CURSED IN WISCONSIN AS PACKER...and BADGER FANS......IS IT REAL ??.CONSIDER

[Bretsky]

Why so many disappointing playoff losses for our Green Bay Packers?
I realize that this is not life and death…it is a game. But starting to think we are whammied.

The NFC Championship Game was just another in a long line of disappointing playoff losses for the Packers. I count a total of eight games in the last 20 seasons. I understand that many NFL fans have not had the opportunity to witness even a handful of playoff games in that span, so I know we're fortunate as fans to see winning teams year after year. That does not change the fact that we have endured what I consider to be a disproportionate number of heartbreaking playoff losses.....key losses with some terrible circumstances to boot.

I decided to make a list of those games in this forum. I’m wondering what you think are the most disappointing losses, and why.

Here is my list, in chronological order:

1). 1995 Season: NFC Championship Game. Lost to the Dallas Cowboys 38-27. Packers had the ball and the lead in the fourth quarter. After a Favre interception, the Cowboys took control and never looked back. In retrospect the way GB lost was a foreshadowing of many gut wrenching heartbreakers with Favre at the helm

2). 1997 Season: Super Bowl. Lost to the Denver Broncos. Packers came in as almost 14-point favorites, struggled throughout, gave up a TD with under 2-minutes left and lost when Favre’s 4th down pass to Mark Chmura fell incomplete. The play of that game still might have been a terrible short pass on 3rd down before Denver took the lead for good.....receiver wide open....just a terrible short throw if I recall correctly.

3). 1998 Season: Wild Card Round. Lost to the 49ers on a T.D. pass from Steve Young to T.O. with just seconds remaining. The Pack took the lead on a Favre TD pass to Antonio Freeman with a few minutes left, and the 49ers marched down the field to score the game winner. Notable on the winning drive was the fumble by Jerry Rice that was missed by the officials. Shortly after was the pass that began to create the TO monster.

4). 2003 Season: Divisional Round. Lost in OT to the Eagles. 4th and 26. ‘Nuff said.

5). 2007 Season: NFC Championship Game. Lost in OT to the Giants at home. Pack wins the toss in OT and Favre throws an interception on the second play of OT. To magnify the disappointment, the end-zone view showed a receiving option (Levens) wide open and Favre threw the ball to Donald Driver, who was well-covered. Incidentally, that was Brett Favre’s last play in a Packer uniform.

6). 2009 Season. Wild Card Round. Lost in OT to the Arizona Cardinals on a strip sack that was returned for a TD. On the previous play, Greg Jennings was wide open and Rodgers overthrew an almost certain game-winning TD pass. On the game-ending play, Rodgers was hit in the helmet and also had his facemask grabbed. No penalty was called.

7). 2013 Season. Wild Card Round. Lost to the 49ers on a game-ending field goal as time expired. Packers played a very solid game, and defended the 49ers option read relatively well. On the game-winning drive, the Packers had a golden opportunity on an out route that was jumped by Micah Hyde. He had clear sailing to the end zone for a game-winning pick 6; he dropped it.

8). 2014 Season. NFC Championship Game. Lost to the Seahawks. We all witnessed this; no need for further commentary.

***********and let's not forget the FAIL MARY ***********regular season game

As Badger Fans we have recently witnessed

a successful Hail Mary vs Michigan State that was reviewed on replay and ended the game,
referees literally not allowing WI to snap the ball as time expired (of course they admitted air),

and in Basketball........when we had a chance to embrace our SHINING MOMENT......the one thing I've been asking for the past 25 years (A national title at UW Madison in either basketball or football before I die)...................

after I lean over and tell my daughters in the Dome At Indianapolis with just over 13 minutes left when we are up by 9 points......"in thirteen minutes we can be the national champions"

I witness the most epic meltdown in officiating I can recall in college basketball that included

