Packers survive comedy of missed field goals

 

As Mason Crosby’s 49-yard field goal attempt was making its uncertain way toward the goal posts with two minutes to play in overtime, one wondered if anyone really wanted to win this game. It was unseasonably summer-like weather, sunny and 80+ degrees in Cincinnati, so who wanted to spoil anyone’s day? During a span of nine minutes and thirty seconds from 3:54 in the fourth quarter to 4:19 in OT, Crosby—who had made nine consecutive attempts—missed three straight field attempts, and two of them should have been “easy,” a 36-yarder and a 40-yarder in OT. Evan McPherson missed both of his attempts for the Bengals, the first a 57-yarder that hit the upright in regulation, and a 49-yarder in OT that appeared “good” at least to him.

Crosby’s seventh field goal attempt of the game made it through, and the Packers escaped with a 25-22 win, also made more “interesting” by the fact that Crosby missed his first extra-point of the season, which also could have been the difference between winning and losing. Crosby in fact set a new team record for field goal attempts in a game—and one more than he attempted in the previous four games, and he needed every one of them to redeem himself at the end.

For a game that could have gone either way, Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams connected in a way normally associated with an offensive juggernaut, 11 times for 206 yards, but it would have all been for naught had Randall Cobb not caught a 15-yard pass on third-and-16 to put Crosby in position for one more crack at redemption. Despite an offensive line missing three starters and allowing eight tackles for loss, Rodgers was sacked "only" twice and hit five times in having his first 300-yard game of the season, and Aaron Jones also had a run of 57 yards. But much of the 477 yards of offense was wasted on red zone failures and those missed field goals.

Still it was a win on the road against a good team and an up-and-coming young quarterback, the defense keeping Joe Burrow just enough in check with three sacks and two interceptions, although if you expect to be a Super Bowl contender, you can’t keep falling asleep before halftime and giving up those big plays, like a 70-yard touchdown pass with 30 seconds left.

Next week really is against the 3-2 Bears on the road, who certainly look better in the standings than they do on paper. Mitchell Trubisky is gone, and in his place is former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, who from the eye test is certainly no upgrade over Trubisky (let alone Andy Dalton), and the Bears seem to be hoping the ground game and the defense can maintain some kind of stability until Fields gets his act together, if he in fact is the "future." I mean, Trubisky was 29-21 as a starter, so obviously they expect “improvement” somewhere. It would help if the Packer defense focuses on stopping the run, since the Bears' league-worst offense has actually gained more yards running the ball than passing it.