Firing Mike McCarthy on Sunday was an act of mercy by the Packers. It’s extremely hard for McCarthy and his family; that can't be ignored. But even pulling the plug now, barely three weeks before Christmas, is better than the death march everyone would have had to endure the final four weeks of this lost season.
And after losing 20-17 Sunday to a two-win Cardinals team, at Lambeau Field, in classically lousy weather, with no margin for error left in their playoff hopes, there was little logic left in dragging it out even one more week, much less four.
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McCarthy likely didn't know his fate when he spoke after the game, and obviously, neither did Aaron Rodgers. But they both spoke with such finality, with the postseason run sounding like such a pipe dream, that a swift end felt necessary.
"We’ve benefited from a tremendous home-field advantage. We didn't take advantage of that today," McCarthy said.
Added Rodgers: "This is a game that we have won in the past, expected to win, and teams that want any shot at postseason success have got to win these games. Dome team, 35 degrees, snow, wind — it's playing right into our hands."
Arizona was 1-4 on the road, the one win against the equally lowly 49ers.
The truth of what these Packers are, instead of what they once were and are always believed to be, finally sunk in Sunday. Once it did, the Packers wasted no time in breaking with the past and present.
Still, one loose end remains, and Rodgers was asked about it (again, before McCarthy was let go): With almost nothing to play for, should he rest the knee that has been problematic since opening night?
"Hell no," Rodgers said. "Come on. I’ve come this far, I’m gonna finish thing thing off."
Maybe.
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— Domino effect of Chiefs, Hunt, Chargers, Steelers —
Had the Steelers protected their 23-7 halftime lead over the Chargers on their home field Sunday night, the repercussions might not have been quite as dramatic. But the Chargers stormed back, won 33-30 in ways that will have the Steelers collectively tearing their hair out … and some important dominoes in the AFC started falling.
Or, continued to fall, or were set up to potentially fall later, after the Chiefs' Super Bowl hopes were shaken by Kareem Hunt getting released after the damning video surfaced Friday.
The results as of Sunday night …
— The 9-3 Chargers stay one game behind the Chiefs in the AFC West; their second meeting is two weeks away in Kansas City. The Chiefs won the first meeting. The division winner has a strong chance of winning home-field throughout the playoffs.
— The tie on the Steelers' 7-4-1 record (hey there, Hue Jackson and Tyrod Taylor) and, now, the loss to the Chargers, means the Steelers have to put in work to avoid playing their potential playoff rematch in Carson, Calif. Bad home-field atmosphere or not, the Chargers clearly would rather be there than back in Pittsburgh.
— The Steelers' second straight loss, coupled with three straight Ravens wins, means Pittsburgh leads the AFC North by a half-game with four to play. They split their season series. After the Raiders next week, they finish with the Patriots at home, at New Orleans and at home against Cincinnati. The first-round bye they seemed to be on track to have, is seriously in danger now … if they even win the division.
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— No. 1 seed, again: karma —
Back on Nov. 14, six days after blasting the Panthers on a Thursday night for their fifth straight win, Steelers players looted former teammate Le'Veon Bell’s locker after the deadline for him to report and sign his franchise tag passed. Since then, the Steelers have had to claw back from a 16-0 hole to beat terrible Jacksonville, lost to the Broncos on an end-zone interception in the final minutes, and blew the lead to the Chargers (sealed by them jumping offsides three straight times on winning field-goal attempts).
The moral, as always: God don’t like ugly.
— Painful for Bengals, more painful for Green —
It is that time of year for teams and players to find that delicate balance between sitting veterans or injured players (or both) and wondering how that sign of raising the white flag will go over. The Bengals are there with A.J. Green, who was carted off in their game against the Broncos, with an injury to the same right foot on which a bad toe had bothered him since October and had cost him three games.
Andy Dalton underwent thumb surgery to end his season last week, and the 5-7 Bengals' free-fall extended to six losses in seven games, 24-10, in front of a season-low home crowd. The end of the Marvin Lewis era has never looked closer. And yet, with Green, even his own teammates wondered aloud whether he needed to prove anything else this season by trying to keep playing.
Dre Kirkpatrick on Green: "I hope he can get better. I hope we can figure out a way. But at the end of the day, I feel like his safety is first. I feel like he’s a guy we’re invested in, and I heard what he said the other day, but man, we’re going to need him for the future.”
