Mike McCarthy continues to use the same strategies that fail again and again, and almost cost the Packers a very important game last night, where a loss would have negatively impacted their playoff situation. The Packers beat the Lions on a last-play Hail Mary, showing once again that the Packers lose to teams they shouldn’t and many of their wins are closer than they should be.
Let’s review McCarthy’s gameplan:
1st possession: Stalled due to first-down run. Ran on third-and-1 for a loss of 1, and punted. Last week, a 4th-and-short run also failed, and this would happen again later this game.
2nd possession: Down 3-0. Stalled due to a first-down run on first-and-16. Punted.
3rd possession: Down 10-0. Threw interception on second down after a first-down run, where once again a turnover followed a first-down run.
Detroit scored a touchdown on their first play on a pass to Calvin Johnson. The Packers played press coverage-no safety help which continues to burn them, and did again.
The continued stalled drives due to first-down runs prevented the Packers from getting any momentum and gave the Lions confidence.
4th possession: Down 17-0. First-down run stalled a drive, and the Packers missed a field goal.
5th possession: Threw on first down for 6 yards, then ran on second down for a loss of 3 and punted.
6th possession: Ran on first down on 1st-and-20 and punted.
7th possession: 2:11 left in the half. Passed on first and second down, resulting in 3rd-and-1. Ran for no gain and punted, again running on third- and fourth-and-1 and failing.
8th possession: Kneeldown at end of half.
9th possession: Down 20-0. Threw on 2 of 3 first downs to get the ball to the Detroit 8. Ran on first down and fumbled, but the Packers recovered in the endzone for a TD. The fumble was the result of a first-down run, and had they lost the ball, would almost certainly have lost the game.
10th possession: Down 20-7. Started at Detroit 12 after a turnover. Passed on all 3 plays and scored a TD to pull within 20-14.
11th possession: Down 20-14. Passed on first down and got a first down, then ran on first down and punted. The Packers had momentum, but stopped it by the first-down run. This led to a Detroit field goal, putting the Lions up 2 scores with 7:06 to play in the 4th quarter.
On Detroit’s drive for the field goal, the Packers held the Lions on 3rd-and-13 from the Packer 49, which would have forced a punt and kept it a one-score game, but Peppers was called for lining up in the neutral zone. Detroit went on to get the first down and the field goal. I have said all year the Packers line up in the neutral zone at times (as other teams do) and that this would hurt them when it was eventually called. I said McCarthy should stress to the players to check where they line up on every play and to have a coach or player on the sideline at the line of scrimmage to the extent possible, where they could yell to the player if he lined up offsides. This call would have cost the Packers the game had they not completed the Hail Mary on the last play, and could have cost them the playoffs.
12th possession: Down 23-14. Passed on every first down (includes one scramble, but it was a called pass play) and passed on every play of the drive with the exception of one run for 3 yards and another scramble for the TD, which was a called pass. Scored a TD.
13th possession: Down 23-21, 0:23 left in 4th quarter, from own 21. Threw on all 4 plays, including the Hail Mary for the winning TD.