Hi, everybody.
Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trust and colleague Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from our studios at lambeau Field to review the Packers Week seventeen loss to the Minnesota Vikings. The final was twenty seven to twenty five at US Bank Stadium West. But you know, and I know that quite frankly, this game was not as close as the final score. The Packers made a run at it in the back half of
the fourth quarter. They did not give up in this game, but for a good portion of the game they were down multiple scores and the Vikings were in control of the game. And I think Matt Lafleur said it best on Monday when he went to the podium and he basically just accused the Packers of playing sloppy football. And you play sloppy football against good teams, and it's going to be really, really hard to win. And that's what the Packers found out on Sunday.
Yeah, And to me, I mean, I just look at that beginning of it and I thought the approach was right. We saw what happened in when Detroit when they deferred on the kickoff. This time they decided to take it. You try to take the crowd out of it. Almost maybe replicate these fast starts they had in back to back games where they really get two touchdowns off their first two series, and honestly, they're moving the ball a
little bit, but then Josh Jacobs has the fumble. Credit to the Packers defense, they actually keep the Vikings off the board. They actually earn another punt on the next series as well. I can't remember if it was exactly three now, but they got off the field again in this situation, and Green Bay plays pretty much a scoreless first quarter with Minnesota until the Brandon McManus pack the drive stalls in the red zone. McManus gets a twenty two yarder and then after that it was off to
the races. It just seemed like the Vikings were able to get into a rhythm. I think the Packers took a pretty big hit with the Zane Anderson loss. You're kind of expecting that he once again is going to be back there. With Xavier McKinney, a veteran that has been in this league for a number of years now,
even if he hasn't played as much. A couple dominoes fell a couple different directions, a couple penalties went a couple different ways, and obviously the offense didn't start fast enough and the Green Bay Packers picked up their fourth loss in the NFC Nord.
Yeah, there's certainly a lot of disappointment on both sides of the ball with how this game went. Defensively, I agree with you entirely on what happened with Zane Anderson. He gets injured on the kickoff right after the McManus field goal, when the Packers are up three to nothing. He leaves for concussion evaluation. And you wouldn't think, okay, you lose Zane Anderson, who was just filling in at safety anyway, right, You wouldn't think that that would be
a big issue. But when the Packers are down Jay or Alexander and Evan Williams in the secondary, and Javon Bullard had just come back from being out for two weeks, he was limited in practice with the ankle injury, and you and I both suspect that the vast majority, if not all, of his snaps, the limited snaps he did get in practice were at the nickel position right because
Anderson was going to be the other deep safety with McKinney. So, as you said, the dominoes start to fall then because Bullard moves back to safety, which is a position he hadn't practiced really at all on top of being out for the last two games. And then Keyshawn Nixon then has to start bouncing between the slot corner and the boundary corner based on what defensive package the Packers are in, and quite frankly that that domino effect in the secondary
had a big impact on the defense. Sam Darnold ends up thirty three for forty three, a career high three hundred and seventy seven yards, And it was a combination of a lot of things. There were times the coverage didn't hold up. There were a lot of times that the pass rush just didn't affect Donald enough. It it became once the Vikings got going offensively, it sort of
became this snowball that started to go downhill. And the fact that the Packers were really stifling Minnesota's running game to a great degree just didn't matter because they could not get Sam Donald out of his rhythm.
One hundred percent and a couple of different things to touch on here. One, I want to just very quickly mention this safety situation, because you laid it out perfectly Sat Anderson. He's only been in there, he only had
started one game, right. But then you kind of think about what Eric Wilson has done at inside linebacker when you lose kway Walker at two different intervals of the season, and you have a guy that you can turn to on the bench that has played eight years in the National Football League, has been a starter before, and can become the key communicator at the linebacker position and kind
of keep all the chess pieces lined up appropriately. It's kind of like that on the back end too, where you're thinking you're going to go in with a certain game plan. We saw Xavier McKinney blitzing from a free Sat I think on the second series. Those are the type of things that you can do when you have some You have the reps, you have the camaraderie, you have the trust, and then suddenly Buller's being in addition to coming back from injury, now being forced to play
a position that he likely didn't practice. To your point though about where things headed for Green Bay in the first half. I agree with you. It seemed like early on they were able to get some pressure on Darnold nearly took him down on a couple different occasions. But then somewhere in that second quarter into the third quarter, there were too many times where he is standing back there and there is nothing around him and he has all that time to survey the field. I thought they
were really smart. I liked with Kevin O'Connell drew up obviously. You know when you have those type of weapons, with Jalen Naylor also as a third option. How many times you and I talked last week. I never even brought up Naylor's name. He ends up catching the believe it was a thirty one yard post that if with the touchdown that kind of got things rolling. Justin Jefferson didn't really hurt them for a majority of this game, but
then heated up towards the end of it. It was sort of like what you were discussing last week, where he had a bunch of catches but not a lot of yards early on, and then Jordan Addison is just a difference maker.
