Packers (Finally) Kick the Bengals
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Mason Crosby made a 49-yard field goal as the Green Bay Packers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 25-22 in overtime on Sunday.
Just another ho-hum moment for the always-reliable Crosby.
Not.
At the end of regulation, the stage was set for another batch of Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams and Crosby heroics.
The Packers and Bengals were tied at 22 after an exchange of missed field goals – Crosby missed wide left from 36 yards just before 2-minute warning and Evan McPherson drilled the right upright from 57. That miss gave Green Bay the ball at its 47 with 21 seconds remaining. With no timeouts, Rodgers hit Adams over the middle for a gain of 20 to the Bengals’ 33. After Rodgers hustled the offense to the line of scrimmage and clocked the ball with 3 seconds remaining, Crosby had a chance to make a 51-yarder for the win – just like he did at San Francisco after similar Rodgers-to-Adams magic.
However, this one missed by just a hair to the left to set the stage for overtime. Crosby, who had already missed two field goals and an extra point, then lost the overtime coin toss.
It should have worked out, though. On Cincinnati’s first play of overtime, Joe Burrow threw it right to linebacker De’Vondre Campbell for an interception. His return to the Bengals’ 17 set up a victory on a silver platter.
“OK, here we go. Now it’s over,” Rodgers said.
Instead, Crosby pulled his 40-yarder to the left.
Not to be outdone, McPherson missed a 49-yarder to the left. The rookie celebrated as if he won the game, only to be told the bad news.
Told what happened, coach Matt LaFleur said, “That’s going to be on a football follies video.”
Crosby’s streak of 27 consecutive field goals came to a crashing halt when he missed a 36-yarder that would have put the Packers in front with 2:12 remaining. Compounded with a missed extra point early in the game, the game was tied when Cincinnati took over for a shot to win. But McPherson’s bomb from 57 hit well up the right upright.
But the Packers won, anyway. On third-and-16 after the McPherson miss in overtime, Rodgers hung in the pocket just long enough for Randall Cobb to break away from cornerback Trae Waynes for a 15-yard gain to the Bengals’ 32. LaFleur contemplated keeping the offense on the field for fourth-and-1 but showed faith in the veteran kicker.
“I said, ‘Mo, is he going to make it?’” Rodgers said of special teams coordinator Maurice Drayton. “He said, ‘Hell, yeah, he’s going to make it.’ I said, ‘Let’s kick it then.’ He was confident. I was confident. I ended up standing way down on the end. The first couple, I was more toward the middle of the team. So, maybe the good juju’s down on the end, so I’m going to make sure I’m down on the end for future game-winning kicks.”
Recalled LaFleur, “I went over to Mason, I could see the look in his eyes. There was zero flinch from him. That’s what we talk about all the time. I couldn’t be happier for him. I told the team afterwards, I was like, the only kick I’ll remember is that last kick.”
What it means: If the Packers can ever get their key players back, they’re going to be really difficult to beat. David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Za’Darius Smith, Jaire Alexander and Marquez Valdes-Scantling were among the key players out of the lineup due to injuries. With Bakhtiari, Jenkins and Myers, that’s three-fifths of the offensive line. With Smith and Alexander, that’s the two best weapons to stop opposing games.
“To be 4-1 with the injuries we’ve dealt with feels pretty good,” Rodgers said.
Key moment: Crosby finally put an end to the nonsense to give Green Bay a fourth consecutive win. The completion from Rodgers to Cobb, obviously, was enormous.
“Wow, what a game,” LaFleur said. “You always feel good after a win. I think everybody in that locker room is pretty exhausted right now, including myself, and I wasn’t out there playing. That was the epitome of resiliency from our football team.”
Key stats: This is the golden age of kicking. Kickers have never been so good as they are in today’s NFL. Last year, 21 teams made at least 80 percent of their field goals. Two decades ago, only 14 teams were so accurate. So, Mason Crosby (three) and Evan McPherson (two) combined to miss five consecutive field goals spanning the end of regulation and the start of overtime. Crosby didn’t miss a single field goal last year and had made 27 in a row until all hell broke loose.
“Both teams tried to lose that game a few times,” Rodgers said.
MVP: Davante Adams caught 11 passes for 206 yards and one touchdown. It was the first 200-yard game of Adams’ career.
What’s next: The Packers are in the midst of a stretch of four road games in a span of five weeks. Leg No. 2 of that comes Sunday at the NFC North-rival Chicago Bears. The Bears are 2-2 and playing at Las Vegas in one of the afternoon games. The Packers have won 10 of their last 11 treks to Chicago.
“We know that it’s never easy. It’s not going to be easy,” LaFleur said. “We’ve got a great challenge next week in Chicago. We’ve just got to keep taking this sucker one game at a time.”
