that, and that's to be focused on win number eleven. Yeah, it's it is to be focused on win number eleven.

And just to give everyone the quick rundown as to where things stand right now, as we just mentioned, the Packers can clinch a playoff spot this week if they win, and if the Rams lose, that would guarantee the Packers a spot in the postseason. As far as the NFC North is concerned, right now, the magic number is twelve. If the Packers get to twelve wins, they win the NFC North, which means they need to win two of their last three games to win the division, and it

doesn't matter which too. They can beat the Bears and the Lions and lose to the Vikings and their division champs, or they can win one of the other ones and beat the Vikings and their division champs. Twelve wins is the magic number there, and obviously the Packers are still keeping their eye on what's going on with the Seahawks the Saints in terms of two of the division champions in the NFC are going to get first round bys and so all of that is still in play as well.

And to point this out as well, I mean it's not quite run the table. Maybe it's run the coffee table or run the nightstand. But I mean the Packers could very well win these last three and then you get a first round by Yes, they are in. They are in control of that. If the Packers get to thirteen wins, they will have a first round by either the one or the two seed, depending on what else happens.

But obviously getting getting to thirteen wins is a huge task when your last three opponents are all of your division opponents, and two of those after this week are going to be on the road. Yeah. Absolutely. One of the things I really did enjoy, though, beyond what Matt Lafleur said just about that reaching that milestone, was how he broke down this game. And I think one of the things that he's been really good with the media with this year that he probably doesn't get enough credit

for those Monday breakdowns. A lot of times after the games he says, you know, we have to look at it, we have to review it. But once he reviews it, he's been pretty transparent in what he sees, and he did it again on Monday. We're looking at some of the plays that they were just an eyelash here too away from breaking a big one. And it's one of the reasons why he still thinks this offense, he likes where it's at. He thinks the potential is there for

them to be really good down the stretch. They just have to clean some stuff up. In this game, it was, you know, kind of pretty much amounted to the past. Yeah, it did. It did amount to the passing game. You can't argue with a hundred and seventy four rushing yards, which is a season high for the Packers ind and

thirty four of those from Aaron Jones. But Matt Lafleur, and this is what I thought was kind of interesting, is he started that press conference on Monday, he rattled off like five or six plays showing how top of mind they were. They're still on his mind as to how close the Packers were in the passing game to breaking this open. He mentioned the play action throwback to Jimmy Graham a few times. There was a post play over the middle where Alan Lazard was open and Packers

didn't connect. There was a potential touchdown past to j Sternberger Um the rookie tight end didn't quite connect. There. There was a screen pass to Jamal Williams where one block was missed and that could have broken for a big one. There was a third down past Aaron Jones

down the sideline that didn't quite connect. Jones actually released to the inside, which was unexpected, but it's because the cornerback slipped and Rogers, because he was lofting a deep ball, he still through it as though it was an outside release, and so then Jones couldn't catch up with it. So just all these things with the little circumstances. Something's off here there. The timing is a little bit off, so

things weren't connecting. This was the message I got form though Matt Lafleur wasn't standing at the podium saying saying, Okay, we're really close, everything's gonna be all right. He's like no, he's saying we're really close and we have to get there. That that was That was his message. He is going to be pushing these guys. And he talked about the details of the place, and that comes down to things like the leases and the timing and and a block

here there the details of the place. He's going to be pushing these guys to really lock down on those details, because for the Packers to get to where they want to go the rest of this season and hopefully into January, that's what it's going to take. It's going it's going to take the execution of all of the finer points so that you're not standing there on a Monday and and saying like, oh, yeah, we're just three or four plays away that we needed to connect. You know, that's

obviously that's not going to cut it in January. Well, I think the big line I think it was Linda and Fonte who once said, you know, we're five plays away from being twelve and four when they were seven and nine or something like that. I mean, it happens, right, I mean, those those are the kind of things. But it's also hindsight. And if you flip a coin, however many times it's gonna vary depending on what's going to happen in that given scenario. I mean, it's just you

can't have all the stars line every time. You have to make sure that you correct what's correctable and then live with the mistakes because it is a it's a human game. There our mistakes. There's just the fundamental issues that I think the Packers want to hone up here, and you saw and it's not just with the offense.