Mattlefloor said it.
I mean they have two bona fide Number one receivers and I thought both those guys played like it. And then the last thing I will say, the Packers did an excellent job against the run in this game. Aaron Jones really wasn't too much of a factor. The backs behind him really didn't factor in that much. What I will say though, is Aaron Jones did a tremendous job in pass protection. They tried the Drin Cooper blitzes, they tried the stunts, the games, the twists, and Minnesota was
really stood up well to it. I think that was another thing that kind of contributed to the time that Donald had to work with.
Yeah, and that's what I was kind of getting at with. You know, everything with the defense was the combination of the Russian coverage. Because statistically Donald has forty three pass attempts, He's only sacked once, Carlbrooks got him late in the first half. Only four quarterback hits by the Packers pass
rush in forty three pass attups. That is certainly not good enough when you look at the film, and I you know, from our vantage point up in the corner of the end zone at US Bank Stadium, you know, not something that I noticed during the game, but when you when you look at the film, the Vikings kept a running back and sometimes also a tight end in in pass protection. A lot of times at the snap yep, they were they were in a max protect type of scenario where you've got six or seven guys in pass
protection at least initially before somebody might leak out. That's gonna that's gonna make it really hard for a four or even a five man rush to get home the problem. The problem was that in those instances the pack the Vikings then only have three or four guys out into the pattern against at least six or seven pass defenders. But Darnold was still finding holes and still getting completion. So that's why I say I don't want to put it all on the pass rush because there was only
one sack in forty three dropbacks. But by the same token, you can't you know, it's not just all on the coverage because the Vikings didn't mass max protect every single time. And what really I saw happening a lot of times with the four man rush was one guy would get some penetration or get possibly an angle to try to disrupt Donald. But when only one guy is getting there, there's all these spaces for Donald to step into, step up, step this way, step that way, because nobody else was
winning the rush. If only one guy wins on his rush and doesn't get a clean hit at the quarterback, all he has to do is take a step or two one way or another, and then he's still got a throwing lane to get rid of the ball. So it was just this combination of things where there weren't enough guys getting pressure on Donald, and then when the Vikings were making sure there wouldn't be any pressure on Donald, the coverage wasn't holding up when the Packers should have
had the advantage in the back end. And you know, yet the injury certainly happened, but the expectation is for the Packers to be able to play better than that. And quite frankly, this was just Sam Donald's day.
Yeah, and to kind of work off of what we were talking with Carrington Valentine in the locker room afterwards, and Carrington, credit to him, did get a third quarter interception, a second pick in three weeks.
That was a huge play because you know, the Packers were down twenty to three at the time, They're looking close to being dead in the water and Valentine gets that interception. Fortunately Carl Brooks recovers the fumble. At the end of the return, the Packers take it in for a touchdown, and not a lot has gone right, but it's a ten point game, and hope was not lost at that well.
And even as Xavier McKinney said afterwards when I was talking with them in the locker, I mean, those are the plays they're gonna need, whether it's from Valentine or other guys. They need to take the ball away. That's the identity of this defense. That stuff that they're gonna
need to build upon going into the postseason. But the reason I bring up the Carrington bit is because, as he mentioned, when he was being asked about some of the things that happened with the passing game, you know, he said, I mean their quarterback gets paid too, Like Sam Donald is a very good courquarterback. And by the way, the Packers, if they can make a postseason run here are going to face some very good quarterbacks. You have
to solve them. But I just want to say, and I think I said this after the Week four Game two, the search is over. Sam Donald is the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings. I don't want to hear JJ McCarthy's name anymore. You want to keep him on ice for three years, keep him on ice. You want to trade him, you can trade him. Do whatever you want. If you are foolish enough to let that guy out of the building, it would be the biggest thing positively that you could
do for Detroit, Green Bay in Chicago. Sam Darnald, the way that he performed at the end of last season with San Francisco and what he's shown this year with Minnesota, that's your guy.
