WEBVTT - #491 Packers Unscripted: Playoff bound 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:14.480 Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:17.119 I am Mike Spofford. He is the one and only 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.520 West Hotkowits were coming to you here from our studios 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:22.639 at lambeau Field and West. We have a big Packers 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.119 victory to talk about over the Chicago Bears, but we 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.400 need to start the show by saying one thing. The 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:30.880 Packers are in the playoffs. They are green Bay gets 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.559 the win over Chicago, the Los Angeles Rams lose at Dallas, 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:37.080 and the Packers, regardless of what happened to the final 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.040 two weeks, although there's more to play for, the Packers 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.519 are in the postseason for the first time since Yeah. Well, 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:48.280 first and foremost emphatically, the Rams were beaten by soundly. 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:50.599 It's you know, I went off on a little bit 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:53.599 of a tangent on Twitter on Sunday night. You may 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:55.440 or may not have seen it. You don't live your 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:57.639 life on social media as much as I do. Yes, 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:00.280 I do not. If there was ever a week in 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.160 the NFL, and we'll get to this Packer game, we'll 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:03.600 talk about all the ins and outs of it, and 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:05.440 everybody will be happy and good and we'll move on 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:09.280 with our week. But if there ever was a Sunday 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:14.120 that illustrates how it's important just to win games and 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:16.280 it doesn't really matter what's happened in the past, it 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:19.360 was Week fifteen in the NFL, and I offer you 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:21.679 a number of different things into evidence for this one. 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:24.920 The Rams appeared to finally be getting their footing right. 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.120 They going to Dallas, who, for all intents and purposes, 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:30.880 has really been struggling trying to hold onto the NFC, 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:35.320 A scuffling, scuffling Dallas Cowboys team, and the Cowboys just 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:39.880 do their things, dominate points on the board. Zeke Elliott 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:42.840 can't be stopped, Dak Prescott looks great, and they win. 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:45.520 Game was never close. The Rams now are on the 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:47.680 outskirts of the playoff hunt here as they try to 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:49.880 keep things going, hoping for a Packers victory now on 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:54.000 Sunday or on next Monday night against uh the fIF Minnesotakes. 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:58.240 Then you get the San Francisco forty Niners, one of 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:00.480 the best teams in the NFL. I think everybody can 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:03.360 agree with that, and they take on the Atlanta Falcons 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:08.160 at home at home. If there I put it on Twitter, 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:11.840 I got nothing. I cannot try to explain the Atlanta 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.679 Falcons at all. I can't either, because if you took 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.000 away all the records and it just I just dropped 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:22.400 you on December two thousand nineteen, after teleporting you from 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:24.920 September one, and said here's the Falcons and the forty, 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.040 you would either think, A, maybe these were two bad 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:32.040 teams or B this was a potential, you know, big 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:36.440 ramification for the NFC. Yeah, and Atlanta just runs through, 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:39.120 not runs through, but finds a way to win against 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.280 San Francisco, pulls it out down the stretch. They the 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:46.120 Atlanta Falcons have five wins in and two of them 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:49.600 are over the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:53.000 forty Niners, both on the road. There is no explanation 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.520 for that except for this. It's the NFL. It's the NFL, 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.160 and let's bring us all back into lambeau Field. The 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:05.200 meeting between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears historic 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:08.600 and the way I put it as the game ended 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:13.480 on Twitter, I said, and the Packers win. It was 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:18.560 a chaotic, strange fourth quarter after the Packers, who, by 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:20.520 the way, going up against Chicago Bears team that had 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.040 been phenomenal coming out of halftime, the Packers outscore and 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:25.760 get two quick touchdowns that end up weighing heavily in 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:29.079 the favor of this game, and then the Bears get 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:30.959 going in the fourth quarter of the Packers hold them off. 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:34.560 Packers are eleven and three. They've clinched a playoff spot, 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:36.920 and now this week they can beat the Minnesota Vikings 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:39.680 when the NFC North. If they accomplish that, they can 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:42.760 now beat the Detroit Lions and be the number two 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:47.880 seed at worst. Right now, this is the NFL Mike. 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:49.560 You have to win the games that are in front 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:52.000 of you. Doesn't matter how they look, doesn't matter what 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:54.400 exactly happens. You have to win. In the Green Bay 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.200 Packers by hooker, by crook, the last three weeks have 0:03:57.320 --> 0:03:59.840 been victorious, and they sit at eleven wins onto some 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:03.920 eleven and three, and very quickly, I'll just lay out 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.800 the scenarios as you just did as well, that there 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:08.840 are one of two ways the Packers can win the 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:11.960 NFC North in terms of controlling it themselves. They can 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:14.800 either beat the Minnesota Vikings next week, or they can 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:17.240 beat the Detroit Lions in week seventeen. If the Packers 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:21.799 win either of those games, they are the NFC North champs. 