Went from McCarthy to that 4th down call. Plus the dumb 2 point call earlier.
Nothing will EVER top the Seattle meltdown McCarthy had and he had several blowouts in the NFCCG after that. I mean the dude was skipping practices and meetings to get "massages" in his office the last season he was there. And lets not forget that he routinely just up and released good players who he simply did not like.
That said, reflecting on yesterdays game I came to a couple of sobering conclusions. There were five coaching mistakes that game that I recall vividly. The most minor one was not burning a time out to avoid a 12 men penalty when we were on Defense. Next up the ladder was our inexplicable decision to get away from the steady short yardage offense that had been working to shift to slow developing home run balls, further exacerbated by all the empty backfield plays we called during that stretch. Then you have that dumb choice to go for two which, if failed, puts us in the position of HAVING to go for 2 later in a game where our redzone offense was pretty shitty. But then there are the two biggies.
First, the last play of the first half probably should cost Pettine his job, especially with how bad King was getting burned all day. Six seconds and 50 yards for them to cover with no TOs and he fucking calls man press instead of cover 2. This one call most definitely cost us the game no matter how you look at it and it was arguably the worst defensive call by any team during the entire playoffs this year, maybe in recent memory for the league, and it came at the worst possible time in the most crucial game.
Then there is the play that made everyone forget about Pettine's stupidity. When you have the league MVP and the other team has the GOAT and there are two minutes left, down by 8, there is zero reason to not treat that as four down territory the whole way. Rodgers knew it and was playing that way. The Bucs knew it. The fans watching knew it. Our whole board knew it. Even Aikman and Joe Suck knew it. But LaFluer went ahead and made likely the worst call of his career and basically lost any confidence the offence had in him for the foreseeable future. There was no scenario where a FG helps you there when your Defense is basically non existent. He put Rodgers on the sideline never to touch the ball again and we all instantly recognized this would play out that way when Crosby trotted out there.
The reason that FG call is so bad is not because it cost us the game, though. Its horrible because it probably cements Rodgers exiting, likely as early as next year. An egomaniac (and Rodgers generally backs it up with his play) like AR will not get over being sat down with the game on the line like that. He didn't with McDoofus and he sure as hell is not going to do it with some guy younger than him who likely blew his last window to get into the SB. And make no mistake, this was GBs last shot for a while. We are in cap hell as of right now, with several key players up for contract and none of whom we negotiated with ahead of time. This list includes Jones, Williams, and two or three of our O Line. On that list, Jones is probably gone (Williams is consistently good at getting the sticks moving and does not fumble or get hurt all the time) but its doubtful we can keep our line together, especially if Bakiari fails to recover. This also means no help coming on either the D side of the ball and no slot receiver, since we will have to swap out existing talent for bargain substitutes just to make cap.
I could see Rodgers hanging around ordinarily in this situation, because until the Bears of the Vikings get a real coach we have an easy ride to a playoff berth each season. He stuck it out with a dwindling talent pool under McCarthyt. But after that call by LaFluer I am pretty much sure he is checked out. His body language said it and his responses in the pressers point to it. LaFluer basically lost Rodger's patience with that call. If he is going to have to sit through a rebuild, why not go someplace with a better coach and more weapons? To that end I would not be shocked to see him with the Niners, Colts, Pats, Saints, or even maybe Fins next year. He wont go someplace without a line and no defense.
Breaks my heart because LaFluer was (and still is) a big step up from McDoofus, but he made some big errors at the worst possible time. I hope Jordan Love is worth a shit, because we won't have anyone else for a while once AR bolts. And frankly with everything else that is coming to a head next season, its sadly in the best interest of the team to just let him walk and start chewing down the shit sandwich for the next few years.