Now.
The Packers need to find some answers for him. As we talked about whether it was final thoughts some of our other content last week, they didn't do a good enough job pressure on. Matt Lefloor said that himself. But Sam Donald made some big throws in this game, and it's why this Minnesota Vikings were able to out last Greame Day.
Yeah. The one bright spot I would say on defense, as we saw a rookie linebacker Edger and Cooper play seventy one of seventy two snaps happening, which was a major major increase in his workload. We talked about, you know, edgerin Cooper is going to become an every down defender in this defense at some point. We don't know when. Well, it was this it was this week the Packers went that direction. He was out there for all but one snap, and he was an impact player. Ten tackles, four of
them behind the line of scrimmage. He was an absolute terror in the running game with regard to to shutting down the Vikings running backs. As you mentioned, Aaron Jones was as usual a stud in pass protection and was a big reason that Edgern Cooper was not involved in any of the pass rush stats whatsoever. Matt Lafleur said, you know, this is the first time Edgering Cooper, you know, really played a full game. There were some ups and downs.
There were certainly some plays that he would like to have back, probably some assignments he misster did and play as well as he should have. But you certainly saw the impact that he can have over the course of a full game when he's out there. That is definitely something that this is going to build on. And we will see if he ends up getting paired with kway Walker here potentially in the playoffs, if Walker can Beck can get back from his injury.
If Edrin Cooper is good, the hamstrings behind him.
It's go time.
Yeah, the Packers are playing for all these games matter. Mattlinfloor said to himself their goal from here on out is to win every game. And before Packer fans jump on that and say, well it should have been that way from the beginning, no, he's looking at it as we are. Win every game where your season's over. You have to build momentum against Chicago. You can't go into the playoffs with a loss against Chicago, the first loss
of the Mattlin Floor era. You can't go into whether it's Philadelphia or Los Angeles or I think maybe potentially Tampa Bay.
Yeh.
You can't go through Anito scenarios and be flat, not if you're expecting to win that game and then go on next week to face a team like Minnesota or Detroit.
So put all that out there, Edgerri and Cooper.
I think defensively, this guy has become not only a playmaker, but one of the top guys on that side of the ball. He is one of the guys now that opposing offense is having to scheme up against and plan for. That's what you want, and that's what they're getting out of their rookie second round pick and it's exciting to see.
Yeah.
Well, on the offensive side of the ball, it was a huh, it was a tough slog. The bottom line was through three and a half quarters, Jordan Love had sixty four passing yards until those two touchdown drives late in the fourth quarter, where he threw for one hundred and twenty one yards. Packers scored the two touchdowns to get within two points. Have the chance to get the stop at the end and get the ball back one more time. That doesn't happen. But you mentioned the fumble
by Josh Jacobs. There were some There were a couple of procedure penalties that took away some significant plays. There were, you know, a couple of throws are off, a couple of passes that could have been caught might have been dropped. I think the biggest one the fourth down when the Packers were in field goal range in the second quarter. I believe it was fourth and three, fourth and too,
something like that. Matt Lafleur decides to play it aggressively, just said he had a gut feeling on the play that he had called. They decided to go for it. A field goal would have made it seven to six. They're going to play for the touchdown there, and unfortunately, you know, Jordan loves throws a little bit off. Jaden Reid gets his hands on it, trying to dive for it, but can't bring it in. A throw that could have been better, a ball that still could have been caught.
The bottom line is the play was there and it wasn't made. And yeah, you can parse the decision and everything all that you want, but that was sort of a microcosm in a lot of ways to me of the first three plus quarters of this game is that there were plays to be made against this Vikings defense, yep, and the Packers didn't make them. And that was the consummate example of it right.