1. A blatant charge by Winslow resulting in a foul on Dukon (-2points)
2. Winslow stepping on the out of bounce line and on that possession here comes a 3 (-3 pts)
3. An Obvious FLOP the refs fell for and called a charge on Dukon
4. A replay clearly showing the ball off Duke and they keep possession and hit a 3 (-3pts)
5. Another charge by Winslow against Hayes where nothing was called
6, Constant Duke No Calls on consistent bumping and hard reaching in calls....see the offensive possession where UW times out for a shot and Frank just tossed it at the hoop as an example.......
7 Not to mention in the 2nd half, after witnessing Coach K scream and yell at the refs at the end of the second half and halftime, they decided to plan there lips on his ass and change the way they officiated from half 1 to half2

Coupled with Decker not showing up, Bo making a couple terrible substitutions at the wrong time, and Jackson being completely lost in the second half.............

All of that together made the game unwinnable....................

It felt like the Seattle game............but the Referees were our Special Teams Unit..........




ARE WE CURSED ????? Have I missed anything ?

[red]

Why don't you just bend us all over and fuck us in the asses while you're at it

My god, I didn't want to remember all that. Thank god for the early on set dementia

[texaspackerbacker]

Victims of biased damn officiating, hell yeah! I've been saying that for a long time. But CURSED? No Way. Cursed would be Minnesota with the Vikings, Gophers, and Timberwolves, Cursed would be Chicago with the Cubs and Bears and throw in the Illini and Northwestern. Probably half a dozen or more other venues are similar shipwrecks.

We Wisconsin team fans have been BLESSED more than just about anybody else with the Packers being on top for so long and both Badger football and basketball so great also.

[th87]

Why so many disappointing playoff losses for our Green Bay Packers?
I realize that this is not life and death…it is a game. But starting to think we are whammied.

The NFC Championship Game was just another in a long line of disappointing playoff losses for the Packers. I count a total of eight games in the last 20 seasons. I understand that many NFL fans have not had the opportunity to witness even a handful of playoff games in that span, so I know we're fortunate as fans to see winning teams year after year. That does not change the fact that we have endured what I consider to be a disproportionate number of heartbreaking playoff losses.....key losses with some terrible circumstances to boot.

I decided to make a list of those games in this forum. I’m wondering what you think are the most disappointing losses, and why.

Here is my list, in chronological order:

1). 1995 Season: NFC Championship Game. Lost to the Dallas Cowboys 38-27. Packers had the ball and the lead in the fourth quarter. After a Favre interception, the Cowboys took control and never looked back. In retrospect the way GB lost was a foreshadowing of many gut wrenching heartbreakers with Favre at the helm

2). 1997 Season: Super Bowl. Lost to the Denver Broncos. Packers came in as almost 14-point favorites, struggled throughout, gave up a TD with under 2-minutes left and lost when Favre’s 4th down pass to Mark Chmura fell incomplete. The play of that game still might have been a terrible short pass on 3rd down before Denver took the lead for good.....receiver wide open....just a terrible short throw if I recall correctly.

3). 1998 Season: Wild Card Round. Lost to the 49ers on a T.D. pass from Steve Young to T.O. with just seconds remaining. The Pack took the lead on a Favre TD pass to Antonio Freeman with a few minutes left, and the 49ers marched down the field to score the game winner. Notable on the winning drive was the fumble by Jerry Rice that was missed by the officials. Shortly after was the pass that began to create the TO monster.

4). 2003 Season: Divisional Round. Lost in OT to the Eagles. 4th and 26. ‘Nuff said.

5). 2007 Season: NFC Championship Game. Lost in OT to the Giants at home. Pack wins the toss in OT and Favre throws an interception on the second play of OT. To magnify the disappointment, the end-zone view showed a receiving option (Levens) wide open and Favre threw the ball to Donald Driver, who was well-covered. Incidentally, that was Brett Favre’s last play in a Packer uniform.

6). 2009 Season. Wild Card Round. Lost in OT to the Arizona Cardinals on a strip sack that was returned for a TD. On the previous play, Greg Jennings was wide open and Rodgers overthrew an almost certain game-winning TD pass. On the game-ending play, Rodgers was hit in the helmet and also had his facemask grabbed. No penalty was called.

