Packers pluck Seahawks, get ready for Bears

Sunday's 38-10 victory by the Green Bay Packers over the Seattle Seahawks was a thing of beauty. It was a complete, dominating game by the Pack in all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams. Oh, and did we mention it was against the Seahawks? Seattle. Seahawks. That makes it extra sweet, doesn't it? Aside from beating NFC North division rivals, and the Cowboys, nothing is really as satisfying these days as plucking the sea birds. No, change that, embarrassing them. This was a loss of epic and historic proportions for this Pete Carroll-led team. In our best Jerry Seinfeld voice: That's a shame.

QB Aaron Rodgers -- and the rest of the Packers -- had Seattle's number Sunday.
Photo by Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Many players rose to the occasion. QB Aaron Rodgers played through the hamstring injury nagging him, as well as a new calf injury he sustained on the third play of the game. His final quarterback rating was just over 150. The offensive line, the receivers, the McGyver'd rushing attack, punter Jacob Schum, coverage units...it was as good a performance as Packer fans have seen in a long time. Oh, and did we mention the interceptions of Seattle QB Russell Wilson? They were plentiful. Wilson hadn't ever thrown that many interceptions in a regular season game.

So while we are still riding high from this big win, we need to balance that with the reality that the Packers, at 7-6, are sitting in third place in the NFC North and have about five teams ahead of them right now in the NFC Wild Card race. They've won three in a row. But it was that four game losing streak that has put them behind the eight ball. The Packers need to win each of their three remaining games beginning with Da Bearz this Sunday in Chicago, then the ViQueens home at Lambeau Field, then finish the regular season at Detroit. If they do that, and the Lions lose at least one of their two upcoming games on the road against either the Giants or the Cowboys, the Packers and Detroit will be playing that January 1 game in Detroit for the NFC North Division Championship. That is likely the only way the Packers can be assured of making the playoffs. Lose one of these three games and, at 9-6, it's very likely the Pack will be packing up (no pun intended) for a long offseason.

Coming up: Da Bearz in very cold Chicago
The Packers have to face a wounded and woeful Bears team in Chicago on what weather forecasters are predicting will be one of the coldest games in recent memory. Temperature forecasts are for around zero degrees, plus winds gusting to 25 or 30 mph creating wind chills far below zero. The wind may very well cause havoc with the Pack's passing game, so the running attack -- spearheaded by receiver-turned-running-back, Ty Montgomery -- will have to certainly carrying its own weight this weekend. If the defense can generate turnovers even half as much as it did against Seattle the Packers should come away with the win. This is no "gimmee" game by any stretch, especially given the expected conditions. And while Bears QB Matt Barkley is serviceable given time in the pocket, he's also no Aaron Rodgers. Keys for the Pack will be getting pressure on Barkley, protecting Rodgers, creating turnovers while having none of their own. Simple, really, isn't it? Easier said than done. But do the Packers must.

We'll be back with our fuller preview and prediction closer to game time. Check back! Or follow us on Twitter @packfansunited for updates. We appreciate it.

Packers down Jaguars 27-23 in season opener, look ahead to Minnesota

So, Packers fans...what do you think of the team's season-opening win? Was it a bit of a "Whew!" feeling at the end? Oh, yeah. But it was a win, albeit one which came down to the defense's only 4th-down stop of the day. Better late than never.

As we said in our game preview and prediction, "Expect some rustiness, some blown plays, and probably more penalties than we'll see later on in the season." Yes, it was all of that, although more so for the first two than the latter.

Rustiness exhibited itself from the start when it took a while for QB Aaron Rodgers and WR Jordy Nelson to get back on the same page; but they did. Blown plays exhibited itself on several key occasions, admitted to by Rodgers, when miscommunications at the line on two occasions perhaps caused the Packers to miss two touchdown possibilities. On one play, the line (or at least a portion of it) blocked in the opposite direction from the run. On another, half the line thought the play was a pass and the other a run. Not. Good.

Then there was the late 4th quarter fiasco when the Packers just needed to get some first downs and run time off the clock. They wound up having to call a timeout because players couldn't get lined up properly. After the timeout, there was confusion as to who was supposed to actually be on the field for the play. Rodgers called a second time out. But guess what? You can't call two consecutive timeouts. So, the Packers were assessed a 5-yard penalty. The result a play or so later was having to punt, which resulted in the only mediocre punt of the day for new punter Jacob Schum.

Sloppy? In the extreme. But, again, first game stuff. Fortunately, the defense was able to make a stop when it mattered most. End result: victory for the Packers 27-23 over the Jaguars. We called it 27-20 in our preview and prediction...so, not bad, eh?

The play of the game: the Packers defense stops Jacksonville on 4th-and-1 in the final seconds of the game, preserving a victory.
Photo: Rick Wood, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Lane Taylor does his job
After the surprise cut of Pro Bowl left guard Josh Sitton, many were left to wonder how this would all work out now that fourth-year pro Lane Taylor was named the starter. Well, at least for this first game, Taylor proved he could handle the job. He was solid, as expected, on run blocking and with one possible exception also held up while pass blocking. So far so good.

Secondary needs to tighten up
Our game preview stated that the secondary would likely be the strength of this defense. We still believe that. But in this first game? Not so much. The secondary gave up big plays all day long, with receivers in many instances wide open. Now, let's be honest: the Jags receivers are good. Two each had more than 1,000 yards receiving last season. Plus, QB Blake Bortles can certainly do damage when given the time. It is an explosive offense and, for that reason, some felt this could have been a game the Packers could lose. After all, it was on the road, against this explosive offense, and in the heat and humidity of Florida. The Pack not only overcame all that but their own blunders, as well. That bodes well for the future.

Next up: the ViQueens in their home and stadium opener
Minnesota asked to play the Packers in the first regular season game in their new stadium. Remember that old adage: Be careful what you ask for? Let's hope that comes true Sunday night. We're guessing it will. Make no mistake: the Vikes have an excellent defense. In fact, it was in large measure due to the defense's two scores on Sunday that Minnesota emerged victorious in its game on Sunday. With the loss for the season of QB Teddy Bridgewater, the quarterback situation is a bit unsettled. Veteran Shaun Hill played Sunday. But it's possible the Pack may see Sam Bradford under center. That doesn't matter. The game plan should be to hold RB Adrian Peterson to as few yards as possible (a-duh!) and force either King or Bradford to beat you.

The Packers are currently 2-point favorites over Minnesota. Let's hope it's not that close. Just remember how you felt about that 4-point victory of just a few days ago. Yowza!

We'll post our game preview and prediction closer to game time.

For now, we'll just close with the breaking news that LT David Bakhtiari has reportedly signed a four-year contract extension with the Packers. To which we say: Yay!