There, And the thing that probably is the most frustrating all Green Bay ran the ball well against the second ranked run defense in the National Football League. They did not particularly run the ball well in that first matchup, although to be fair to them, they fell behind big early. I felt like they controlled the line of scrimmage. Unfortunately, the Josh Jacobs fumble kind of set the tone for some stuff. Jacobs himself said afterwards, it's gonna be hard
for me to sleep tonight. He prides himself on being able to start when they get off to fast starts. Josh Jacobs wears that as a badge of honor. You look at the yards from scrimmage he's put together this year. I think it's what now, four hundred yards games from scrimmage in the first half this season. He wanted to do that again in Minnesota. He wanted to take the
crowd out. If they weren't able to do it. It was more than Josh Jacobs though, as you said, the situation there on the fourth down, Love could throw a better ball, Reid could catch it. Somebody needs to make a play, right, That's the name of the game. Who is making your plays? And Green Bay just didn't have enough of that in this I love the scheme. I love the defense that Minnesota has put together. It's multiple, it's versatile, there's a lot of names, there's a lot
of veterans. I think this is the second oldest team in the National Football League entering the season, behind Miami. But they play still very fast, very smart, and I think Brian Flores mixed up his stuff too, that it wasn't the same carbon copy game plan as that first one where they were really teasing the safeties, blitzing and getting guys eight nine guys on the line of scrimmage. They played two shell a lot more in this game, naturally from the base look, and Green Bay had a
hard time answering it. Losing Christian Watson was a big deal. I think you and I both agreed going into this that was gonna be a big deal because it's not just what he does catching the ball, it's how he sets other things up. But if you don't have Christian Watson,
somebody else needs to become that playmaker. Last year in Minnesota, it was boul Melton one hundred and five receiving yards, a touchdown, first one hundred yard game of the season, and that in that instant for the Packers' receivers that kind of got them going throughout the playoffs. Who's going to be that guy that takes that baton in this game? It just didn't happen. I will give I will say this, I won't say, well, it didn't happen. I thought Tucker
Craft gave some really good reps. I thought when the offense was firing, when it looked explosive, Tucker Craft had a hand in that, but there just wasn't enough of it.
I think partly what we're seeing here, and I've you know, I remember having you know, when I've done off season interviews for your book stories and things like that that I've talked to Matt Lafuer, even going back to times that I talked with Mike McCarthy when he was here. Matt Lafuer's comment after the game that the Vikings played way more man to man coverage than the Packers anticipated.
It brought me back to comments that I've heard in the past when Aaron Rodgers was here, that teams would break their own profile on defense to shake things up against against a good quarterback like Jordan Love. The Detroit Lions didn't do that. The Detroit Lions. They line up and play man's and that's what they do. That's what that's what they're doing. That's that's Dan Campbell's philosophy, that's how Aaron Glenn calls it. But the Vikings threw a
change up at the Packers. They threw more man coverage at Green Bay than had been their profile, and the Packers struggled to adjust to it. And that's something that you know, those adjustments in a lot of ways became seamless when you know your four time MVP Aaron Rodgers, he can make that adjustment by the middle of the first quarter. Certainly by the end of the first quarter, he's going to get a beat on things. Jordan Love
is still in his second year as a starter. A change up like that gets thrown at the offense and you've got still a bunch of young receivers and whatnot. I'm not trying to make excuses for the Packers. I'm trying to explain, quite frankly, when a defense does that and changes its profile, it's a measure of respect for what they believe you might be able to do against them, and they feel like they have to change things in order to disrupt you. Credit to Brian Flores and the Vikings.
It worked because the Packers did not adjust well to what they had planned for coming into the game, and it wasn't until very late in the game when the Vikings had a three score lead. They're certainly playing the
clock more so than they're playing the opponent. And then Jordan Love got into a rhythm and that relaxed approach in some ways almost bit the Vikings because if they don't get the first down in the last two minutes, Jordan Love is on fire and he's got one more opportunity, needing only a field goal to escape that game with
a huge comeback victory. But the Packers, it's a lesson learned for the Packers in that you have to be ready for opponents to maybe throw some changeups at you, and you have to figure out how to adjust to it sooner so that it doesn't take this long for what is a very dangerous offense to find its footing in the get going.
Yeah.
And the other thing is too is Green Bay has got to be its own They got to bring its own juice, sometimes too offensively. You know, as we talked about with the Carrington Valentine interception, it seemed like that changed everything. The offense flowed a little bit better. They got those adversity points right, it punched it in with Josh Jacobs touchdown run, and it just seemed like after that they were untouchable a little bit. But before that it was trying to find an answer and trying to
find first downs and they just couldn't get there. And again, there's so many things that go into that, but making those adjustments. Making those corrections are really pivotal. And I will say this too, just to tie into the end of that game there, because.
