Matt LaFleur didn’t want to make a bad day worse by getting fined. So when the Packers coach was asked Sunday about the controversial calls during their 20-17 loss to the division rival Lions, he went full Marshawn Lynch.
“I can say what I really think, but I don't think it does any good,” he said. “So, it is what it is. You’ve just got to overcome it.”
The Packers had the chance to move beyond two roughing the passer flags — including one of the game-winning drive — and an unnecessary roughness call in which the official who threw the flag did so while lying on his back after getting knocked over by players after he believed the play had ended. It was as simple as making their field goals.
Trey Smack, though, missed a 26-yarder in the first quarter and had a 35-yarder tipped in the fourth. He missed from 43 and 47 yards two weeks ago against the Bears. No one in the NFL has missed more kicks than Smack’s five this year.
It’s the perfect encapsulation of the NFC North through seven weeks. It’s the best division in football — and each team, including the Bears, comes with glaring flaws.
That’s at once encouraging and a challenge to be solved over the next three months. All four teams can, with a straight face, say that they have Super Bowl aspirations. Whether on the field or in general manager conversations — the league’s trade deadline is two weeks from Tuesday — they’ll be racing each other for position.
Were the season to end today, all four NFC North teams would make the playoffs, with the undefeated Vikings earning a bye and the Bears, Lions and Packers serving as seeds 5-7. Since the NFL switched to four-team division in 2002, no division has ever sent all four teams to the postseason.
None of the four are perfect. Particularly the team on top.
The Vikings are the last undefeated team in the NFL. They have the best defense in the league. Their offense, though, is more pedestrian than a crosswalk. They’re fourth-worst in the NFL in yards and passing yards. Entering Monday night’s game, their 20.8 points per game were third-worst in the NFC. Kyler Murray has improved — but he’s had a worse passer rating in each of the last two weeks than J.J. McCarthy, whom the Vikings traded away to the Giants for a song last month.
The Vikings’ 16-10 win against the Colts on Sunday marked the fourth time this year an NFL team has emerged victorious despite scoring 16 or fewer points and 275 or fewer yards. The Vikings have done it twice, including Week 2 against the Bears.
The Bears’ flaw made its appearance Thursday just as fans were celebrating what felt like the start of a blowout victory. With the Bears ahead by 13 and three seconds left in the first half, they blitzed Patriots quarterback Drake Maye at the New England 48. Maye dumped the ball off to running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who sprinted up the right sideline for a touchdown. He was touched once — Jaylon Johnson nicked his undershirt.
Out of the 76 cornerbacks who have played at least half their team’s snaps, Johnson has the fifth-worst coverage grade, per Pro Football Focus. Rookie Malik Muhammad has the 15th-worst.
The Bears give up 20.4 points per game, the ninth-fewest in the NFL. They can look dominant at times, thanks to a killer third-down package and coordinator Dennis Allen’s knack for exotic blitzes. But what happens when the Bears can’t get to the passer? What happens when those blitzes don’t land? What happens when Allen’s gambles don’t pay off?
Dan Campbell certainly knows that feeling — though he was lucky not to experience it Sunday. The Lions coach decided to for it twice on fourth down, costing his team points the first time and, were it not for some good fortune, the game on the second.
With about a minute left in the third quarter and the Lions up by three, Campbell called a pass play on fourth-and-goal from the Packers’ 6 rather than kick a field goal. It failed.
Then Campbell got absolutely ridiculous. With about five minutes left in a tied game, he went for it on fourth-and-one — from his own 24. Jahmyr Gibbs was stuffed for a two-yard loss. Then Smack had his field goal tipped four plays later.
Campbell explained his rationale with two points: he thought they’d make it, and he knew they’d get the ball back regardless. By that rationale, then, he should have just handed the Packers the ball and told them to score.
The Lions give up more yards per game in football. Their coach leads the league in hubris. If the former doesn’t doom them, the latter might.
Not that the Lions were apologizing after kicking their own field goal as time expired to win their first NFC North game of the year.
“They all count the same,”quarterback Jared Goff said, “if we play this game now or later in the year with the division on the line .”
