The Packers aim to be the ones to strike gold as they host the 49ers on Monday Night!
The Green Bay Packers will once again play under the bright lights, this time on Monday Night Football as they play host to the San Francisco 49ers.
The Packers are 2-2-1 after their rough performance at Detroit last Sunday. The 49ers fell to 1-4 after a 28-18 home loss last Sunday to the previously winless Arizona Cardinals.
The Packers need to finish drives with touchdowns. It doesn’t matter who is out there on offense. Aaron Rodgers is trying to tough it out with his knee injury, but he was nowhere near at the top of his game at Detroit, losing a pair of fumbles and missing some open receivers. Aaron Jones needs to be featured in the offense a lot more. He had only 7 rushes last Sunday vs the worst run defense in the NFL in Detroit. That simply will not get it done. The status of Randall Cobb and Geronimo Allison is still up in the air as both receivers are listed as questionable on the injury report. If they can’t go, it is obviously up to the rookie receivers to make plays on the field. They got their feet wet last Sunday in Detroit. I trust that they put in a lot of time in practice this week with their timing with Rodgers and learning how to run their routes effectively.
The 49ers got a huge dose of bad news when their franchise quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo tore his ACL earlier this season. C. J. Beathard actually has a higher completion percentage than Garoppolo, but he is turnover-prone, something that the Packers need to take advantage of on Monday night. SF doesn’t feature a lot of household names on offense, but they can move the ball effectively at times, but many of their drives end in turnovers or field goals. The 49ers have the league’s worst turnover differential with a -8 (a league-worst 3 takeaways and 11 giveaways, trailing only Jacksonville, who has 12.) The Packers are at -2 with 6 takeaways and 8 giveaways. I expect them to at least draw even for the season after this game.
Hopefully the Packers are kicking plenty of extra points instead of field goals, but Mason Crosby will have the spotlight on him whatever the situation is due to his 4 missed FG attempts and a missed XP at Detroit last Sunday. The Packers did not punt at all in the Detroit game. Teams usually win when that happens, but turnovers and settling for field goals (which obviously ended in misses before Crosby was sent out there towards the end of the game to make one and give him a dose of confidence) often lose the game for you, even if your punter never sees the field.
The bottom line is that last week’s performance was not acceptable. The team has yet to put together a full game on offense. At 2-2-1, the Packers are a mediocre team right now. There have been articles predicting the Packers to miss the playoffs. That does not sit well with Packer fans, who expect greatness out of this team, especially when you have a team with Aaron Rodgers. They have too often looked like a team poorly prepared at the start of games. Even when they win, like Week 1 vs the Bears, they often need to rally to do it. Many fans have been calling for Mike McCarthy to be replaced for some time now, and the calls will only get louder if the Packers lose on Monday night. There is no excuse whatsoever to lose at home to the 49ers. If they do that, they don’t deserve to make the playoffs.
I expect the Packers to come out like a team on a mission this Monday night. A 3-2-1 record would not be great, but it would be something to build on as they head into their bye week. Let’s have a great performance on the field and a great performance by the fans this Monday night. It’s winning time.
Get Loud Lambeau!
Go Pack Go!
@DieHardPackrFan #DHPF #GetLoudLambeau #GregGoshaw @gg901