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:23.800 But as you also just said, if the Packers can 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.800 win both of those games, they will be no worse 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:29.160 than the two seed in the NFC and they will 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.919 get a first round by and then one seed is 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.880 actually still in play, very much in play because of 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.960 the forty Niners lost yesterday. But getting back to the 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:40.479 game at hand, the Packers and the Bears, as you 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.600 said it West, the Packers come out of the locker 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.839 room at halftime and they just came out swinging. I mean, 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:50.960 the end the first half. That second quarter was frustrating. 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:55.080 The Packers had three consecutive drives to end the second 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:59.160 quarter that were in Chicago territory, and they came away 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.640 with no point on any of the three drives. They 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:03.719 go into the locker room only up seven to three, 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:06.839 when they had a chance, multiple chances to stretch out 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:10.440 the lead, to really start to assert themselves. They come 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.479 out of the locker room after halftime, bang five place 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:17.400 seventy three yards, banging five place sixty six yards, two touchdowns, 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:19.920 and it's twenty one to three, and it's like, all right, 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.360 all those first half frustrations, you put them behind you. 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.440 You got two touchdowns, You're up to three. And all 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.440 the Packers really needed was one more score of any 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:31.960 kind in the fourth quarter, and they take all the 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.920 drama out of this one. Well, they didn't get that 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:38.720 one more score in the fourth quarter. The offense is struggling, 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:41.839 the Bears defensive front started to assert itself in the 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:44.680 fourth quarter, the Bears offensively doing some things. They get 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:49.359 it to thirteen, and the game comes down to the 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.240 whatever you want to call it, the multilateral, the fumble 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:56.919 Rooski the the the last desperation played by the Bears. 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:00.040 And I'll be honest with us, we saw it on 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.440 the press box as it was unfolding, which is a 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.560 little bit wider view than maybe what you see on television. 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.039 Saw it as it was unfolding. I wrote about it 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:12.960 in my postgame editorial. That was really really close, because 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:16.559 if Allen Robinson gets the lateral at the ten yard line, 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:18.960 if Horstead, the rookie tight end from Princeton, if he 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.719 laterals it to Robinson at the ten yard line instead 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.520 of taking a couple more steps, the Bears are in 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:26.080 the end zone and the game's coming down to a 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:30.960 two point conversion. But Channon Sullivan. Just as Horseted crosses 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.200 the ten yard line, Channon Sullivan and grabs and starts 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:36.240 to drag him down. His then attempted ladderal, which is 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:39.080 too late, ends up being forward. It's a forward fumble 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:43.520 at that point. Only he can recover it for the 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.159 Bears to to be able to benefit from the play. 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.640 Truman Williams recovers inside the five yard line for the Packers, 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.839 and the gun mercifully sounds to end to end a 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:57.120 victory for the package. So a couple of things of 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:00.279 this one. If you're going to have a ladderal play, 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.560 there are two things you need to do in order 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.159 to be successful on it. You need numbers, is the 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.160 first thing. The Bears ended up getting numbers on that. 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:10.160 They had numbers where they needed them. Yeah, when they 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:11.920 got the ball to the middle of the field and 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:15.560 started moving to the right, they they had the numbers. 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.400 As you say, the personnel was there to be able 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.880 to get that ball into the end zone. The second thing, though, 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.960 is you need to have perfect execution, and the Bears 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:28.000 were not perfect. Uh, everything lined up and Tremon Williams 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:29.840 the first question he was asked, I think maybe even 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:32.440 the first interview of the post game locker room was 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.800 with Tremon and he said, yeah, we saw it. It 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:39.480 was close. That's just the reality of it. So but 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:42.320 the Packers did survive. They got through a Tremon was 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:44.320 the one to actually jump on that football at the end. 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.200 The thing that I take out of this game, though, 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:50.080 Mike h in addition to certainly they want to be 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:51.920 able to close teams out, you have to be able 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.000 to do that to make a deep, lengthy playoff run. 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.320 The thing about this team though, and I said this 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.320 to our boss, my boss, Duke Bober after the game, 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.160 the Packers are eleven and three, and everybody wants to 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.800 figure out how they've done that, and it's really not 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.840 that complicated. You can look at total defense, total offense. 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.120 You can look at those measurables, those archaic measurables, and 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:13.640 they're not really going to tell you the whole story. 