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) December 3, 2018
If this is it for him, it would end his worst and most painful season of his eight-year career, even more so than 2016, when a hamstring injury ended his season early with the Bengals already out of it. His totals this year in catches (46) and yards (694) would be career lows.
— Not how Richard Sherman expected it —
More on veterans fighting through the end of a crummy season, you say? Richard Sherman’s comeback season, and his revenge-tour season, is not going the way he expected, or anybody could have expected.
Everybody had Sunday circled on the calendar, the day Sherman returned to Seattle with the 49ers, after the Seahawks released the stalwart of the Legion of Boom last offseason and he quickly signed with their one-time fiercest rivals. The 49ers seemed on the upswing and the Seahawks on the way down. It turned out the complete opposite, and at CenturyLink Field, Russell Wilson (for whom Sherman admitted he held no special feelings in his return) torched the Niners in a 43-16 win.
The 49ers were a popular sleeper pick going into this season, but thanks to a blend of injuries, back luck and startling underachievement, Sherman is caught up in their fourth straight 10-loss season — under four coaches, yet. On the plus side for him, though: His reunions with old teammates ranged from friendly to emotional to professional (a quick hug with Wilson).
Plus, those old teammates paid homage to him and the deflection that sent Seattle to Super Bowl 48 five years ago, after their first touchdown of the day.
The Tip: Part II pic.twitter.com/Kd1OAMFfjI
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) December 2, 2018
— Risk-reward ratio for Josh Gordon, Patriots still working —
There have been little moments since the Patriots acquired Josh Gordon that have hinted at the ultimate threat he stands to be down the stretch of the regular season and, of course, the playoffs. The Patriots' win over the Vikings featured another one.
Gordon caught just three balls, none in the first half, but one was for the go-ahead touchdown late in the third quarter. It broke a 10-10 tie, answering the Vikings’ field goal the previous series, and, for extra dramatic effect, it came one snap after Rob Gronkowski had limped to the sideline.
Gordon now has 34 catches in his nine games in New England; that was his third touchdown. The numbers aren't overwhelming. They don’t have to be. What he gave them Sunday was exactly what they needed, when they needed it.
Oh, and a reminder: Bill Belichick got him from the Browns for a fifth-round pick.
WATCH: Tom Brady's best throws against Vikings
— Texans pulling away from pack —
The longest winning streak in the NFL now belongs to the Texans at nine straight after their beatdown of the Browns. They also have a three-game cushion in what not long ago was a competitive AFC South. The Jaguars and Titans did win, but the Jaguars’ stunning shutout of the Colts is what made the Texans’ clinching the title look like a foregone conclusion.
Their streak started in Indianapolis back in Week 4 — an end to their 0-3 start, aided mightily by a questionable decision by Frank Reich to go for it on fourth down in their own territory in overtime. If they continue it at home against those same Colts (who, again, just suffered one of the most inexplicable losses of the season in Jacksonville), they would all but lock the division up.
Nine weeks ago, even while winning, the Texans looked like a faint image of themselves. Now, they look like what many believed they could be: the team that got back healthy Deshaun Watson and J.J. Watt, added Tyrann Mathieu and was simply too loaded not to make a run.
— Hey Bears, it could be worse —
Has a team so far this season lost to a more inferior team in more unexpected fashion, with its backup quarterback, to snap its hot streak and seemingly jeopardize its division hopes … yet inspired more confidence in how it will fare the rest of the way?
That's the Bears for you. On the surface, losing in overtime to the Giants appears damaging. But even in the moment, the comeback to send it to overtime, the onside kick the Giants practically tried not to recover, the Tarik Cohen pass for the tying score and the guts it took for Matt Nagy to call that play — and the fact that this all happened with Chase Daniel at quarterback — made it seem like something with which the NFC North leaders could live. After all, they had escaped on Thanksgiving with Daniel playing on short notice; they were all but playing with house money.
Now, Mitchell Trubisky has a chance to come back Sunday night against the Rams at Soldier Field. Plus, everyone else in the division lost, most notably the Vikings, who would have had to play over their heads in Foxborough to capitalize, anyway.
It was dramatic. It helped the Giants. It didn't hurt the Bears much at all.
