Cheer Up, Packer Fans!
This Packer season was a wild one, in the fact that it was never quite what we (as fans) expected. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great season. (Anything that is a departure from the 70s and 80s Packers is a positive thing in my opinion.) I blogged at EveryJoe about why I think there are some very positive things to take from the season, so I won’t repeat it all here. I will say that as a fan, it’s always a let down when you lose. But Green Bay fans can take some solace in the fact that we had a very good season, and all indications point to more of the same for next year.
Dave Begel had a great column today on OnMilwaukee.com about the Packer game, and more specifically, the play of Aaron Rodgers. I enjoy his take if only for the fact that it has more truth in it that most fans are willing to admit. The media has had a real love-in with Rodgers, almost to the point of making him out to be the second coming. I made a case on EveryJoe a few weeks ago that the stats are very misleading this year for both the Packers as a team and for Rodgers. I even predicted (shock!) that the Packers would come out jittery and end up losing. I got ripped apart for this assessment. Someone emailed me and told me I should never be allowed to predict another game ever, while another fan left a comment that told me I knew nothing about football, and that “Sorry the stats show Packers winning and not Arizona.”
Too bad, folks. I was right. The Packers might have been ranked as the second defense but they gave up 51 points. The sad part is, the loss isn’t on the defense alone. The whole team didn’t play up to the level needed to win. Stats don’t tell the story on everything, especially when it comes to the Packers. Interestingly enough, I made this same argument when Jay Cutler joined the Bears. I said the stats showed him as the player you want in your fantasy league, but on a real team he’s a wildcard and a gun slinger. (I got ripped for that too…. but my, how quiet people are now about it.)
Back to the Pack, however, it isn’t that I wanted them to lose. I was very nervous watching the game on Sunday because while I was cheering on my team, I had a feeling that they would fall short of winning. When Rodgers threw that pass that could have won the game, I didn’t even hold my breathe to see if Jennings would catch it. I already saw that Rodgers was keyed up and would overthrow it. He could have won the game right there but didn’t.
Does that mean that Rodgers is a bad quarterback? Nope. He’s a good one, but not the great, second coming, type quarterback that many in the media (and fandom) seem to believe. Time will tell with him. One thing is sure, having the experience of this game will help him down the road. It all adds to maturity and experience, and I have to believe Rodgers will take every lesson he can from playing in this game against one of the greatest (and my favorite) quarterbacks of all time. Speaking of which, can you believe Kurt Warner threw more touchdowns than he did missed passes? I can!
To sum it up, Packer fans, don’t be sad about this year. We’ve got a lot to look forward to and next year the team will be better able to handle the tougher schedule that they will now receive. In the meantime, I’m still having a hard time taking down the Packer tree. Sniff! Think it’d be okay if I left it up until after the Super Bowl at least?