It miraculously green Bay does.
They get the two point conversion with the pass to Dobbs, they get, you know, within two points.
The touchdown to Malik Heath.
Malik Heath, with the touchdown Malik Heath, and Minnesota gets the ball back with green Bay having all three timeouts and the north side of the two minute warning. The one part that was frustrating for me a Minnesota running game that was just obsolete all afternoon, with maybe the exception of one Aaron Jones run.
There was one run by Cam Akers Akers Dad got out of the gate, yes, but basically one run by Jones, one run by Acres. Other than that, Minnesota could not run the ball.
And yet Minnesota still runs a play action. They get the thirteen yard pass to Ham. They don't it's not a true play action. It was more of a rollout on the pass that ended up going to Acres. But it's like those things are so frustrating because it's like you've already proven well one, you don't have to sell out for it, and in Minnesota's case, it's like you're really going to set up play action after.
You haven't run the ball all day. But they got away with it and they got the win.
Well both and really when on all of the throws, you know, those last four plays where they got the two first downs, one on the plus side of the two minute warning and then the second one that sealed the game, Darnold was on the move in the pocket, which from a play calling perspective, is really smart because then if the throw isn't there, he can just tuck it and run and slide and make the Packers use
their timeouts. Right, you can't you can't count on being able to do that if you're standing in the pocket. And so Kevin m'connell got him on not a mobile quarter, no any means, but he got him on the move to give him that option. And and then the the third down, and you know, credit cam Acres. It wasn't a great throw on the final third and three Acres makes a really difficult catch, you know, falling down backwards,
grabs it off his shoe tops. Those are the kind of catches that you know, some of those the Packers let get away in this game, and Acres makes it at the.
End on that one too, it's like then he's uncovered.
So it's like, yeah, you know exactly, you know the there was there was nobody there to make it a more difficult guess for him. The most The other concerning thing, of course, on the offense is that is that we saw the you know these the pre snat penalties and and things like that. Just this It's been part of the roller coaster with this offense up season, right It's like they crop up for a while, then it seems like they go away, then all of a sudden they
come back again. That's what Matt Lafleur was talking about in some respects with with the sloppy football comment and just really frustrating it. And it was especially it was especially damaging right at the end of the first half because the Packers have the ball, there's under two minutes left in the first half and they have a third and one and then that's where I believe it's Dantevian Wicks gets called for illegal formation. Mattlafuir totally disagreed with
the call. He felt Tucker Craft had come off the line and and had checked with the official on that Dantevian Wicks had stepped up onto the line of scrimmage, but they threw the flag for illegal formation anyway, that put the Packers set of third and one. It's third
and six. They end up they end up hunting, and then Minnesota gets one more crack to score before halftime, which then they get a second crack at the field goal because of the off side call on Edger and Cooper get five yards closer and reikerd hits the field goal. A lot of controversy there. The Packers and Matt Lafluer certainly did not agree with either of those pre snap penalties. But you know, but again a microcosm in some ways of things that have gone wrong in games earlier this season.
That's very frustrating to see that stuff crop up in late December when you're hoping to have put that stuff behind you.
Yeah, it was, Yeah, it was. It was tough.
And again Matt Lafleur will always say, you never want to put it in the officials' hands. I will say, I mean Kyle Schaeffer's and you know, I mean, who's the my car was the down judge too? I mean I've never seen a crew perseverate more over the line of scrimmage than they did in this game. And by the way, it happened to Minnesota too. Yeah, it wasn't just gimingh but but it was just a very bizarre sequence,
and certainly at the end of the first half. I know I have Viking fans all over me on Twitter about this too, but like, and I think you pointed out right. I mean, there's probably just a little bit too much movement, a little bit too much forward motion from Edgrin. But I also don't think the officials really knew where the line of scrimmage was based on how people were lined up.
Yeah, and and that's that's what I was going to get at, because, as you know, I don't participate much in social media, but I do read it. And I was reading that because you were kind of going back and forth.
Was still am evidently, and but I was.
