The Pack missed yet another golden opportunity to make it to the Super Bowl. They were on fire going into SF, but they cracked under pressure.
i don’t know if i see the Packers cracking under pressure as much as just getting beat in a close game by a very good team. and it’s not like the missed field goal was a surprise as he’s not a guy who’d gone 67-67 on extra points and 39-39 on field goals during the season and then suddenly missed one in the big moment…
As a life-long Vikings fan -I’m now ALL-IN on the Lions and I hope Packer fans are, too!
definitely! the Lions are the lost step-child of the NFC North. they’re inoffensive with no real rivalries, they’ve consistently found ways to lose, and have simply not mattered. i think the worst indictment of a team is when you don’t care about them, either for or against. nice to see that change.
As much as we Vikings fans like to complain, we’ve at least been competitive most years since the mid-80s.
my contention is that simply making the playoffs is pretty easy and we should all expect better than that from a “competitive” team.
since the start of free agency in 1993:
Packers have lost 6 NFC Championships, won 3 NFC Championships, lost 1 Super Bowl, and won 2 Super Bowls
Vikings have lost 4 NFC Championships
Bears lost 1 NFC Championship, won 1 NFC Championship, lost 1 Super Bowl
Lions have made it to 1 NFC Championship (TBD)
we’ll all put the line for what’s acceptable at a different point, but it’s pretty clear that the Lions have not been competitive in 30 years. with free agency and the salary cap the playing field is very level in football. there’s 15 teams in the Conference, so any team that’s run decently “should” win a Conference Championship every 15 years, and win a Super Bowl every 30 years. anything short of that is an organizational failure; more than that is excellence. at this standard the Packers are just slightly above average, and the rest of the NFC North is below.