Role Tied

Twenty-six years ago, when the Green Bay Packers last played to a tie, they were a failing franchise in search of the slightest speck of good news.

It came on Sept. 20, 1987, at Milwaukee County Stadium. The 17-17 overtime tie with John Elway and the defending AFC champion Denver Broncos as a 10-point underdog was as close as it comes to a moral victory.

“I was very happy to jog off the field and hold my head up, look people in the face in the crowd and, instead of having people yelling obscenities at me, having people yell, ‘Hey, right on,'” linebacker Brian Noble said that afternoon. “To me, I think we gained a lot of respect.”

On Sunday, nobody knew quite what to make of the Packers’ 26-26 overtime draw with the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field. Basically abandoned by today’s far different fan base after the Vikings went up, 23-7, early in the fourth quarter, the Packers climbed off the mat behind Matt Flynn to force the extra session. “I think that’s the biggest thing to take away from this game, the resiliency and toughness we showed despite the outcome,” said defensive end Mike Daniels. “I think that’s going to catapult us to continue to fight and play hard.”

But there was another perspective, one set forth by tight end Brandon Bostick about the close-but-no-cigar overtime. “I thought we were going to win the game, but we made a couple mistakes and didn’t finish the game,” Bostick said. “I wish we would have finished.” The Packers’ first possession in overtime, all 10 plays and 77 yards worth of furious, attack-mode football, died at the 2 when a touchdown would have ended it. Still, the Packers had a final chance starting from their 10 at the 2-minute mark. That initiative fell apart 25 yards up the field because offensive linemen T.J. Lang, Evan Dietrich-Smith and David Bakhtiari drew three penalties in a span of four plays. Thus, the Packers, a 4½-point favorite against a border rival they had owned in recent times, suffered the indignity of having to punt in the final seconds.

So now they’re 5-5-1, one-half game behind backsliding leaders Detroit and Chicago in the NFC North and trailing nine of the other 15 teams in the conference. Minus Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay is 0-3-1. “We haven’t handled Aaron Rodgers’ departure,” admitted coach Mike McCarthy. “I haven’t talked about it on purpose; that hasn’t worked. “But we all need to step up as a football team and take advantage of these opportunities. We let one get away from us.” Considering how poorly the Vikings (2-8-1) have played, and Minnesota’s list of five missing starters, the Packers looked nothing like a playoff team. “The performance was clearly not the standard we were looking for,” said McCarthy. “We had too many (runs) that came ripping out of there. They rushed the ball for over 200 yards on us. That’s not our standard.” But without Rodgers, six other injured starters and Randall Cobb, nobody gives a hoot about style points anymore. This was win-at-all-costs football on a 19-degree chiller of a day that included 168 plays from scrimmage and lasted 3 hours 54 minutes.

Following an early 87-yard touchdown drive, Scott Tolzien played poorly for the first time. When he overthrew two open receivers in a three-and-out to begin the second half, McCarthy made the perfect move and put in Flynn. “We were looking for a spark,” he said. Flynn’s first possession, using the same conventional sets the Packers had used all day against the Vikings’ single-high safety, eight in the box defense, went nowhere. Now trailing by 16 points in the fourth quarter, McCarthy took a flier that Flynn would remember how to execute the no-huddle offense that he had yet to practice in his second tour with the Packers. “The no-huddle helped them,” defensive end Jared Allen said. “I don’t think Tolzien knows how to run it as well as Flynn. You need to hurry it up, and Flynn had a rhythm and made some plays.” Alan Williams, the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, backed into quarters and safe two-shell coverage, and darned if the resourceful Flynn didn’t find a way to sustain drives of 80, 76 and 60 yards. The first two resulted in touchdowns, giving the Packers, ranked 30th in red-zone efficiency, three for three inside the 20.

Needing a touchdown to win at the end of regulation after Flynn’s underthrown ball on fourth-and-6 was caught by James Jones for 28 yards to the 12, the Packers stalled. An Eddie Lacy run for no gain, a batted pass and a conservative completion on a short slant precipitated Mason Crosby’s tying field goal. Green Bay won the coin toss, and Flynn set the stadium abuzz with three first-down completions for 71 yards and a first down at the 12. “I thought we were going to score every time,” said Dietrich-Smith. “I mean, we were rolling.” Lacy, a hard charger with 110 yards in 25 carries, gained 4 on first down but then just 1, setting up third down and a very long 2. Flynn got the matchup he wanted — Jordy Nelson in the slot against Robert Blanton, a slow-footed backup safety. But the pass was overthrown, and no penalty flag flew on Blanton for his physical coverage.

Crosby’s 20-yard field goal meant the Vikings had to at least match it on their next possession or lose. Match it they did, hammering away seven times on the ground for 55 yards before Mike Neal blew up a blocker and helped corral Adrian Peterson for minus-5. The teams traded three-and-outs, the key play being the dropped out on third and 5 by Greg Jennings that would have put Minnesota at midfield. Granted, the Packers needed about 55 yards in 2 minutes to give Crosby a long-distance shot, but that’s how these games are won. Then Lang false-started, and after a scramble by Flynn for 13, Dietrich-Smith did the same thing. “Snap count thing,” said Dietrich-Smith. “He (Flynn) was kind of holding it a little bit and we’re sitting there super antsy waiting for it to come.” On the next play, Allen bull-rushed Bakhtiari back into Flynn’s lap and drew the holding penalty on the rookie that pretty much ended the party.

“It’s hard to know how we’re going to really feel after this game because we were so close to finishing it off,” fullback John Kuhn said. “That’s kind of been the key to the whole season, finishing drives for the offense and finishing games as a team.” The offense had chances to win late against San Francisco, Cincinnati and Chicago, and failed. The defense was horrific late against Chicago and Philadelphia. Maybe one of the least enviable assignments in pro football — a road game (in Detroit) four days after a five-quarter tie — will prove Daniels prophetic. At least now the Packers have had a taste of semi-success without Rodgers. “It’s going to take a lot of massages and cold tubs and hot tubs and saunas to get ready,” said nose tackle Ryan Pickett. “But we’re half a game better than when we started.”