Is this Packers regular season a formality?
A few days after the Green Bay Packers filled their socks in the final 5 minutes of the NFC Championship game,I wrote about how the Packers won’t have a shot at redemption until the NFL playoffs roll around the following season. Here’s an excerpt:
At this point,the regular season is basically a formality for the Packers. They’ll win between 10 and 13 games next season,contend for the division title,and be in the mix for a top-seed in the playoffs. Just like they are every season…But through it all,what happened on Sunday will linger in the back of my mind and the minds of all Packers fans. We’ll love what happens on the march toward another NFC North title,but we’ll constantly be looking ahead to the postseason,and wondering if it’s all going to be washed away by yet another playoff meltdown.
I was still all wound up about the collapse and depressed when I wrote that piece. I thought for sure my opinion would soften after a long offseason,a fresh crop of draft picks to root for,and the excitement of a new football season.
It hasn’t.
Don’t get me wrong,my excitement level for the 2015 Packers season is just as high as it always is. I can’t wait to watch this team every Sunday and count my blessings that I root for the greatest sports organization on the planet which just happens to have the best quarterback in the league and an impressive run of success over the last 20 years.
I’ll be absorbed by every game like I always am and dive right into the analysis,second-guessing and Twitter chatter before,during and after each tilt.
But through all the ups and downs that are about occur during this 2015 Packers regular season,I can’t shake the part of my brain that still thinks it’s going to be a formality.
Like I wrote in the above-quoted piece,the Packers will win between 10-13 games this season,be in the mix for a top seed in the NFC,and have people talking Super Bowl. Just like they do every season.
And instead of fully enjoying all of that wonderful positivity and week-to-week excitement,a large part of my brain will be looking ahead to the playoffs and the opportunity to truly avenge what happened in Seattle.
Aaron Rodgers throws for 350 yards and five touchdowns agaisnt the Bears? Cool. Can he do the same thing in the playoffs?
Undrafted LaDarius Gunter breaks out as a stud and leads all rookies in interceptions at Thanksgiving? Good for him. How’s he going to handle the pressure of playoff football?
Ty Montgomery is a beast on kick returns? Super. Hopefully the Packers special teams don’t get “Zooked” in January and lead the way to another playoff meltdown.
Unfortunately,nothing that happens between the months of September and the end of December will get the stench of Seattle out of my senses. Do I have this odd combination of negative/spoiled/entitled mindset if the Packers simply lost a hard-fought game to the better team in Seattle last season? Probably not.
But the Seattle meltdown,combined with other playoff-failings from the post-2010 Packers,make it really hard to not look ahead to January,even if Green Bay is on an incredible roll in October.
Per usual,the 2015 Packers regular season will be a tremendous amount of fun. Unfortunately,it’s also going to feel like somewhat of a formality.
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