I was reading through that, and I apologize for not remembering this individual's name, but it's somebody from somebody associated with she said TV who made a response to one of your comments. And then when I when I look back at the film, this makes a lot of sense to me. It doesn't excuse it in terms of the call. But what I what I want to explain is when you you look at that line of scrimmage view of the field goal, it looks like the right guard for
Minnesota is too far forward. He's the one who's actually offside, lined up in the neutral zone. What I wonder about, and this is possibly this is a plausible explanation. The side judge who threw the flag on Cooper on Nathan Ji's side of the field, on the packer's side of the field, maybe he thought, based on his view down the line of scrimmage, that the right guard.
Was actually the center.
Yeah, which the way everybody's packed in on a field goal and whatnot, and you're standing that far away, you know, with a look down the line of scrimmage, that's plausible to me. And if he thinks that that Vikings right guard is the center and not a right guard who is lined up off side, then I can understand why he thinks Edgrin Cooper ends up lined up offside. It
doesn't excuse it to me. It's poor officiating if that's the case, But I think that's actually a somewhat plausible explanation for how that flag gets thrown When you look at how everybody was lined up and where the flag came from.
When does the flag need to be thrown? Though?
That's what I'm curious about, because if you watch the all twenty two and again, I have to say, it's almost like the field goals missed before the flag comes out.
Oh really, I didn't notice that part of it.
Let's go back and watch this afterwards. Okay, but I mean it's not like the ball was snapped and the flag comes out. I don't believe that's how that went down.
Because if you're saying a guy is lined up, if you're saying a guy is lined up offside or if he jumped the snap, yes, then absolutely the flag should be coming out immediately.
Yeah, I don't should be meming out.
Let me go back and look and if I'm wrong, I'll correct myself on Thursday.
But to me, that was the other thing.
It seemed like the kick was missed and then now I'm seeing a flag like and by the way, there's an advantage to that because Will Reiker ended up getting another try at that kick. In addition to it being five Beard's closer. The Mason Crosby thing just rings in my head all the time with this stuff. Now these guys that is gold to kickers, to be able to have an extra shot at these things, no doubt.
So again it is what it is. We all move forward.
It's not like the Packers were just being absolute world beaters at that time and that broke up their momentum. They had opportunities well before that, They had opportunities after that.
Yep, agreed, It's just it my diet tribe.
I win on on Twitter and I ultimately ended up deleting this because what's the point. But these aw shucks penalties happen all the time, and it may not be Green Bay, it may end up being a Minnesota. It could end up being Detroit. The Vikings, They've had stuff happen to them before in the past. Somebody's gonna get eliminated from the postseason on one of these things, yea, And then we will all be like, oh darn it, and the talk shows will discuss it the following day.
A month will pass, two months will pass, and everybody forgets that it ever happened. But next fall when we come back and nothing changes. These are the things that ultimately end up bubbling back up to the surface.
I apologize for the long explanation and perseverating on that. I just wanted to point out that the individual from Cheesehead TV, whose name unfortunately I cannot remember, I can get he he posited to me the what I think is the best explanation for how that call happened, because I was completely baffled as to how the flag gets thrown there until I saw what, uh oh.
It's Bruce Irons. Bruce Irons and Bruce Irons, okay, thanking thing. Yeah.
He said that the Vikings being offside so bad made it look like the Packers were offsides.
Yeah.
And by the way, all.
This would be could be saved if we would go back to the Dean Blandino era of like the NFL officially just explaining why calls are made.
Yeah, but we don't get that anymore.
Right now, you can't even interview these guys after the game. If you ask for like an actual interview the poor report, you're talking to the league office. Now you're not even talking to the official anymore. So it's like we are so far past the rumicon at this point.
All right, Well, I do have to take care of some sponsor business. Here so serious x MNFO Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the men NFL news that true football fanatics need twenty four to seven, three sixty five And at Cousin Subs, we have something for everyone like our Wisconsin Cheese kurts, mac and cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired to your favorite sub or sub in a bowl. Cousin Subs fifty plus years of better. All right, before we go, we will just review where
the Packers are in terms of the playoff scenarios. The five seed is out of reach with the loss to the Vikings. The Packers sitting at eleven and five trying to get to twelve and five facing the Bears here in week eighteen. If the Packers win and if Washington loses to Dallas, the Packers will have the sixth seed. If Washington defeats Dallas, the Packers will be the seven regardless of what happens against the Chicago.
And both those games are at the same time.
One both games are both games are noon Central time kickoffs, And refresh my memory the Washington Dallas game is being played where.
