Unimpressive Packer win against Seahawks brings back memories of a game 50 years ago today

 

Today is the 50^th anniversary of the Packers’ infamous defeat against the Vikings by a score of 3-0. I was just a kid back then, but that was a game that just stuck in my mind because the Packers, being well past their Lombardi prime (which I have no memory of), had a chance to defeat  the Mighty Vikings who were vying with the Cowboys as the dominate force in the NFC. The Vikings went to the Super Bowl four times in a decade, and lost every one of them. But in this particular game, the Packers dominated the field. I remember that they gained 300 yards (actually 301) against the “Purple People-Eaters” defense, and the Viking offense was smothered (only 87 yards of total offense and 5 first downs). 

But the Packers committed four turnovers, including on a first-and-goal play late in the fourth quarter when Scott Hunter got “greedy” instead of just giving the ball to John Brockington (who rushed for 149 yards), and threw an interception that was returned to midfield, which eventually led to the only points of the game, a Fred Cox field goal.

I got the same feeling for most of the way in today’s game against the Seahawks as I did in that game. With Russell Wilson trying to play with a busted finger, and not very well, this was much like last week’s game when the Packers just had to give a modest amount of effort to win, yet even when clearly out-playing the opponent they couldn't even put the minimum amount of points on the board to win. In today’s game, what’s-his-name looked a lot like Jordan Love did last week. This time the Packers nearly had those 300 yards of offense by the end of the third quarter, and still had only three points to show for it. The quarterback was the main issue, after missing two weeks of practice, but after the game he still had the gall to blame everyone else on the offense.

One was wondering if Wilson would suddenly rise from the dead like he did  in the 2014 NFC Championship Game, and this time the Seahawks might have done that if Geno Smith was playing. But eventually that last-in-the-NFC defense gave out and AJ Dillon scored two fourth quarter touchdowns enroute to a surprisingly unimpressive 17-0 victory for the Packers.

Next week is at the Vikings, where what’s-his-name can play with another unvaccinated quarterback, Kirk Cousins. If the Packers win this game, the division “race” can probably be “called.”