th87 wrote:rilamann wrote:th87 wrote:The difference is, Popovich is a killer. Unless this caused McCarthy to join the dark side, these are different circumstances.
I do think this game puts the Packers at a crossroads where the game either haunts them for years or they use it as a springboard to win the Super Bowl next season.
With that said if it ends up being a springboard to success for this team I'll be pretty surprised.McCarthy and this team have the personalty where they'll have flashbacks of this game and fall apart when they feel any kind of pressure in a game.Plus McCarthy is too stubborn and arrogant to change his ways.
This team already had a history of being fragile in big games before yesterday.
Plus you have to wonder how much confidence and respect the players will have for McCarthy from here on out.The fact McCarthy didn't take any responsibility or accountability after the game and said he didn't regret anything about the game is already a really bad sign.
I know as a Packer fan that for the rest of my life every time I see Mike McCarthy's face I'll think of this game.....how could you not.
I fear that too. Sherman noticeably lost his edge after 4th and 26. Until then, I had great respect for him as a coach (not as a GM though).
That said, the players seem to love McCarthy. If he takes this offseason and does some soul searching or whatever, and decides that next season, he will put all his trust in the players and start pounding teams, then I'm on board. It's not easy to accomplish what he's built.
But we seemed to stop doing what got us here. During the season, we'd see a more relaxed/fun atmosphere, but when the playoffs rolled around, they tightened up. Rodgers started to get down on himself more, and Nelson just straight up shrank, to name a few examples. And I think MM's can't-make-mistakes philosophy (which isn't a bad thing) could've been a factor that trickled down. That type of attitude manifests itself into players thinking they should slide to avoid fumbling on an interception return. Yes, I think players take on the attitude of their coaches.
You've had to deal with a lot of heat with the mental toughness thing (mostly from the strawman factories here working overtime), but while I didn't agree with your premise totally, I could see where you were coming from. Attitude does matter. And yes, you can sense a "general" attitude. There are teams that play aggressively and go down swinging (Patriots, Seahawks), and there are others that tighten up, and start going into an oh-crap-I'd-better-not-lose-this at the slightest hint of success. This is why Marty Schottenheimer couldn't get over the hump - they went into mistake avoidance mode. This is why the Packers being a playoff favorite is somewhat terrifying.
And regarding the whole BS strawman that has been built in here, where if you win, you're mentally tough, and if you don't, you aren't, sometimes you win in spite of lacking it, and sometimes you lose in spite of having it. The Packers, for years now, have been talented enough to impose their will on teams (and very good ones), but time and again, I've seen them jump out to a lead, start running the ball, let the other team back in, and then have to close out the game. I'd like this to stop happening.
I think that for the Packers to use this game as a springboard to a high level of future success,Mike McCarthy is going to have to make a lot of changes to his coaching philosophy and the overall mentality of how he coaches in big games.
McCarthy is stubborn and arrogant and not likely to change his ways,but maybe it took an epic over the top collapse/choke like we saw Sunday for that to happen because the whole conservative play calling in big games thing and the ''not sticking with what got you there'' thing in the big games has been McCarthy's trademark since the NFC Championship game vs the Giants in the 2007 season.
If McCarthy doesn't switch his playing not to lose mentality to a playing to win mentality in the big games after last Sunday he never will.He knows how to play to win and be aggressive,he plays to win and is aggressive a lot in the regular season,he just has to grow the balls to keep doing it that way in big games.Which goes back of course to the sticking with what got you there thing.That's easily McCarthy's biggest flaw as a head coach and that's the worst flaw a head coach of a championship caliber team can have.
Back to Sunday,I'm not going to sit here and say I saw the choke coming Sunday when there was 5 minutes left in the game but the mentality that set up the choke was nothing new and that mentality is why I've been a big critic of McCarthy for last 6 or 7 years.
Looking back now after Sunday,saying it was a mental toughness thing wasn't the right way to put it on my part.After Sunday I learned my gripe has more to do with McCarthy's coaching mentality in the big games than mental toughness which is still kind of along the same lines.
MM coaches conservative and tight and not to lose in big games and the players take on that mentality and play tight and conservative which is why they never seem to play at the same high level in the big games as we see during most of the regular season which has been my gripe.
It's the coaching mentality and philosophy in the big games,not so much mental toughness like I thought,which also explains why we continue keep seeing this type of thing as the players change over the years.
