My take on yesterday's game:
Our defense decided to lay down and play two hand touch for the day and the offense couldn't get anything going. Of course, Jay Cutler decided he wanted to show off his skills and this wasn't jiving with the calls being played, so he was having a crappy game. Realizing things were not going his way, Jay decided he was done for the day and we should finish the game with our back-ups. Thank the Lord for Hanie who kept us from being embarrassed out there. Not sure why we were hiding this guy, but I am glad he was tucked up somebody's sleeve.
All in all, it was a good game to watch. There were some calls that really helped out the Packers. There was an interception that was not an interception. The Head of Officiating in the booth with the announcers saw that it was not an interception and also saw that the man was down by contact at the spot of the "interception." The challenge by Lovie failed to overturn the call and the ref gave Green Bay an extra ten yards to boot. The pass interference call on the Bears was another stellar call by the refs. The receiver stiff armed the defender while the ball was in the air. (For those of you who do not follow football, that is offensive pass interference.) When the defender batted away the arm pressing against his chest, he got called for defensive pass interference.
The jewel of the officiating was the interception that was, and then was not, and then had to be challenged. The defender clearly did not catch the ball. The ref right by the play called it an incomplete catch. The ref on the other side of all the players called it an interception. Now, if I am five feet from an incident and you are thirty feet from an incident, who do you think had a better view of the incident. According to the ref on the field, the guy thirty feet could see it clearer. He made Lovie challenge the call that couldn't be agreed upon by the refs. We won the challenge, but now were not allowed to challenge again. And we needed that challenge back since the refs continued to call poorly the rest of the game.
Now back to the actual plays. I do not in any way blame the refs for the loss. They were terrible, but if we were truly playing well, we would not need to rely on a few plays. The play that lost us the game was the catch and run back by Raji. This was a stellar defensive play by an awesome defensive lineman on a very inexperienced quarterback shoved into a game he had little to no preparation for. Factor in that we were only about ten yards from the end zone and the stars were aligned for this play. Good job Raji. My hat off to you.
Aaron Rodgers also played a decent game, but it was definitely not his best. The defense simply laid down for this man. Now, although I am a Bears fan and will ALWAYS dislike the cheese munchers, I do like Aaron Rodgers. He seems to be a good person and is always a professional on the field. I would like to congratulate you for a well played game Mr. Rodgers.
Now back to Hanie. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming out and playing as well as you did. You saved us from embarrassment and played like a true champion against overwhelming odds. Additionally, you poured your heart into a game for a team that stuffed you into third string behind a man that couldn't play two series. You showed true professionalism and sportsmanship out there on the field. I do not blame you for the interception throw. It was well executed and things sometimes just do not go your way. You put in a valiant effort trying to save the touchdown as well.
Overall, if not for the INT, we would have seen a Bears/Packers NFC Championship game go into overtime. That would have been an amazing thing to watch. The Bears defense played a much better second half and the Packers were only able to score on defense in after halftime. Had an overtime emerged, it definitely would have been a nail biter. I am definitely not embarrassed to be a Bears fan and think the boys played very well. Congratulations Chicago on a great year!!
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