Vikings Lead-Up: Packers Eliminated; Rodgers IR'd

[KidA24]

Just beat the Queens somehow. I don't want them getting a bye.

"The Super Bowl is in Minneapolis" will be this years "Jerome Bettis is from Detroit."

[Profound23]

Wow, guess I'm in the minority in that I thought the 2008 NFCCG loss was worse. At Lambeau in the brutal cold and only one play from the Super Bowl. Especially when it was the last game that Favre ever played in a Packer uniform.

I got over that one quickly. We wouldn’t have beaten the Pats.

This is my second worst because I was there.

Still not over the Denver Superbowl. Losing that game because we were so overconfident that the main part of our game plan was getting Favre the MVP.

[El Duderino]

Wow, guess I'm in the minority in that I thought the 2008 NFCCG loss was worse. At Lambeau in the brutal cold and only one play from the Super Bowl. Especially when it was the last game that Favre ever played in a Packer uniform.

I got over that one quickly. We wouldn’t have beaten the Pats.

This is my second worst because I was there.

Still not over the Denver Superbowl. Losing that game because we were so overconfident that the main part of our game plan was getting Favre the MVP.

I don't think being overconfident lost that game as much as the Denver zone running game ate up our defensive line and left them gassed.

I remember vividly the Denver OL repeatedly cut blocking the Packers DL and it left guys like White/Brown/Dotson not only having to pick themselves off the ground over and over, they got gassed and were apprehensive about attacking the line of scrimmage because they were worried about having their legs cut out from under them.

That Denver running game was a beast and our big heavy/slow DL was a bad matchup for the smaller and mobile Denver OL who ran one stretch zone play after another and cut the legs out from trail defensive lineman, leaving big cut back lanes for Davis. We had no answer for it.

[Profound23]

I got over that one quickly. We wouldn’t have beaten the Pats.

This is my second worst because I was there.

Still not over the Denver Superbowl. Losing that game because we were so overconfident that the main part of our game plan was getting Favre the MVP.

I don't think being overconfident lost that game as much as the Denver zone running game ate up our defensive line and left them gassed.

I remember vividly the Denver OL repeatedly cut blocking the Packers DL and it left guys like White/Brown/Dotson not only having to pick themselves off the ground over and over, they got gassed and were apprehensive about attacking the line of scrimmage because they were worried about having their legs cut out from under them.

That Denver running game was a beast and our big heavy/slow DL was a bad matchup for the smaller and mobile Denver OL who ran one stretch zone play after another and cut the legs out from trail defensive lineman, leaving big cut back lanes for Davis. We had no answer for it.

Antonio Freeman and Levens both said Holmgren planned everything to get Favre the MVP. During key moments he called pass plays instead of taking what the defense was giving him.

Their offense did a great job vs. our defense....especially Leroy Butler but we were the better team. It’s bittersweet knowing we had two HOF quarterbacks and “only” two Superbowls.

[0BobLobLaw0]

What would be better. The Vikes not making the Superbowl, or them losing the Superbowl in front of all their fans in their own stadium?

[th87]

Yeah, that was the worst thing I ever experienced as a Packers fan. Upset for months.

But it had one huge positive - I stopped emotionally investing so much into sports. Quit fantasy football, don't get too up or down on the games, etc. Really improved my life in some ways, as weird as it is to say.

Definitely the worst loss I've ever experienced as a sports fan.

Worse than the SB XXXII loss. Worse than NFCC against the Giants. Worse than 4th and 26. Worse than any of the other heartbreaking Packer losses of the last decade. Worse than the 4 consecutive years of gutpunch tournament losses for the Badgers MBB. Worse than Liverpool choking away the EPL in 2014, and the Europa League title in 2016. Worse than the 2001 ECF for the Bucks.

That game absolutely shattered me. My fandom has never been the same. I'm just not as personally invested anymore in sports - as much as I love watching and playing sports. Which is good, probably.

Wow, i thought i was alone in feeling this way.

I was such a wreck after that game and for a couple of days after. My acid reflux was so bad, i could barely breathe and even my back was burning.

Finally, i decided that i needed to do a reset on how much importance i was putting on sports. I thought back about the kids and their parents i came across with Cerebral Palsy while i rehabbed a serious injury and yet i allowed a football game to devastate me. My daughter was healthy.

Since then i no longer take the winning or losing of sports games as seriously. Sure tough losses still can sting, but not to where i'm in a fog days later.

I don't think I had physical symptoms as severe, but I definitely couldn't sleep, and everything just felt surreal. For months; almost a year. At some point, I got pretty mad at myself and the Packers for letting this happen. Like F them - what a bunch of incompetent buffoons to let this happen, and silly me for falling into their trap. It's like realizing your significant other sucks, and you kind of develop this love/hate, which helps you move on.

What really drove that home was the following year. I went to the playoff game against the Redskins. Was fun, but it really drove home that hey, these are just a bunch of dudes throwing a ball around. At some point, the NFL and the media marketed this ball-throwing as something that should be important to us; something that informs our identities. The whole pageantry around it became nauseating, and I was like, "You know what? This is kind of stupid." It was then I decided to quit fantasy football, and I have not looked back since - the fact that I don't have to sit and research the weather in Cincinnati and can actually not watch games I don't give a **** about is very, very liberating.

