NFC Divisional Matchups: A Look at the First Time Chicago-Seattle and Atlanta-Green Bay Played
By Jason Lisk
Today, I’m going to take a look back at those earlier games, one of which I watched fully at the time (Atlanta-Green Bay) and one which I only saw portions of (Chicago-Seattle), by reviewing the play by play and game accounts.
GREEN BAY AT ATLANTA
If I showed you the box score from the first contest, you might incorrectly conclude that Green Bay won the game, unless you went all the way down and saw the red zone efficiency. Both teams ran a similar number of plays, and the Packers had 124 more total yards and averaged a whopping 7.1 yards per play, and the teams had similar 3rd down efficiency numbers. The Packers did have the one fumble, but ordinarily that wouldn’t make up for a 124 yard difference. But as we will see, it wasn’t an ordinary fumble.
On offense, Matt Ryan completed a high percentage of passes (24 for 28) but rarely threw downfield against the Green Bay defense. He dumped a pass off to Jason Snelling on the game’s first 3rd down situation, and Snelling broke a tackle and picked up the first down. The Falcons then went down and took the early lead. Later, Ryan threw a short pass to Ovie Mughelli on a really long third down (3rd and 19), and Mughelli picked up enough yards that the Falcons could consider going for the fourth down. They converted, and went on to score the game’s first touchdown.
Green Bay limited the looks to Roddy White (5 catches for 49 yards), but Ryan was able to successfully go to Tony Gonzalez as well as his backs in key situations.
For Green Bay, the key is going to be avoiding the costly mistakes. They often were able to move the ball in the first matchup, but failed miserably to cash in. On the second drive of the game, Green Bay got to a third and 1 inside the 5, but were stuffed. They settled for a field goal. The next drive, Aaron Rodgers fumbled into the end zone from the 1 yard line, giving Atlanta a touchback. Two short yardage situations inside the 5, and the Packers got a combined 3 points.
As exciting as the late drama was–with Rodgers’ fourth down pass to Jordy Nelson to tie it, followed by Eric Weems’ big kickoff return and the Bryant field goal to win it–the Packers’ failures in the first half near the goal line were the reason Green Bay lost.
SEATTLE AT CHICAGO
In retrospect, the Seattle victory in Chicago back in week 6 was a stunner. At the time, though, Seattle wasn’t playing nearly as bad as they would over the final two months of the season, and Chicago was just getting Jay Cutler back after he missed the Carolina game with a concussion following the Giants’ debacle.
Chicago came out and got a big pass interference penalty that covered 58 yards, and scored with Matt Forte a few plays later. I’m not sure anything else went right for the Bears offense for the rest of the day.
Seattle responded with an immediate touchdown, then held field position as the Bears couldn’t move the ball and had some penalties. Eventually, Seattle scored on a third and goal when Justin Forsett ran it in from nine yards out, giving the Seahawks the lead for good.
This game was mostly about the Bears offense and the inability to maintain any continuity or keep Cutler upright. Jay Cutler was only 17 of 39 passing, plus he was sacked six times, including once for a safety. That means the Bears had positive yards on a passing play only 38% of the time, and you aren’t going to sustain anything that way. The final result would not have looked as close without Chicago getting big plays (that early pass interference, a big pass to Knox, and Hester’s late punt return touchdown to cut it to 3). The Bears were a dreadful 0 for 12 on third down plays, while Seattle was 7 for 18. I’d look for Chicago to improve on that 0% third down rate in the rematch.
[photo via Getty]