Part of my whole schtick is overreactions, but the whole Packers blogosphere has gone crazy this week. Demanding LaFleur give up play calling because of a bad week where the team put up 370 yards and screwed up a few red zone possessions. Bad games happen! The 15-1 Packers in 2011 lost to a horrific Chiefs team, interim-coached by Romeo Crennel. We have to stop being prisoners of the moment. NFL games are hard and the other team is coached by a millionaire, too. In this game, the Packers put up those 370 yards despite losing Tucker Kraft and Aaron Banks and Matthew Golden to injury. The defense gave up more rush yards than it usually does, but what do you expect when the best run-stuffing d-lineman got hurt? They totally stopped the Panthers' pass game. Looks for the Packers to continue to improve, Luke Musgrave to break out, some fun six offensive linemen plays and the same people who had their pitchforks out yesterday bragging about LaFleur on twitter.
Anyway, let's get to the sh** talking about the Lions losing to JJ McCarthy of all people.
Lions and Vikings
The Vikings somehow beat the Lions 27-24.
Game Notes
The only good thing that happened in the early Sunday games was that we were able to see highlights of this crazy game. McCarthy didn't really have an offensive player of the week level performance, totaling just 143 yards and throwing a pick to go along with his two tuds. The more surprising part is probably that the Vikings, with 142 yards, more than doubled the Lions' rush total of just 65 yards. The Lions' success depends totally on their offensive line, and the Vikings had them figured out in this one.
I'm relying basically totally on Nate Tice's analysis here - the Vikings' strategy was to target the Lions' interior offensive linemen and Jahmyr Gibbs in pass protection. They dropped the edge rushers (like former Badger Andrew van Ginkel) into coverage and rushed up the middle. Remember, a lot of the Packers' pressures in week 1 came from attacking the guards and center. Gibbs was the true weakest link in this game, giving up seven (!) pressures. The Lions as a team have allowed fewer pressures than that in whole games this season.
The pressure got the Lions behind and they were never able to establish the run. Gibbs averaged just 2.8 YPC to go with his horrific pass protecting and Goff couldn't keep up.
Former Packer, in his second game back from IR, was the Vikings' MVP in the first half with 89 total yards and then he injured his shoulder in an awkward landing in the third. The injury looked serious at first but is now being reported as an AC joint sprain that shouldn't cause him to miss too much time.
Bears
The Bears beat the Bengals by the insane score of 47-42.
Game Notes
I'm not sure where to even start with this one. Caleb Williams had 280 passing yards with three tuds and no picks. He had another 53 yards on the ground and a receiving touchdown. That wasn't even close to the most impressive performance. The Bengals' new QB Joe Flacco had 470 yards (in regulation) with four TDs and two picks. The whole point of this Bears was supposed to be a strong defense and run game. I guess when you can throw it up to Ja'Marr Chase (111 yards) and Tee Higgins (121 yards, 2 TDs) the defense part sort of goes out the window.
The run game was there. Kyle Monangai, Bears' seventh-round rookie RB, had 176 yards on the ground and another 22 through the air. Twitter is full of clips of the Bears' o-line dominating people and Monangai taking advantage.
The most hilarious part of this game, for people who don't have Rome Odunze in fantasy, is that the Bears put up 47 points and accumulated 576 total yards and Odunze had zero catches on three targets. It just doesn't make sense.
Dayo Odeyingbo, the Bears' big free agency acquisition at edge rusher, tore his Achilles and will miss the rest of the season. Odeyingbo wasn't having a killer season and losing him was timed perfectly with the return of pre-season demigod Austin Booker. We'll see if the Bears try to make any moves at the deadline or if they stick with who they have now on the d-line.
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE.
__________________________
Mike Price is a lifelong Packers fan who recently moved from Utah to Stoughton (a Madison suberb). You can follow him on twitter at @themikeprice.
__________________________
NFL Categories: