JAMES JONES LOST THE GAME

[CaliforniaCheez]

[fan4life]

I think McCarthy's play calling in the second half sapped the team of it's mojo.

Exactly. This is a young team... which is going to make mistakes. But MM let the mistakes get to him, and he is as much at fault for this loss as the players.

This was a team meltdown. They need to learn from it, because talent-wise, they can play with anybody.

[Maxie the Taxi]

Look, if we're going to blame one player or coach for this loss, there are plenty of candidates. JJ is a rookie and his fumbles were far less costly than Favre's bonehead interception deep in his own territory and Favre is a seasoned veteran. MM's decision to trade field position to keep Hester in check was far more critical to the final score than JJ's fumbles. How many individuals missed key tackles on key third down plays. Plus, can we question MM's weird challenges that used up timeouts we should have saved? How many individuals had key penalties that turned momentum or field position around...Rouse had at least two? And holding calls by our OL and secondary? I could go on and on.

This loss may be good for this young team. It will take them down a notch and force them to focus on executing. We'll see what they're made of as the season rolls on.

[vince]

Look, if we're going to blame one player or coach for this loss, there are plenty of candidates. JJ is a rookie and his fumbles were far less costly than Favre's bonehead interception deep in his own territory and Favre is a seasoned veteran. MM's decision to trade field position to keep Hester in check was far more critical to the final score than JJ's fumbles. How many individuals missed key tackles on key third down plays. Plus, can we question MM's weird challenges that used up timeouts we should have saved? How many individuals had key penalties that turned momentum or field position around...Rouse had at least two? And holding calls by our OL and secondary? I could go on and on.

This loss may be good for this young team. It will take them down a notch and force them to focus on executing. We'll see what they're made of as the season rolls on.

Great post Maxie. Dead on in my view.

[Patler]

Look, if we're going to blame one player or coach for this loss, there are plenty of candidates. JJ is a rookie and his fumbles were far less costly than Favre's bonehead interception deep in his own territory and Favre is a seasoned veteran. MM's decision to trade field position to keep Hester in check was far more critical to the final score than JJ's fumbles. How many individuals missed key tackles on key third down plays. Plus, can we question MM's weird challenges that used up timeouts we should have saved? How many individuals had key penalties that turned momentum or field position around...Rouse had at least two? And holding calls by our OL and secondary? I could go on and on.

This loss may be good for this young team. It will take them down a notch and force them to focus on executing. We'll see what they're made of as the season rolls on.

Great post Maxie. Dead on in my view.

I agree completely, too.

Conceding the 35 yard line on every kickoff was sort of mind boggling.
Hester has more fumbles than touchdowns in his NFL career. He has fumbled 12 times, but has lost only 2. I think you need to be cautious with him, try to kick toward a corner or something, but giving them the 35 yard line with kickoffs as short as most were was just as bad as kicking to him and letting him run. He doesn't score on every kick he returns.

[CaliforniaCheez]

2 drives during which the Bears could not stop the Packers. Jones fumbled.

The one being inside the Bears 10 yard line.

It is like your newly licenced teenage child wrecking your nice car in a stupid auto accident. You still love the kid but it is a costly painful lesson.

While flogging isn't the answer, you wish there was some way to physically insert the knowledge into the young man's brain.

[BallHawk]

I refuse to ever say that one player loses a game. You have 11 players on the field (or in the Bears' case, 13) and not one of those guys holds the ability to single-handedly lose the game for you. Jones fumbles were extremely damaging to us, especially because they came at a time where we could of put the game away, but the fumbles were just another ingredient in the concoction that lead to our defeat.

[run pMc]

Well, I think if Jones hadn't fumbled the outcome of the game would have been different. Having said that, I did notice that he was in the game and had at least one catch in the 2nd half, so that should help his confidence. I also wondered what others have mentioned here -- whether teams are going to see something on film and exploit that. In fairness, the 2nd fumble looked like a textbook punch-out of the ball. It was a bad game for him to cough up the ball, but he did pluck the winning TD against MIN. He's young...we gotta live and die with that for now.

The Favre INT was a pure bonehead play...so JJ isn't the only culprit.
I thought the other factors were the penalties and bad field position. GB was a little too scared of Hester...I think giving CHI the ball at the 35 or 40 everytime is a questionable move. With Crosby's leg in decent weather, I'd rather M3 see if he can kick it out of the endzone. As for the penalties, I thought the refs made some strange calls, but I won't blame them the loss. GB played a sloppy game.

You can't give up 5 turnovers, 12 penalties, and that kind of field position and then expect to win. The Packer beat themselves.

[cpk1994]

Look, if we're going to blame one player or coach for this loss, there are plenty of candidates. JJ is a rookie and his fumbles were far less costly than Favre's bonehead interception deep in his own territory and Favre is a seasoned veteran. MM's decision to trade field position to keep Hester in check was far more critical to the final score than JJ's fumbles. How many individuals missed key tackles on key third down plays. Plus, can we question MM's weird challenges that used up timeouts we should have saved? How many individuals had key penalties that turned momentum or field position around...Rouse had at least two? And holding calls by our OL and secondary? I could go on and on.

This loss may be good for this young team. It will take them down a notch and force them to focus on executing. We'll see what they're made of as the season rolls on.

The challenges. Yes you can. He gambled away a timeout over 2 feet. That was a Shermanesque level of stupidity.

[Scott Campbell]

Look, if we're going to blame one player or coach for this loss, there are plenty of candidates. JJ is a rookie and his fumbles were far less costly than Favre's bonehead interception deep in his own territory and Favre is a seasoned veteran. MM's decision to trade field position to keep Hester in check was far more critical to the final score than JJ's fumbles. How many individuals missed key tackles on key third down plays. Plus, can we question MM's weird challenges that used up timeouts we should have saved? How many individuals had key penalties that turned momentum or field position around...Rouse had at least two? And holding calls by our OL and secondary? I could go on and on.

This loss may be good for this young team. It will take them down a notch and force them to focus on executing. We'll see what they're made of as the season rolls on.

The challenges. Yes you can. He gambled away a timeout over 2 feet. That was a Shermanesque level of stupidity.

He was great with the red flags until last night. And it sure was like a Sherman flashback.

[The Leaper]

Conceding the 35 yard line on every kickoff was sort of mind boggling.

Even more mind boggling when you realize we still punted to him. Why refuse to kick off to him, but then feed him punt after punt?

The strategy pertaining to Hester was stupid IMO. If you want to kick it off high to the 15-20 yard line, so be it. That would be far more effective than the chili dips to the 35.

[Carolina_Packer]

James Jones did not lose the game all by himself. He had help. As Maxie said, there's plenty of blame to go around. At this point, be disappointed, get it off your chest and out of your system as a fan and as players/coaches, but then put it out of your mind and have a baseball closer's mentality to keep executing, and keep thinking about your next chances and what you have to do to be successful. One loss, whether it was a "winnable game" or not should not defeat a team long-term if they are well-coached and mentally tough. This team will bounce back and learn from this, and to me, that is key. No dead horse beating from me. Let's move on and get the Skins!

[privatepacker]

Before his career is over JJ will win more games then he loses. If you want to say he lost this game then fine but let's not forget about the interception and PR fumble. When JJ lost the ball we were still ahead and even extended it to 17-7.

[ZachMN]

The game changed when Favre decided to lob a pass into Urlachers chest deep in his own territory. That was a bigger play in my mind.

But......when you have 5 turnovers and 12 penalties there is plenty of blame to go around.

Yes, momentum is the name of the game. We actually held up well considering the two fumbles. I give credit to the CB on one and blame Jones on the other. Barnett needs to be taken to task for a STUPID LAZY facemask penalty which gave the Bears new life and for Gods sake I never played football and knew enough to watch for the tight end what was Collins doing?? Wheeeeww.............

[Badgerinmaine]

Not only is there plenty of blame to go around, remember one thing: Jones' fumbles were in the first half yet the Pack went into the locker room up 10 all the same. The kid's going to be all right.