7). 2013 Season. Wild Card Round. Lost to the 49ers on a game-ending field goal as time expired. Packers played a very solid game, and defended the 49ers option read relatively well. On the game-winning drive, the Packers had a golden opportunity on an out route that was jumped by Micah Hyde. He had clear sailing to the end zone for a game-winning pick 6; he dropped it.

8). 2014 Season. NFC Championship Game. Lost to the Seahawks. We all witnessed this; no need for further commentary.

***********and let's not forget the FAIL MARY ***********regular season game

As Badger Fans we have recently witnessed

a successful Hail Mary vs Michigan State that was reviewed on replay and ended the game,
referees literally not allowing WI to snap the ball as time expired (of course they admitted air),

and in Basketball........when we had a chance to embrace our SHINING MOMENT......the one thing I've been asking for the past 25 years (A national title at UW Madison in either basketball or football before I die)...................

after I lean over and tell my daughters in the Dome At Indianapolis with just over 13 minutes left when we are up by 9 points......"in thirteen minutes we can be the national champions"

I witness the most epic meltdown in officiating I can recall in college basketball that included

1. A blatant charge by Winslow resulting in a foul on Dukon (-2points)
2. Winslow stepping on the out of bounce line and on that possession here comes a 3 (-3 pts)
3. An Obvious FLOP the refs fell for and called a charge on Dukon
4. A replay clearly showing the ball off Duke and they keep possession and hit a 3 (-3pts)
5. Another charge by Winslow against Hayes where nothing was called
6, Constant Duke No Calls on consistent bumping and hard reaching in calls....see the offensive possession where UW times out for a shot and Frank just tossed it at the hoop as an example.......
7 Not to mention in the 2nd half, after witnessing Coach K scream and yell at the refs at the end of the second half and halftime, they decided to plan there lips on his ass and change the way they officiated from half 1 to half2

Coupled with Decker not showing up, Bo making a couple terrible substitutions at the wrong time, and Jackson being completely lost in the second half.............

All of that together made the game unwinnable....................

It felt like the Seattle game............but the Referees were our Special Teams Unit..........




ARE WE CURSED ????? Have I missed anything ?

Makes me wish I wasn't so into sports. In way too deep. It's like repeatedly going back to a terrible girlfriend.

[mraynrand]

These goofy looking idiots say: Cry me a river!

[pbmax]

I find complaints about Duke being favored by the officiating comical. Because every Big Ten team thinks the officials have been paid off by the Badger Basketball team since Bo arrived. Hell, people complained about Dick Bennett's post defense tactics.

Complaining about refs is the purview of Mets and Vikings fans (sorry Ras, you are the exception). Just sack up and win the game.

And Bo has to recruit better defenders to deal with quick guards (been a problem his entire tenure).

The Browns Home unis are terrible. Need to bring back orange pants.

[th87]

I find complaints about Duke being favored by the officiating comical. Because every Big Ten team thinks the officials have been paid off by the Badger Basketball team since Bo arrived. Hell, people complained about Dick Bennett's post defense tactics.

Complaining about refs is the purview of Mets and Vikings fans (sorry Ras, you are the exception). Just sack up and win the game.

And Bo has to recruit better defenders to deal with quick guards (been a problem his entire tenure).

The Browns Home unis are terrible. Need to bring back orange pants.

I don't understand the argument of "the refs don't decide the game; the players should deliver." Why can't the refs be a factor as well? Lots of stuff goes into the formula, with the refs being one such component. Yes, if the Badgers played better, they would've won, but they would've had to offset the negative that the suddenly slanted officiating produced.

[th87]

These goofy looking idiots say: Cry me a river!

I don't know - with low expectations, it's hard to be disappointed. Following the Bucks the last decade or so has been pretty easy, really.

[smuggler]

Cleveland will always be cursed until they put their true mascot on their helmet...

[mraynrand]

Cleveland will always be cursed until they put their true mascot on their helmet...

I was arguing for this with lifelong Brownie fans just this evening. Laughing stock comes to mind...