That said, even with that divestment, I still follow the Packers more than most people. But now, it's far less emotional, and now it's more to know what happened. I also have come to expect a level of choking incompetence, so when it happens (i.e. the Falcons making us their sons), I'm ready for it. I'm still pretty annoyed about squandering Rodgers' best years though. I'm certain we'd do no worse if we just autodrafted since 2010 according to Mel Kiper projections.

[HKPackFan]

Definitely the worst loss I've ever experienced as a sports fan.

Worse than the SB XXXII loss. Worse than NFCC against the Giants. Worse than 4th and 26. Worse than any of the other heartbreaking Packer losses of the last decade. Worse than the 4 consecutive years of gutpunch tournament losses for the Badgers MBB. Worse than Liverpool choking away the EPL in 2014, and the Europa League title in 2016. Worse than the 2001 ECF for the Bucks.

That game absolutely shattered me. My fandom has never been the same. I'm just not as personally invested anymore in sports - as much as I love watching and playing sports. Which is good, probably.

Wow, i thought i was alone in feeling this way.

I was such a wreck after that game and for a couple of days after. My acid reflux was so bad, i could barely breathe and even my back was burning.

Finally, i decided that i needed to do a reset on how much importance i was putting on sports. I thought back about the kids and their parents i came across with Cerebral Palsy while i rehabbed a serious injury and yet i allowed a football game to devastate me. My daughter was healthy.

Since then i no longer take the winning or losing of sports games as seriously. Sure tough losses still can sting, but not to where i'm in a fog days later.

I don't think I had physical symptoms as severe, but I definitely couldn't sleep, and everything just felt surreal. For months; almost a year. At some point, I got pretty mad at myself and the Packers for letting this happen. Like F them - what a bunch of incompetent buffoons to let this happen, and silly me for falling into their trap. It's like realizing your significant other sucks, and you kind of develop this love/hate, which helps you move on.

What really drove that home was the following year. I went to the playoff game against the Redskins. Was fun, but it really drove home that hey, these are just a bunch of dudes throwing a ball around. At some point, the NFL and the media marketed this ball-throwing as something that should be important to us; something that informs our identities. The whole pageantry around it became nauseating, and I was like, "You know what? This is kind of stupid." It was then I decided to quit fantasy football, and I have not looked back since - the fact that I don't have to sit and research the weather in Cincinnati and can actually not watch games I don't give a **** about is very, very liberating.

That said, even with that divestment, I still follow the Packers more than most people. But now, it's far less emotional, and now it's more to know what happened. I also have come to expect a level of choking incompetence, so when it happens (i.e. the Falcons making us their sons), I'm ready for it. I'm still pretty annoyed about squandering Rodgers' best years though. I'm certain we'd do no worse if we just autodrafted since 2010 according to Mel Kiper projections.

That's interesting your Redskins experience was something similar for what happened to me with the Bucks. When I lived in Miami I'd only get to see the Bucks once or twice a year. This is 2000-2010. I'd pay BIG MONEY for really good seats to see my favorite NBA team since childhood, and they would always lose no matter how bad the heat were that season.

The final straw was during one during the Bogut era. The heat were tanking and trotted out a D League team, game was tied, it was a late march game, both teams sucked but the bucks were probably in 10th or 12th place. A minute or two in a close game during a time out I'm watching the players (I paid a lot for like 1st or 2nd row behind bucks bench), and Bogut and friends were mesmerized by the Heat dances. Like literally just watching the dancers shake their ****, while they ignored the coach drawing up the play. I'm WATCHING THE COACH DRAW UP A PLAY AND THE PLAYERS DON'T GIVE A ****, THEY ARE WATCHING THE CHEERLEADERS FFS!

At that point it hit me, why the **** do I care???? I stop cheering at that point and my young son was like, "Why aren't you cheering?"

I was like, these guys get paid to do this, it's their livelihood and they don't give a ****, why the **** do I care so much?

And it really got me out of basketball for a long time, it wasn't until the greek freak arrived I started watching Bucks basketball again.

[Iheartfootball]

What would be better. The Vikes not making the Superbowl, or them losing the Superbowl in front of all their fans in their own stadium?

Oh losing in front of their fans by far. No one remembers who made the Super Bowl, it's who wins. Plus, the closer you get to making the Super Bowl the more each loss hurts. Meaning, even losing in the NFC championship game would be better than losing the Super Bowl (at least to me).

I would flip it. What would hurt me more, Packers not making the Super Bowl at all or losing one at Lambeau? They have already been eliminated and I don't give a ****.

[mnstinks]

What would be better. The Vikes not making the Superbowl, or them losing the Superbowl in front of all their fans in their own stadium?

Losing the NFC championship on their home field

[humanrefutation]

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21848726/police-respond-situation-lambeau-field

Some dumbass decided to drive his vehicle into a security gate at Lambeau.