Because I don't recall it's being played in Dallas.
Mike's being played in Dallas, so I eventually got there. Okay, So Mike McCarthy, the former Packers head coach, can help out his old team potentially if if the Cowboys can beat the Commanders. But so, it's either it's either the six or the seven seed for the Packers, and you we all know that if it's the seventh seed, then the opening playoff opponent would be the Philadelphia Eagles because
they are locked into the two seed in the NFC. Obviously, the big game in the NFC coming up is the one four the one seed in the first drawn by It will be the last regular season game of twenty twenty four Slash twenty five. Sunday Night Football Week eighteen will be the Vikings at the Lions.
The winner.
The stakes here are incredible West for a game that's not do or die, but the stakes are the winner is the one seed and the loser is the five seed and having to go on the road in the first round of the play.
And the first ever fourteen win wildcard team, which is going to happen when you have seventeen games out but still fourteen wins.
It might be a while before.
We have a fifteen win wild card team again, though that.
Might happened to the North again next year too.
Well yeah, who knows, we'll see. That's pretty unusual though, But that's the big one in the NFC. It's for the one seed and the first droun buy for the NFC North Championship. All that the loser will drop to the five. The packers will get either the six or the seven, depending on what they do and what Washington does against Dallas. So that's how the scenarios are setting up here for Week eight.
So I was supposed to go to Vegas.
Well I did go to Vegas becuse my intention with going to Vegas in June was I was going to see the Connor.
McGregor fight, right, okay, and a bunch.
Of stuff happened. Connor ends up pulling out of it. They have to save the card. So there's this guy named Alex Piheeda who you won't know, but he's the light heavyweight champion of the UFC. He steps up and he decides on like, I don't know, three weeks in otis four weeks. Notice, he's gonna defend his title against the guy that he beat and it's like a big headliner for this pay per view. That's what the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions did for the NFL in Week eighteen.
There is no main event this week. There is one spot even up for grabs in this as far as the entire playoffs are concerned, in or out, and those teams don't even play each other. Yeah, so you have Minnesota and Detroit. They come down to the wire here the most improbable scenario possible of two fourteen win teams competing for a division title and the number one seed in the playoffs, and it completely bails the league out from I think probably otherwise it would have been Kansas City.
If if the Packers win, right, and San Francisco does what it does and there's no meaning behind Detroit Minnesota, I'm guessing they probably flip Minnesota in Detroit, keep that at three twenty five, and probably have Kansas City in Denver.
Yeah, because does the play because in the whole AFC thing to determine the final spot, Denver is the one in control if the Broncos. If the Broncos win, they get in. If the Broncos lose to Kansas City and.
Car Wentz as the quarterback.
Yeah, if the Broncos lose to Kansas City, then it opens the door for either the Miami Dolphins or the Cincinnati Bengals to take the final spot.
I agree with.
I think that's what they would have done. They would have had my You know, Cincinnati's already playing on Saturday, they have Miami play on Sunday, and then those teams have to sit and wait and see what and see
what happens with Denver on Sunday night. But the league got the Lions Vikings game, So that's what's there, and it'll be interesting to see because, as I said, the loser of the Lions Vikings game is going to go to the five seed is gonna be going on the road in the wild card game, going on the road coming off of a Sunday night game in Week eighteen. I wonder if what ever wild card game that loser is involved in is automatically going to be the one
on Monday night. I think it probably Wildcard weekend. Yeah, just in terms of the kickoff times and kind of trying to even out the rest and whatnot, because you're certainly not going to put that Wildcard game on Saturday, right, the loser of that of the Sunday night game Packers is having to play on Saturday. But I think that might end up being that might end up being the Monday night the final of the six wild card games. The loser of the Lions Vikings game will be in
that one. That's just my guess.
Well, and then it is interesting too because we were hoping, well, the league was hoping probably for like some more drama there with the NFC West that gets completely sorted out because of all the dominoes felt. The Rams end up clinching even you know, even though.
In Arizona, and Arizona was what six yards away yeah, six yards away on Saturday night from winning that game against the Rams and setting up a winner take all NFC West showdown between the Rams and the Seahawks. Instead, the ball hits off I think it was off McBride's helmet, and the defender makes a diving interception in the end zone saves the game for the Rams, and then the tiebreaker ends up getting clinched on Sunday. So the Rams against the Rams against the Seahawks is not for the
NFC West title. The Seahawks have been eliminated, and it only impacts the potential seating for the Rams.
