Mike McCarthy’s Coaching Mistakes Cost Green Bay Packers in Loss

By Casey Drottar @cdrottar19 on January 19, 2015

It’s safe to say everyone outside of the New England region can agree the most exciting game from yesterday’s NFL Championship Sunday was the bout between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers.

Up 16-0 at halftime, it certainly looked like the Packers were going to sneak out of Seattle and the league’s most deafening stadium with both a surprise victory and a ticket to the Super Bowl. As we all know, this wasn’t how things would play out. Green Bay collapsed, allowing two touchdowns in the final two minutes. Though the Packers were able to force overtime, a 35-yard touchdown bomb from Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson sent Seattle to its second consecutive Super Bowl, while also sending Green Bay home wondering what the heck just happened.

When a team falls apart the way the Packers did yesterday, you’re forced to try and parse through the details to see who the biggest scapegoat is. Some point to Packers safety Morgan Burnett, who picked off Wilson with five minutes remaining in the game and, instead of trying to put together a decent interception return, decided to slide and down the ball (Green Bay punted on the ensuing drive). The majority of pundits point their fingers at Packers tight end Brandon Bostick, who botched an onside kick attempt which eventually led to Seattle scoring the go-ahead touchdown.

These two certainly deserve some blame, sure. However, neither of these players is the true reason why today is Day 1 of Green Bay’s offseason. No, if you really want to know who’s responsible for the Packers’ loss, it’s none other than the man in charge; coach Mike McCarthy.

Facts are facts; the Packers had numerous chances to run away with this game. You could easily argue they should’ve been up by way more than 16 at half. Unfortunately for them, this wasn’t the case, and it’s thanks to McCarthy being incredibly overcautious.

Take Green Bay’s second drive of the day, for example. After quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw an interception to open the game, the Packers defense rallied with a pick of its own, setting the team up at the Seattle 19 yard-line. The offense was able to drive all the way to the goal line before coming up on fourth down. This was a huge opportunity, a chance to quiet a raucous stadium and land the first punch of the game. However, instead of leaning forward and going for a touchdown, McCarthy elected to kick a field goal.

Now, if this was the only instance of McCarthy playing it safe, maybe his name isn’t being discussed as much today. As it stands, this was one of many chances where the Packers coach wasted a huge opportunity by just going for the points.

On the very next drive, after recovering a fumble, Green Bay again drove it all the way to the doorstep of the end zone. Again, it came up short on third down. And again, McCarthy decided against taking a risk, kicking a field goal. The Packers sat on a tenuous 6-0 lead instead of possibly being up 14-0 and taking the air out of the stadium.

Of course, this wasn’t even the final low-risk move of the half for Green Bay. With little time left in the second quarter, the Packers were facing fourth-and-1 again deep in Seattle territory. Why not go for it here, attempting to land what could’ve been a crushing blow to the reeling Seahawks? Apparently, McCarthy had no answer to this question, and once again the Packers kicked a field goal.

And so, instead of leaving the Seahawks with a gigantic hurdle to overcome in the second half, Green Bay held a hardly-imposing 16-0 lead. The Packers would only score six more points in the game, and now they get to watch Seattle play in the Super Bowl in a couple weeks.

I understand the concept of taking whatever points you can get against a vaunted Seahawks defense on their home turf. When you’re facing a fourth-and-10 situation in the red zone, obviously the wise call is to kick a field goal instead of taking a huge risk and going for it.

But, when you’re six inches away from a touchdown? Twice?! This I don’t understand at all.

The Packers had the defending champs staggering. The Seahawks offense wasn’t generating a thing. Wilson just looked absolutely lost, and in a game where defense was sure to be the determining factor, it was the Packers’ unit that was doing the most damage. By Green Bay’s third drive of the game, Seattle already had two turnovers. If you get right to the edge of the end zone in this situation, you have to go for it. Each time.

A fourth down situation right on the goal line is something the Packers certainly appeared well-equipped to handle. They had a bruising back in Eddie Lacy, who had a modest day on the ground, but is the perfect person to have in the backfield in this scenario. If not him, Green Bay could’ve handed it to fullback John Kuhn to run right up the gut. Or, it could’ve just gone basic and had Rodgers tuck and try to sneak in. All either of these players had to do was push the ball a distance of half a foot.

This, apparently, was too daunting for McCarthy. Instead of quieting the 12^th Man, instead of making Seattle pay dearly for numerous costly turnovers, the Packers coach instead chose to play as safe as humanly possible, leaving the Seahawks under the impression that, even though they shouldn’t even be in this game anymore, they could still pull off a win.

You have to take some risks at a stage this grand. Seattle was the favorite to win this game, thanks to its hostile home field advantage and a defense which struck fear in most of the league. Do you honestly think if the Packers were up 28-0 at half instead of 16-0 that stadium would still be electric? That the Seahawks would still have overwhelming confidence in their chances to win the game?

It’s doubtful, but I guess we’ll never know. Because McCarthy felt he had to take the points instead of trying to punch Seattle in the mouth.

A 16-0 lead is anything but insurmountable. The Seahawks knew it. Their fans knew it. McCarthy apparently felt otherwise. And because of this, he and his team are on vacation a lot earlier than they thought they’d be.

Casey Drottar is a Featured Columnist for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter or “Like” him on Facebook