It's all three phases. I thought the special teams, as we talked about yesterday, took a big step forward and in the Fleur was very effusive in his praise for their blocking on their punt returns and how they cleaned some stuff up there. Tyler Irvin staks north and south and you know, catching a clean ball the defense and in you know, being able to can dictate the temple a little bit. Yeah, there were a couple of breaks there in the middle of the field that they want

to be able to, you know, eliminate. But for the most part, the Packers won this game because of how the defense responded offensively. The step forward that we saw was with the run game, the re emergence of Aaron Jones and in seeing exactly how dynamic he can be, because the one thing we hadn't really seen Mike to this point was him break that big game is largest Kerry before Yester or before Sunday was twenty yards. He brought up forty two yards and a credit on that

a three tight end package. It was the receiver Jake Kumro that was busting him free there on the left side of the line. So I got the big block on the safety. Yeah. So there are uh, you know, positives that you draw from and things that it's like, Okay, that's something you can hang your hat on. This is what we could be down the line. But you also need to have the passing element honed up. And you've seen it. You've seen Davante Adams, You've seen Alan Lazard,

You've seen these receivers have big games. Can you do it more consistently now? Because these next two games, Mike I, as I said, I mean New York in Washington, those were the two where it's like, okay, you get the winds, you feel good about yourself. Chicago and Minnesota are two of the tougher defenses the Packers are gonna play all season, especially if a Cheam Hicks comes back this week, which is what all signs are pointing towards. The front is

going to be short up. Yes, they don't have Roal Kwan Smith, but they have a good scheme and Chuck Pagano has been really intelligent with how he's used that personnel. And then Minnesota, you always know what you're getting with Mike Zimmers. So this is where they got to rise up, because if you take care of business against Chicago and Minnesota, then people expect you to be able to go in Detroit and win that one in the season finale, especially

if Matthew Stafford doesn't come back. Can you rise to that occasion? This is what this week is about. This is the first part of that test. Yeah, and I know we'll talk about it more tomorrow with regards to the Bears, but I made this comment in Monday's Insider Inbox, writing late Sunday night after the rest of our postgame coverage was was up on the website. The Chicago Bears are playing for their season. I mean, there's uh, there's

just there's no two ways about it. They they they are going to come into lambeau Field and absolutely lay it all on the line, because, um, this is it. I mean, and as we talked about yesterday, the Bears could run it here and get to ten and six and it still might not be enough to get into the postseason, but they know they cannot afford a seventh loss. I mean if if the Packers beat the Bears on Sunday, I don't know if the Bears are necessarily fully mathematically eliminated.

That might depend on some other things, but they are eliminated with regard to the Packers. I mean, the Packers will essentially have eliminated them. That that Chicago cannot catch Green Bay in any way, shape or form. And uh, And this is a Bears team that, yes, there were some there were some low moments. They've they've underachieved to a certain extent, but they were twelve and four. They were twelve and four last year for a reason. They were a field goal away from getting to the Divisional

round of the playoffs. And they're starting to play like that Chicago Bears team again. A couple of things. You're one, You're right, they'll still even if they lose to the Packers on Sunday, they still could have that potential playoff door open. But they need Minnesota to lose out, They need the Rams to lose out, and and certainly that would include them beating the Vikings in their regular season finale.

But the part that you raised, I think is a good point because it's something I talked with Mercedes Lewis about last week. That's a guy that's been around now for thirteen fourteen years in the NFL, and he mentions how the parody of the league in the margin for error is so small with how much parody that there is, and in there really isn't that much that separates a team like the Bears from being a legitimate playoff contender.

I mean, look at it, Mike. I mean, they beat the team that could very well end up winning the NFC East still in Dallas last week, and it was a convincing victory that But you played by the rules, and the rules are as the divisions get a win. You know, whoever wins the division gets a buy or it gets a seating and gets a home game, and

two of them get buys. But you know, for for the Packers here, I think the important thing is going to be at ten and three to show that this is what we present, this is what we offer, and this is who we are. We've been more consistent than the Bears have been this season, and it's put us in a position now to potentially control our own destiny

going into the playoffs. But to the original point, the Bears are dangerous because there is nothing to lose in this case, and unlike there's nothing to lose, but yet everything to lose at the same time. And that's right because unlike New York and Washington, who at least you know, depending on what they do with their coaching staffs, you know that personnel is built beyond this year. They're not looking at us here. The Bears were looking at this year.

They were staring this season in the eye, and they wanted to be able to make a run and they wanted to show that they could be a team that goes from the division champion to a conference champion to a Super Bowl contender. They weren't able to do that to this point. So, yeah, you have a GM, you have a head coach, you have personnel there that they were very forward thinking with that. They put a lot of eggs in this basket that's right in front of us.