[texaspackerbacker]

I find complaints about Duke being favored by the officiating comical. Because every Big Ten team thinks the officials have been paid off by the Badger Basketball team since Bo arrived. Hell, people complained about Dick Bennett's post defense tactics.

Complaining about refs is the purview of Mets and Vikings fans (sorry Ras, you are the exception). Just sack up and win the game.

And Bo has to recruit better defenders to deal with quick guards (been a problem his entire tenure).

The Browns Home unis are terrible. Need to bring back orange pants.

I say again, did you even see the game? Have you seen ANY Wisconsin games over the Bo Ryan era? The Badgers simply don't play THUG DEFENSE - like damn Izzo's Michigan State, like Duke in the championship game, like several wannabes of Izzo in the Big Ten, like the old Detroit Pistons, like the San Antonio Spurs, etc.

The excuse given is "it's their game". Well shit! That's pretty damn pathetic that those teams get away with the crap just because it's the only way they can win a game. What happens in the rare instance that they call a game FAIR? Look at the first Iowa game this year; Look at the first half against Duke. The opponent gets 5 or 6 times the fouls of the Badgers because THEY DESERVE THEM! Hell, they probably deserve 10 or 20 times as many.

As for the Bucks, anybody around in the days of Kareem knows, he got shitted on by officials regularly in Milwaukee. He'd get beat up with no calls. Then, miraculously, when he went to the Lakers, the exact same stuff was NOT called on him, and anyone even breathing on Kareem got called. DAMN! That made me mad! The exact same shit happened with Steve Nash - damn near run out of the league getting mugged repeatedly by defenders when he played for Dallas. Then he went to Phoenix and later the Lakers, and suddenly it was "thou shalt not touch Steve Nash".

The Packers have had those bad calls mentioned - with obvious bad effects. However, overall, I think the officials have not been horribly unfair to them, not like they have been to Badger and Buck basketball anyway.

But even with all of that, we aren't "Cursed". We're BLESSED with fantastic success of the teams we are fans of.

[Bretsky]

I don't understand the argument of "the refs don't decide the game; the players should deliver." Why can't the refs be a factor as well? Lots of stuff goes into the formula, with the refs being one such component. Yes, if the Badgers played better, they would've won, but they would've had to offset the negative that the suddenly slanted officiating produced.

Completely agree; I think this argument is crap too. It's not like WI fans are the only ones pointing out he Captain Obvious here Articles written on that game and pretty agreed upon that the game was terribly officiated.
Of course if the Badgers played better they win. Ditto for every loss in sports.

Just asking for consistency from officials in a game, to make the obvious calls, and not botch any easy ones. They failed on all three levels

[Bretsky]

Why don't you just bend us all over and fuck us in the asses while you're at it

My god, I didn't want to remember all that. Thank god for the early on set dementia

we need threads like this to get the blood boiling here and there
otherwise it's a bit slow in the offseason

I hope I haven't made you relapse into binge drinking after reading this

[pbmax]

I don't understand the argument of "the refs don't decide the game; the players should deliver." Why can't the refs be a factor as well? Lots of stuff goes into the formula, with the refs being one such component. Yes, if the Badgers played better, they would've won, but they would've had to offset the negative that the suddenly slanted officiating produced.

They can decide a game, and they can produce monumentally bad decisions. Duke wasn't happy with a 7-2 imbalance in calls in the first half. UW wasn't happy with the objectively wrong calls and 10-2 imbalance in the second half.

Its not rigged. You have to overcome it. Refs are like rebounds, they don't just fall into the team's lap by chance, evenly split. You have to work hard to make it break even.

You need to shoot well from 3. You need to touch the post. You need to shoot from the wide open wings (Gasser and Hayes). And you need to defend quick guards on ball screens better.

[Pugger]

In the Wisconsin/Duke game had the Badgers just shot the damn ball better they would have won despite the refs. Throughout the tournament Bucky went thru stretches where the ball just would not go in the basket and it burned them in that game.

