They need to finish drives better, and finish games better. They need to somehow overcome the NFL officiating bias against them – and to their credit, Matt Prater’s long FG in the 4th quarter gave them a two-score lead late, exactly what you typically need to overcome Black Swan Aaron Rodgers Ref Magic. It’s just that none of us could have predicted the officials would keep the bad calls and bad no-calls going, critical moment after critical moment, series after series, until they got their desired goal of a Packers/Rodgers win.
I cringe at the thought of how Matt Patricia is going to come out in the Tuesday press conference, having seen all of the egregious jobbing of his team, and give the same kind of mealy-mouthed, un-fired-up, NFL company-line platitudes. It would be an outstanding time to peel some paint off the walls, take a fine, and show his team that – while they can’t ever accept excuses for not winning, only keep doing what the team can control until it gets the Ws – he also won’t stand for systemic bias and unfairness against his team.
I’m pleased to see/hear how salty the team members are about this. Go full Mark Dantonio here! I want chips on shoulders! I want “Detroit vs. Everybody” to be the rallying cry like Mike Utley Thumb’s Up was in '91!
I want the Packers’ trip into Ford Field to be the scariest game they’ve ever played. I want our fans out for blood, like the old Red Wings-Avalanche rivalry days. And the team ready to put a pounding on them.
They’re close. You can see it.