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:15.920 You can look at passer ratings, you can look at 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.240 offensive efficiency, all those things. The one thing that stands 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:21.360 out to me, though, is not something you can measure, 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.840 and that's that in all three phases, at different intervals 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.680 of the season and occasionally in the same game, the 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.760 Packers have been exceptional. They've had moments where they've been 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.920 exceptional on defense, they've been exceptional on special teams, and 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.200 they have been exceptional on offense. Teams that aren't good 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.960 in this league never really achieved that at all, at 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.719 least without any type of normal consistency. The Packers have that. 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:46.160 It's just been a matter of tying it all together 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:48.760 at the same time. In this game, I thought they 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.000 got off to a great start offensively. I thought defensively 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:54.880 they held them on three straight drives. They really were 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:57.080 making life difficult on Mitchell Trubisky, and they were not 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:00.280 allowing the Bears to get the running game going. The 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:02.920 second half, the Bears mounted a rally, but it was 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:06.640 only after the Packers were up by eighteen points. For 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:11.360 glamour points in terms of like beauty of a performance, Yeah, 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.800 they're not going to score very high in that one. Yeah, 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:15.960 But at the end of the day, it doesn't change 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.120 the outcome, and the outcome is the Packers are eleven 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:20.480 and three. Yeah. This is this is the way I 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:22.840 look at it West, because there's there are a lot 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.240 of different narratives out there right now with regards to 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:27.600 this Packers team being eleven and three and where they 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:29.800 are and fighting for a division title in a first 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:33.480 round by there are There are a few different ways 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.400 you can look at this. You can say, Okay, the 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.040 Packers are the Packers are finding different ways to win. 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:42.080 They're scratching and claw and they're pulling out these close games. 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:45.960 But this is one of those things that it's not 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.839 sustainable into January. It's going to catch up with them 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.520 at some point that when you start playing the best teams, 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.880 the other playoff teams, that it's uh, that's not a 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.280 way to make a living in the playoffs. Okay, fine, 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:01.200 that's one way to look at it. Another way to 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.080 look at it is to say, okay, the Packers whatever 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:06.600 it is, that they have the chemistry, the belief, everything 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.200 they've got going on this way to to scratch and 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.280 claw and find a different way and have a different 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:14.520 hero every week. And and yeah, there are fits and 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:16.760 starts and things don't always look that great. But if 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.600 you keep finding ways to win it it builds on itself. 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:23.160 It's contagious and and it is something that can continue 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.560 and you write it as long as you can. Okay, 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:27.840 that's another way to look at it. This is the 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:29.680 way I prefer to look at things. I don't really 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:33.079 look at it in either one of those ways. My thing, 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:35.280 and as you know, my mantra all season has been 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.240 optimism without expectations. With this first with the first year 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:45.280 head coach, and it says optimism without expectations, I'm gonna 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.439 look forward to that. I appreciate. But the way the 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:50.079 way I look at I've said it on this show, 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:54.840 I've said it an insider inbox. This Packers team is 0:10:54.960 --> 0:11:00.640 capable of playing at another level. They just haven't gotten there. 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:04.360 They've shown it in spurts, but they haven't put it 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:06.800 together for an entire game. They haven't put it together 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:10.920 for a stretch of of a few games. It's still 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.719 out there for them, and if they can find it, 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.079 neither of the first two options, the first two narratives 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.520 are going to matter because because it's going to put 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:23.160 them somewhere else. Now, those who would say, well, how 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.480 how can you believe that they can do that? Because 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:27.360 they've had so many chances and they haven't gotten there. 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:29.360 You want to be skeptical. Five, You have every right 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:31.679 to be skeptical that they're not going to get there. 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:36.000 I get that they're they're fourteen games in here, and 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:40.520 there hasn't been the evidence to convince anyone that they 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:43.400 can find it because they've had so many opportunities. So 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:47.560 the skeptics, I understand that. But I look at yesterday's 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:51.840 game West the Packers had. The Packers were playing a 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:54.160 pretty decent football team that had won three in a 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:56.840 row and four their last five, and the Bears were 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:00.680 playing for their season, and the Packers had raortunities in 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:03.760 the first half to dominate that game, and they had 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.560 opportunities in the second half to close it out and 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:08.640 put it away. Now, they didn't do either one of 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:11.960 those things, but they were in position to do both 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.840 of those, and it's just it's one more step. And 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:16.840 it sounds silly, and I get, like I say, I 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:22.480 get the skeptics, but they're not that far away. They too, 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:24.679 in my mind, they really are. Now are they going 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:28.600 to get there? I don't know however far. If they 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.680 can get there, that's going to determine what January is 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:34.360 going to mean here with whatever playoff run has made. 