And it's that that's what makes the Bears dangerous. And it makes it so that La Fleur and his coaching staff and once these players come back into the building on Wednesday, they have to be up on it because in order for this to be relevant, in order for the Packers to consider themselves to be legitimate playoff contenders. They needed to get through these three weeks. They've gotten

through two of them. You need to beat the Bears, and then you need to be able to do the what they haven't been able to do, which is when in the US, which is to win in Minneapolis. And that will be a certainly coming up soon enough. Well, with regard to the Bears, we know that they're coming off of a mini by having played on the previous

two Thursdays. As a matter of fact, um and but I also want to get to some of the other results from this past Sunday in the NFL, because, boy, that game in New Orleans West San Francisco, forty Niners against the Saints, back and forth, back and forth. It was um, it was like watching the you know, watching the score on like a pinball machine or something. The way the way the numbers just kept rising and rising. And it comes down to the Saints coming back from

nine points down in the fourth quarter. They take the lead. The forty Niners get the ball last and a big fourth down conversion to George Kittle coupled with a face mask penalty that takes what would have been a fairly lengthy field goal into more of chip shot range for Robbie Gold and the San Francisco fourty Entners reclaim the number one spot in the NFC with a forty eight to forty six shootout victory. San Francisco eleven and two.

New Orleans is ten and three. How freaking good is Drew Brees, though forty years old, to put three in passing yards? I believe that was a season high against Robert Salis past defense against that, against that, I mean, those are those are two teams that have played some pretty good defense for the bulk of the season, and it's just it's just an example of how you absolutely never know in this league how games are going to I mean, who would have thought, yes, I mean, the

forty enters have a really good offense. Drew Brees is a Hall of Fame quarterback. The Saints have been really good on offense for a number of years. But nobody thought with those two defenses going head to head in December that there'd be ninety four points on the board

in regulation. Mind, you didn't even didn't even go to overtime. Well, there's a certain fore Ride beat writer sitting near left right now that decided not to start Drew Brees in a fantasy league, went with Russell Wilson instead, and that I'll be looking forward to playing in the consolation bracket this week in the Green Bay Ballers, but have fun with that. But no turning the focus back. A couple of things we learned here. One, Kyle Shanahan can coach

man because it's not even about the schemes. It's about the fact that the Saints came back um and they put those points on the board. There's fifty some seconds left, forty some seconds left, and for Shanahan to rally the troops and for Jimmy Garoppolo to manage that situation. This was another one of those games like we saw last month, where the running game did get going, but it didn't dictate the temple like it has in the past. For

the forty, Jimmy Garoppolo needed to win that game. And George Kittle, who did diddally squat in the first half, believe even he had a fumble at one point, he comes back in is their big playmaker down the stretch.

That's what you anticipate from those players. And credit to the forty Niners to be able to come back and pull that out because the storyline until Week seventeen, now unless the forty Niners actually claimed this number one seed, is the fact that they ended up losing to Seattle in a game in which they could have tied and

really controlled their destiny down the stretch. They needed this win, they needed to claw their way back because there's gonna be a really good team from the NFC West that's gonna be a five seed and that's just the reality. And want to make sure it's not them. Yeah, well,

I give the I give the forty Niners. I give the forty Niners a heck of a lot of credit because everybody talked about, you know, this gauntlet that they were facing, where they were going to where they're gonna have to face Green Bay and then the Baltimore Ravens and then the New Orleans Saints back to back to back.

And what did they do. They ended up winning two out of those three, and the one that they lost was on essentially on a walk off field goal the same way that they beat that they beat the Saints

in New Orleans. And I'm telling you, West, you know, I realized, I'm I'm biased in this sense because in my years covering the Packers, I've only been to the New Orleans Superdome twice, and the Packers pretty much got it handed to them both times, and I left both of those games with an absolute ear splitting headache from all of the noise. I think that Superdome is one

of the toughest places in the NFL to play. I certainly would not like the Packers to have to go there in January if it comes down to that, exactly, I'm gonna bring a whole bottle. But for the Fortys to go in there in December, in that big of a matchup and to perform the way they did and

to pull and to pull out of victory. I mean, I know if you and I were sitting here at Packers fans, if the Packers were involved in a game like that, Packers fans would be going crazy, saying the defense isn't ready for the playoffs, you know, all this kind of stuff. Nobody's saying that with New Orleans and

San Francisco because their their defenses. Their defenses have done a really good job throughout the bulk of the season, and this was just one of those games that just took on a certain path, and that's how this lead can go exactly, and so much it is based on who you're playing too. I mean, with all due respect to Washington, there's a reason why the Packers defense, you know, two or sixty two yards compared to you know, some

of these other weeks where they've had four hundred. I mean, you expect to give up the yards when you face the New Orleans Saints, especially in their own place. That's just the way that you know, the business goes. The thing that is surprising to me. That's gonna be one of the interesting storylines to follow, getting back to the super Dome. The Saints have been beatable at home this year. They have that is something that has not really been a thing in the past with them. I totally agree

with you. So seeing how they perform here into January is gonna be really instrituing to watch. They're gonna get one home game for sure, and we'll see what happens with obviously that number two seed. But right now as it stands, I think it's been three times they've been beating at home, now Atlanta, right in now San Francisco, and then when there was one more was there not? I thought, yeah, I thought they got I can't remember for sure. You keep talking and sounding smart, and I'm

gonna look, well, that's okay. The the other one, the other one that there was only two, I'm sorry. Only they've lost at the Rams. Yeah. Well and obviously they granted it was the bad call and everything, but they did lose the NFC Championship at home last year to the Los Angeles Rams. Um. The other one, though, that is worth talking about two is the Rams because they

hosted Sunday and Football against the Seattle Seahawks. And as much as we've been talking about the Bears and how they're starting to look a lot more like ten Bears, the Rams are starting to look a lot more like the ten Rams that won the NFC and went to the Super Bowl. They are still on the fringe here, trying to stay in the race, but they handled a contender in pretty impressive fashion, knocking Seattle down a peg.