We gotta go. I know you got an eleven o'clock am lunch day here, but we didn't get a chance to talk about this. But isn't it funny how the timeout thing came into play again on Sunday Night football as well, where I'm telling you, man, like there used to be that role, Like what was it like under eight or something in like Domofskio just said you never go for two unless it's under eight. That was like
an old standard. If we were to create a new standard, if you have a pass play that generates over what fifteen twenty yards, you call the timeout of immediately.
Exactly that And coaches used to do that. I mean it used to be almost automatic that they would do that because they knew how much time it would take because of the ball being that much further downfield to get everybody line up, whether it's to spike it or or to try to run another play, whatever the case might be. And uh yeah, I mean Atlanta, Atlanta taking not even using, not even using their last time out and having to try a fifty six yard field.
Goal with your backup kicker with your back, Riley Patterson.
It was unbelievable.
As soon as as soon as Drake London caught that ball, I mean, I was thinking, all you had to do is fall backwards to a lot of bounds. He didn't get out of bounds. But then as soon as you see the referee signaling to wind the clock, you have to they had two timeouts.
Yeah, you should have.
Had a first down with thirty seconds left and still one time out to go as you're near, as you're almost to midfield there, and instead they don't even get the next snap off until there are seventeen seconds left, and you're still sitting with two timeouts. Like it just it made it made no sense. And you're right, we're seeing we're seeing the clock management across the league now getting.
Poorer and poorer.
Crazy because it and there's actually a question that I saw an insider inbox that I'm going to answer for tomorrow. It's almost as though coaches are getting way too obsessed with not leaving a single second on the clock in an game scenario that even you know because and you know, because of Patrick Mahomes having enough timeouts to get a field goal against Buffalo in the playoffs with thirteen seconds on the clock, it's like you can't leave, you can't
leave any time. Well, you know, if the other team doesn't have any timeouts or only has one time out left, leaving ten seconds on the clock is not the end of the world. Like, do what you do to need to do to get your team in the best position the field. Position there is more important than what is on the clock and not burning a time out. That probably, quite frankly, it probably cost Atlanta the NFC South Yes title one hundred percent because they had it. They it
was a tremendous final drive. Michael Pennix Junior, the rookie quarterback two fourth down conversions including the one for the touchdown, and then and then they blow the clock management and probably the division championship just just based on not using a timeout.
You've got to help your rookie quarterback that has been a starting quarterback for two This is not Prime twenty fourteen, Aaron Rodgers. This is a guy that is extremely talented, has second enough of I start, and he's been playing NFL regular season football for two weeks.
Yeah, and you don't give him the time out there. I mean it unbelievable.
I might have been able to understand I might have been able to understand this if it was Matt Lafleur calling the offense and he's gotten whatever. Raheem Morris is a defensive minded coach. I mean he has he has a very eclectic background as far as coaching, but like it's not like he's sitting there trying to figure out what the next play is.
Like it just I I don't get it.
Yeah, I think it cost that. I think they I think Atlanta costs itself a division championship by not calling timeout. And that's it's pretty pretty amazing.
Well what was right after your defense just got an amazing stop of the Jayden Daniels to get that opportunity exactly.
Yeah, Jaden Daniels becomes the hero in overtime. Nobody's talking about the fact that they went three and out with the opportunity to win the game and gave the Falcons the opportunity to win the game in regulation on the road. But last thing with regard to the Packers playoff scenarios, because they didn't mention this, if the Packers were to get the sixth seed, they could play either the Rams
or the Buccaneers, depending on how those games. The Rams are playing the Seahawks, the Buccaneers are playing the Saints. So if it's the seven, it's the Eagles. If it's the six, it could be one of two opponents, Los Angeles or Tampa Bay. So I just wanted to clear that up. And last, but not least, the countdown to
the twenty twenty five NFL Draft has begun. Green Bay is hosting this year in case you didn't know that, and you won't want to miss it, so mark your calendars for April twenty fourth through April twenty six of twenty twenty five, and visit green Bay dot com slash Draft twenty five for more information. We've gone way over time. We apologize, especially to our producer Zach, but he'll deal
with it and for less, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody, Happy New Year, and we'll see you next time.