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:36.800 But that's the way, that's the way I see it, 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.320 is that it's still out there for them. Their best 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.280 football is still out there. If they can find it. 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:46.200 The narrative about this team, the way people are looking 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:48.200 at this team is going to change, because I think 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.280 one thing that people don't recognize is, Okay, if you 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:52.720 do get finally one of those really attractive wins, one 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:56.079 of those dominating performances, that's really the only thing left 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:58.880 out there right now. For Green Bay, They've won every 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:02.600 other way imaginable, exactly exactly they have they have found 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:05.360 they have found so many ways to win yesterday being 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:07.679 and as I've said a lot of times, they've won 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:09.400 a lot of games this year by being the better 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.160 team in the fourth quarter. They were not the better 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.600 team in the fourth quarter. Yesterday, they were the better 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.400 team by a long shot in the third quarter against 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.160 a team that had dominated third quarters all season long. 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:20.920 All you have to do is look at the statistics 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:23.480 to see what the Bears have done. The Packers were 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:25.520 the team that came out swinging in the third quarter 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.880 and gaining control. Fortunately then was enough. So again it 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:30.839 was just another way to win a game. So I 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:33.120 want to highlight a couple of performances on both sides 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:35.080 of all but before I do this for anybody out there, 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:36.520 and I'll look into both of the cameras because I'm 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:38.600 not sure which one Marvin is on right now. For 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.240 anybody that's like beating this drum about the identity, I'm 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.480 gonna give you an identity thing right here, and you 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:45.880 can you can put your own hat on the identity. 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:50.319 This is what it is. Look at turnover differential right 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:52.280 now in the NFL, not just Green Bay because they're 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:54.040 number two in the league right now against New England. 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.839 I'm gonna read you off, Mike, the top ten teams 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.440 and turnover differential, and I want you to tell me 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:01.400 what is the I'm in thread between all these teams. 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:07.600 You're ready, okay, buckled down? New England, Green Bay, Seattle, 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:15.280 New Orleans, Minnesota, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Tennessee, and Buffalo. 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:20.040 Pittsburgh and Tennessee are kind of outliers right now. Everybody 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:22.960 else is either already clinched a playoff spot or on 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.800 the precipice of getting a playoff spot. You want to 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:29.760 talk identity. The identity of this year's team. The first thing, 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:31.840 I literally think it was the first thing that Mike 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:33.640 Petton said this season was they wanted to take the 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:36.360 ball away more this year. They have fifteen interceptions they 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:39.000 had seven last year. They've turned the ball, They've been 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.000 able to turn over the football more, whether it was forced, 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.960 almost anything like that. Their takeaway numbers are up. In 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.400 their giveaways our second fewest in the league right now 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:51.160 to New Orleans eight to nine. That's the identity. That's 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:52.680 the reason why the Packs have been able to win 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.200 these games. And they wont turnover differential three to zero 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:58.560 again yesterday. If you don't give away the football and 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:00.320 you take it away and now you've got a punt 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.400 returner that can help you with field position, you're going 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.120 to start winning some ballgames. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:10.560 it's like I say, there's there are The Packers have 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.720 been in position to play that next level, to take 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:17.480 their game to the next level. They haven't gotten there yet, 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.560 and they have to find it somehow. It's on Matt Lafleur, 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.800 it's on the coaches, it's on Aaron Rodgers to find 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:27.280 that somehow, and that is what is going to determine 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:31.720 whether in January, when they are playing against other playoff teams, 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:33.960 whether they're going to be able to advance in In 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:36.440 my opinion, that's what it comes down to. U some 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.800 sponsor business here. West Select Cousin Subs locations are now 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:43.120 offering delivery. Whether you're ordering catering or your favorite sub, 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:46.000 They're delivering right to you when you order online at 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:51.000 Cousin Subs dot com. Cousin Subs. We believe in better. Okay. 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:53.440 Some stars of the game to point out here from 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:59.400 Sunday's victory over the Bears. Offensively, Aaron Jones two rushing touchdowns. 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:02.440 He now had fourteen rushing touchdowns on the year and 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:06.920 seventeen total touchdowns. He's closing in two regular season games 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:10.160 to go. He's closing in on a mon Greens single 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.360 season touchdown record for the Green Bay Packers, which is twenty. 