I think we got robbed in the Fail Mary game but in the NFCC game we really blew it there. I still can't believe how we collapsed like that. I truly believe had Rodgers been 100% we would have won but man, choking away a game like that can give a girl nightmares.

[Patler]

I will separate my comments between the Packers and the Badgers.

First, the Packers. Most, not all, playoff losses tend to be disappointing to the losing team. Teams are generally evenly matched and games tend to be close. Close losses are disappointing losses. When you have a team that makes the playoffs year after year after year there will be some disappointing losses along the way. For sure, some stand out, such as the final play losses. The Seattle game this past season was particularly excruciating because they seemed to have the game well in hand with only a few minutes left. How many Packer playoff wins have been "disappointing losses" for their opponents?

I am not enough of a Badger fan to discuss their disappointing losses because, to be honest, I don't remember them. With all due respect to the Badger fans on this site, since the Badgers started gaining success in football and basketball, many of their fans have become whiners. Regarding the basketball championship game, there were some poor calls, but officiating did not decide that game. Failed execution throughout the game more so than a bad call here and there decided that game. Instead of accepting that, Badger fans wanted the officials to call the game in a way that would favor the Badgers and help compensate for their failed execution. I watched the game with a group that included one Badger fan and five like myself who had an interest in the Badgers, would like to have seen a win, but were not fans. Most had varying degrees of contempt for Duke. Certainly, all in the group would have preferred to see a Badger win rather than another championship for Duke. Throughout the game comments were about the Badgers blowing opportunities and setting themselves up for a disappointing loss. There were not as many "bad calls" by the officials as many Badger fans seem to think, at least not in the perspective of a group that was basically impartial.

[Patler]

They can decide a game, and they can produce monumentally bad decisions. Duke wasn't happy with a 7-2 imbalance in calls in the first half. UW wasn't happy with the objectively wrong calls and 10-2 imbalance in the second half.

Its not rigged. You have to overcome it. Refs are like rebounds, they don't just fall into the team's lap by chance, evenly split. You have to work hard to make it break even.

You need to shoot well from 3. You need to touch the post. You need to shoot from the wide open wings (Gasser and Hayes). And you need to defend quick guards on ball screens better.

I agree. I had an interesting discussion the other day with a guy who saw the Duke game as having a bad call here and there, such as the out of bounds play, but thought the game was fairly officiated for a championship game. He said, in essence, the refs called one half in the way the Badgers would prefer and called the second half in the way Duke would prefer. He argued neither was wrong, just different styles. I tend to agree.

[vince]

I was pissed about the Badger loss until I looked at the final score and saw that the winners finished with an "8" and the losers a "3". I lucked out and won $800 in a $50/square March Madness pool. That was all I needed to justify upgrading the ol' hot tub. Cursed? I'd say who gives a shit now. Winning money when your team loses is a good way to soften the emotional blow. I think I might try that more often.

[Patler]

I was pissed about the Badger loss until I looked at the final score and saw that the winners finished with an "8" and the losers a "3". I lucked out and won $800 in a $50/square March Madness pool. That was all I needed to justify upgrading the ol' hot tub. Cursed? I'd say who gives a shit now. Winning money when your team loses is a good way to soften the emotional blow. I think I might try that more often.

That same perspective is becoming very prevalent among fantasy league participants. Who cares if the Packers lost and the Bears won so long as your fantasy players did well?

[hoosier]

I don't understand the argument of "the refs don't decide the game; the players should deliver." Why can't the refs be a factor as well? Lots of stuff goes into the formula, with the refs being one such component. Yes, if the Badgers played better, they would've won, but they would've had to offset the negative that the suddenly slanted officiating produced.

I think PBs point--which I agree with--was that Badger fans are predisposed to notice bad calls that go against Wisco and to be blind to bad calls that favor our team. Arizona and KY fans were whining up a storm about how the officiating was slanted in favor of Wisconsin. Complaining about the refs is pointless for the team (beyond their control) and for the fans, who are unable to be reliable judges of what is good and what is bad officiating.