NFC Hierarchy/Obituary: Divisional Round Edition

The Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs is in the books and the four NFC playoff teams are still alive. We have three obituaries for the Green Bay Packers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings.

Obituary: Packers

Jordan Love was a hipster NFL MVP pick for some before the season began. He played poorly in the regular season and was abysmal in the Packers’ loss in Philly. What could he possibly have seen on this throw that he ripped it with such confidence?

In addition to poor quarterback play, the Packers also simply got their ass kicked. I mean literally. The following players were injured against the Eagles and did not return:

1. WR’s Jayden Reed
2. WR Romeo Doubs
3. LG Elgton Jenkins
4. C Josh Myers
5. RB Josh Jacobs
6. DT Devonte Wyatt

They were simply overwhelmed by a more physical team.

This isn’t the first time the Packers have taken a beating in the playoffs during the Matt LaFleur era. Remember in the 2019 NFC Championship Game when the 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo only attempted eight passes and the Niners ran it down the Packers’ throats all night like they were a 1980s Nebraska team playing Prairie View A&M ?

The Packers are the youngest team in the NFL and Love is a talented player who is going to have a long career as an NFL starter, but this team simply wasn’t ready to compete with the big boys yet.

Obituary: Buccaneers

With about five and a half minutes to play and a three-point deficit, the Buccaneers faced 3rd and inches at the Commanders’ 11 yard line. The Bucs tried to get the Commanders to jump offside, but rookie center Graham Barton snapped the ball too early and Bucky Irving was dropped for a 2-yard loss. A breakdown of the Bucs’ pre-snap nonsense:

They settled for a field goal and never got the ball back as the Commanders bled out the rest of the clock and kicked a walk-off field goal.

Crazy idea here: Maybe just run a play (QB sneak, maybe?) and get an inch instead of trying to rely on the other team to give you a freebie.

For as good of a defensive schemer as Todd Bowles is, the Bucs always seem to experience situational late game outs. Last season in the playoffs, for example, the Bucs could have called a timeout and had the Lions kick a game-tying field goal:

But instead Bowles said, “Meh, you guys can just run out, good luck in the next round.”

The Buccaneers won their fourth straight NFC South title this year. No team in the NFL has benefited more from playing in an otherwise brutal division. The other three NFC South teams have a combined record of 78-126 (.382) with a combined point differential of -724 during the Bucs’ four-year streak. Those other three teams will likely be bad again in 2025, so we’re right back here writing the Bucs’ post-Wild Card round obit again.

Obituary: Vikings

There were some terrible quarterback performances in the Wild Card round of the playoffs this year, but none worse than Sam Darnold’s as he was sacked nine times by the Rams defense. The most damaging play of the game, of course, was the sack-fumble score near the end of the first half.

Darnold’s offensive line certainly wasn’t great, but all night I found myself almost sympathetically yelling, “THROW IT!” And he just didn’t. It was as if at times he was paralyzed in his pocket, afraid to let it rip.