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:15.680 And then you have Davante Adams, who put up a 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:20.120 yard performance including a twenty nine yard touchdown catch on 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:23.160 a fourth down. It's actually a fourth down audible. Aaron 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:26.960 Rodgers checked um, saw that Adams was one on one 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:31.320 in the slot against buster scrind screen scrind screw um. 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.920 The announcer said screen yesterday, I've I've heard it both ways. 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:43.920 I've yeah, absolutely, um, but a check and rather than 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:46.400 just throw the pass for the first down on fourth down, 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.240 Rogers goes for the home run. One on one, Adams 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:52.720 wins his route, makes the catch touchdown, so he gets 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:54.840 a hundred yard game and gets in the end zone. 0:16:55.720 --> 0:17:00.120 And uh, the Packers two most dynamic offensive perimeter are 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.800 players were the guys who got the job done. Yeah, 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.199 and those first two drives you're talking about. After the 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:07.600 second in the start of the second half, eight of 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:09.760 the ten targets were in their direction, whether it be 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:12.520 through the run or the past. But between them and 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:14.200 I wrote about this for our game notes was Jake 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:17.240 Kumro with the forty nine yard catch, which coincidentally enough 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:19.160 that tied his career high. He also had the forty 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:22.080 nine yard or last year against the Jet a touchdown 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:24.640 something about forty nine yards. That just agree with him 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:28.360 and Jake, But you know, one of those main things again, 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.040 they've just had a lot of different guys stepping up 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:31.480 throughout the course of the year. It happened to be 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.800 Kumro's moment there. But when you look at Davante Adams, 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:36.560 I thought he was exceptional in this game. He did 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:38.399 have I know one or two passes he wishes he 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:40.840 could have back, but for him to get him going 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:42.600 the thirty four yard or early on and then the 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:45.760 twenty nine yard touchdown was a big boost for this offense. 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:47.919 And then Aaron Jones, man, for a guy that was 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:49.760 kind of labeled as a scap back, what he can 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:51.879 do in the red area now and in terms of 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.280 I called him a bull in a China shop on Twitter. 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:57.000 I mean it's just he is not easy to take 0:17:57.040 --> 0:17:59.600 down for a guy that is only five nine, just 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:01.480 a hair over two pounds, I mean, he can make 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:03.399 that work for him. I mean, how many times this 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:05.560 year when the Packers have been I think yesterday it 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:07.399 was a twenty one yard touched on on, so they 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:10.560 were technically just outside the red zone. But how many 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:12.639 times this year when the Packers have been, say, in 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:14.639 between the ten and the twenty yard line in the 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.680 red zone, have they handed it off to Jones and 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:20.639 and he makes he makes somebody miss and then boom, 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:22.760 he's in the ends. I mean, the number of I'd 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:24.920 have to look it up, but the number of say, 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:27.720 touchdown runs of his that are like, you know, nine 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:31.160 yards plus where he's he's not just plowing in from 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:33.920 the one or two yard line every time he's He's 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:35.439 had a bunch of those this year, and he just 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:37.919 looks really impressive doing it. Yeah, and I'd be remiss 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:39.159 if I didn't also do a shot off for the 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:40.879 offensive line. I didn't get a chance to put this 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:42.280 in the game notes. It kind of bothers me a 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:44.520 little bit. I mean, Brian Blaga again doing a salad 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:47.760 job against Khalil Mack. Yeah, outstanding. I mean Elton Jenkins. 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.200 I know there's some film nuts that are already putting 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:51.800 out some stuff on him and how he was able 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:54.639 to move the line of scrimmage, especially in some of 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:57.520 those red zone scenarios. Overall, I thought they did a 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:01.040 really nice job to give Rogers a play a pocket. Uh, 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:03.440 certainly there was yards. Matt Lafleur said it again, there's 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:04.960 things that were still left out there, but I think 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:07.240 you're seeing the offensive line really peak at the right time. 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:10.560 I have to talk, though, Mike about Kenny Clark, and 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:13.680 I'm used him as my locker room report. Kenny Clark 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:17.360 another two sacks, tying his career single game career high. 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:19.120 This is a guy that you want to talk about 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:21.920 trusting the process here. I mean, it was a rough 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:24.479 ten week stretch there. He was playing good football, but 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.320 he just didn't. He wasn't getting home. The Smiths were 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:29.639 really you know, knocking down that time clock to get 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:32.560 after the quarterback. Yeah, the personal stats weren't there for Clark, 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:34.840 and now we're starting to see those personal stats start 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:36.480 to pile. And in a blink of the eye, he 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.280 has five sacks on the season, eight of his fifteen 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.440 and a half career sacks coming in the month of December. 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:43.760 I think that's just that's just amazing to me. He's 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:46.400 now and now it's more than half of his career 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:48.679 sacks are in one month or in the month, and 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.320 you don't think of December as a big month for sacks. 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:53.600