In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye is famous for his ability to see both sides of every situation. “On the other hand,” he reasons to himself on several occasions, always coming up with another point of view.
I feel like Tevye about this past week of NFL action.
On the one hand, it was a disastrous week for the Packers. The Bears beat a tough NFC opponent while the Packers lost to one.
On the other hand, both Philly and Tampa Bay lost, which suits our cause just fine.
On the other hand, with Sunday’s loss in Atlanta, we went from the possible position of controlling our own destiny and home field advantage to clinging to the edge of the NFC playoff picture.
On the other hand, we have lost 4 games this season, and all of them have been lost by a mere field goal. That means that no one is good enough to dominate us, to wipe us out, to run us off the field. It means we genuinely could have beaten anyone we’ve played.
On the other hand, it also means that our bend-but-don’t-break defense is better designed for games we can dominate than the close games.
On the other hand, Las Vegas typically assumes that home field advantage is worth 3 points. By that logic, we are just as good as Atlanta, and we would have beaten them at Lambeau.
On the other hand, one dramatic way that we obviously were not as good as Atlanta was on the ground. The absence of an effective running game was embarrassingly apparent on Sunday. (If only the Packers could run it like the Badgers! Brett Bielema’s team is proving that a punishing offensive line and grind-it-out running attack is good enough to swamp opponents and put up a ton of points.)
On the other hand, the fact is that we substantially outgained Atlanta, and if it hadn’t been for Aaron Rodgers’ fumble in the Falcon end zone, we would have won.
On the other hand, we simply cannot afford to stumble again down the home stretch of the season. We are in a neck-and-neck race, not only for the NFC North title, but also for the two NFC Wild Card berths.
And at that point, Tevye would grimly conclude, “There is no other hand.”
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