Green Bay Packers 2011 regular season Review: A great season ends on a sad note – NFL Special Part IV
At Kansas
Green Bay’s unbeaten run had to end someday but no one could have expected the struggling Kansas City Chiefs to deliver that blow to the Packers 13-0 season.
The Chiefs were brilliant in defence and it was the first time since December 19th, 2010 that the Packers had failed to outscore an opponent.
Rodgers passed for a single touchdown and 235-yards while also rushing for a touchdown but his efforts fell well short as the Chiefs defence held on.
Chiefs quarterback Kyle Orton drove his team forward and the Chiefs used field goals to great effect as they ran out 19-14 winners.
The Packers played down the impact of this defeat with Coach Mike McCarthy saying that an unbeaten season was never the goal for his team.
"I personally always viewed the undefeated season as, really, just gravy," McCarthy said. "The goal was to get home-field advantage and win the Super Bowl. That's what we discussed.”
Against Chicago
The Green Bay Packers had a great opportunity to put behind their first loss of the season during the visit of the Chicago Bears to Lambeau Field.
The Bears were struggling with a four game losing streak after their offence was devastated with the loss of quarterback, Jay Cutler, and running back, Matt Forte, with little to no chance of making it to the playoffs.
Rodgers returned back to his brilliance against the Packers' fierce rivals and cut apart through Chicago’s defence, sending five passing touchdowns to lead Green Bay to a 35-21 victory, ending any hopes Bears might have of making the postseason.
Against Detroit
The Green Bay Packers welcomed the Detroit Lions to Lambeau Field for the final game of the season. The Packers had already secured a first seed spot and home field advantage for the playoffs and Coach Mike McCarthy decided to rest most of his starters on
the night.
The Lions meanwhile had secured their wildcard playoff berth and had a great opportunity to end the regular season on a high.
However, Detroit did not count on Packers replacement quarterback Matt Flynn to have the game of his life. Flynn who was standing in for Rodgers outperformed even the MVP contender as he passed for a record six touchdowns to outscore Detroit and the end
the Packers season 15-1.
Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford also had a great game passing for five touchdowns but could not keep pace with the Packers who ran out 45-41 victors.
Against New York (Playoff Divisional Round)
The Green Bay Packers were at home and welcomed a surging New York Giants side to make this game one of the most mouth-watering clashes of the season.
The Giants had beaten the Atlanta Falcons in the wildcard round to setup the big clash but the Packers were favourites for the win having already qualified for the division round.
No one however, could have foreseen what took place.
New York took a 20-10 lead in the first half of the game as Hakeem Nicks and Eli Manning combined to devastating effect. Rodgers looked subdued in the game and was repeatedly sacked by the Giants defence as his guards failed to protect him.
Manning who last time out went closest to bring the Packers unbeaten run to an end, this time ran out the victor as he passed for three touchdowns in the most important game of his career to send the Giants to the NFC Championship match.
Rodgers could only muster two touchdowns as Green Bay struggled both in defence and offence to end a brilliant season on a whimper.
Even though the season did not end the way fans and players expected no one can deny the fact that Green Bay was one of the best teams this year and with Rodgers still with the side there can be no doubt that the franchise will soon return back to the Super
Bowl.
Tags: