Coroner's Report

First order of business:  shave off the cheesy mustaches.  I'm not sure what got into both our coach and our quarterback, but it's not a good look for either one of them.  And when you're getting trounced on national TV, the mustached look looks only dopier. 

Second, I was wrong.  I had said that I didn't believe that this Packers team could get blown out, and so I was fearful of a close loss that would be placed at the feed of Mason Crosby.  Well, he did miss another field goal, but that was hardly the margin of victory for New York.  This was a most unhappy surprise to me.  I thought that we were too talented on both sides of the ball, as well as too mentally tough, to let a game get away from us like that.  Of course, it happens to the best, as just a few weeks of observing the NFL would prove. But it had been a long time since the Packers took that kind of a beating.  And I trust it will be a long time before it happens again.    

Third, you have to hand it to Tom Coughlin and the Giants.  You may not know what you're going to get from them on any ordinary week, but when they're facing a big game and a good team, they get the job done.  They did it in two Super Bowls against the Patriots (including, notably, against the undefeated Patriots in that year's stunner).  They did it in the playoffs last year against the Packers and 49ers.  And they went into San Francisco and dominated the 49ers again this season. 

Finally, what shall we identify as the cause of death in the wake of Sunday Night's disaster?   I believe it was a case of death by a thousand cuts.  We turned the ball over twice, while they didn't give it up at all.  They kept Manning clean, while Rodgers was sacked five times.  We were out-coached, out-muscled, out-adjusted, out-run, and out-performed.  Regrettably, there isn't any one thing that Packer fans can point to and say, "Ah, well if we just fix this, then we win that game."  No, for we would have needed to fix quite a number of things in order to have won last night.

Fortunately, however, unlike our previous loss to the Giants, this loss is not fatal.  It is not even that costly inasmuch as we're still just one game out of first in our Division, we'd still make the playoffs if the season ended today, and there's still a lot of football left to play.  Unlike January's loss to New York, we get to play again next week, which means that the team may embrace Sunday Night as a learning experience.  The Giants showed us what the perfect game plan looks like against these Packers, and so now we know.  Better to be exposed in November than in January.  And so I believe that the Packers will be businesslike about identifying the problems and fixing them.

More than that, I believe that the Packers won't lose another game this season.  Last night's embarrassment notwithstanding, I predict a 5-game winning streak to end the season, a 12-4 final record, another NFC North title, and a home game in the Wild Card round. 

If we meet the Giants again in the playoffs...?  Well, I wouldn't want to make a prediction about that at this point.  But I won't be surprised if we see them again.  And I don't think that they're actually 28 points better than we are.  

And, finally, there is this... For as crummy as I felt last night, and as unpleasant as the headlines are this morning, at least we're not Steeler fans.