And the Rams are still right in the mix here people want to talk about with the Packers and some of the areas that they're struggling with. Seattle is a real legitimate contender in the NFC, and they are not averse to having just completely laying it a game. They've they've done it several times this season. They can play with anybody, but there's also moments where it just seems like that offense can't even get going. Yeah, and they and they've and they've had they've had games where their

defense has let them down as well. They had a home game earlier this year West where they had to go to overtime to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now Bruce arians is doing some good things in Tampa and trying to turn things around there, but that game ended up, you know, something like, you know, forty whatever to thirty whatever in overtime. And that's not the type of defense

you would expect to see Seattle playing at home. So they have their flaws and their vulnerabilities as well, and they you know, they've been they've had their struggles in certain games this year. And they're sitting there at ten and three in the same position as the Packers, And now you have the Rams who are trying to play catch up on everyone. I mean, that's why if the Packers can take care of business this week against the Bears, and again, that's a big if you can't look ahead.

But there there's so many implications with that potential Vikings game because it's not just about you know, where the Packers are. The Vikings need to stay in this thing for the wild card to based on, you know, the Rams still being in the hunt absolutely the one thing, and Sean McVeigh discussed it recently. They're getting back to

Todd Gurley. Now, this wasn't the game that's going to go on Todd Gurley's highlight reel, but I think l A is starting to realize after getting away from it late last season, that Girle is one of your top playmakers unless there's a legitimate thought that, Okay, something's wrong with his knee and you just got to be careful.

You gotta feed him. And even if it is a game like this for the only averages three and a half yards to carry, that's the identity though, right, Isn't that the reason why the Rams originally became the contenders that they were, because they got Girly going and they were able to kind of pull him out of those dull, those dull drums that sort of were during that last Jeff Fisher season. This game, what did he have seven touches. I mean, the more he touches the ball, the more

this offenses and sync. And I think you're seeing that that is really getting back to Jared Goff. I think he's really talented quarterback. I don't know if he's at the juncture in his career where he can just put the ball in his hands and let him let him run the show. Well, I think it's a complimentary run game. Yeah.

I think we're seeing a lot with the Rams offense right now, much like we're seeing with the Packers offense in a lot of stages where when you can get some things going on the ground and then you are working play action off of that, you were you work play action and suddenly guys are running free in the secondary and your quarterbacks got these big throwing lanes and bang,

you're hitting plays. If you're not getting the running game going and you're just trying to play a straight drop back game or just line up in the shotgun all the time and and have the quarterback survey the field, defenses are coming up with a lot more answers for that when when they don't have to honor the play action and things aren't working off of that. So the Sean McVeigh and Matt Lafleur offenses I think are very

similar in that respect. And what I saw on Sunday getting back to the Packers is it just felt like every time and obviously they had the running game going with Aaron Jones, and it felt like every time Aaron Rodgers ran a play action there was somebody open. Now, they didn't connect on all of them, because as we talked about at the beginning, there were some plays that

just missed and everything. But other than one time I remember Washington on one side of the field, they completely stayed home on the play action and it wasn't there and Rogers had to throw it away or something like that or take a check down. Other than that one play, it seemed like every time Rogers ran play action there was somebody open. The play the play design was exact what you were looking for. And uh, that's something I think that the Packers can really make the foundation of

things moving forward. They weren't able to carry it through for the last three quarters, but that first quarter what they were able to do getting Rogers open in space with some rollouts rolling both sides of the field, and that people always want to talk about identities, and I kind of laugh at that I mentioned an inbox winning is an identity. But that is something I think when you look at this team down the stretch, that it can really do well when Rogers is outside the pocket.

With the way that those guys can block in the threat that those running backs present now as pass catchers in addition to what they do as running backs, that's gonna be interesting to watch. I think that is definitely a foundational point of this offense that they can build on. Yeah, I think that's where I think that's that's if there is something this offense is going to hang its hat on moving forward, I think that's where it has to be. So, but for now, we do need to sign off on

this edition of Packers on Script. To be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com, Subscribe to us like us on i Tunes and other podcast services, and be sure to check out the Packers YouTube channel for West. I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time. H m hm.