The Draw Play

I was torn making this one. Do I go back to the crashing truck comic I used just last week with the Cowboys and make a version of the Packers crashing after they hit the 49ers? Or do I dig out this other Packer personalized chestnut and add onto it. Whatever I chose, the joke was PACKERS PLAYOFF PAIN.

It’s kind of incredible that since 2012 the Packers have gotten owned by the 49ers in the playoffs 5 times and never once beat them. The last time Green Bay actually managed to beat the 49ers in the playoffs, it was 2002. Brett Favre era. Their all-time record against the 49ers in the playoffs is 4-6 with most wins coming in the 90’s. So before 2012, they were actually 4-1 against SF. Then Kaepernick styled on them twice in back-to-back years. The 49ers would go and have a coaching/ownership meltdown that imploded the team, spent a few years toiling with the likes of Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly (remember that?) before building back up into the current regime and spanking the Pack every other year since 2019. The 49ers have become the Packers Achilles heel. It is very funny.

This most recent loss is probably the least embarassing of the bunch, to be fair. The Pack were a 7th seed, running hot on house money with what is sort of a pseudo rookie QB and they went up against the top seed in the conference and put up a respectable fight. I think the 2021 loss is probably the most embarassing. The MVP couldn’t score a single touchdown as the #1 seed got punked at home by Jimmy G. The 2019 was also a beatdown that the score does not properly reflect (It started 27-0).

Quick aside, it’s funny watching the 2019 replay and seeing Raheem Mostert kicking ass. I think Raheem Mostert might be one of the most underrated RBs out there and he’s been doing it for longer than we realize.

Actually let’s have some more fun at the Packers expense and try to rank all the playoff losses since 2010 by order of least embarassing to most.
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–2015 vs Cardinals: The Hail Mary game that sent the matchup into overtime and was only ended thanks to Larry Fitzgerald heroics. The Packers were a wildcard and the Cardinals a 2-seed. This was an outstanding game that everyone involved can be proud to have played in. I made a comic about how good it was.
–2023 vs 49ers: Just happened, as stated above. The game was between the top seed in the conference and a team that wouldn’t have even made the playoffs before a few seasons ago. The Packers weren’t even supposed to be here and they made a real match out of it. Ended really funny though with that cross-body INT.
–2013 vs 49ers: Despite being the home team, the Packers were a measly 8-7-1 and the visiting Kaeperniners were 12-4. The game wasn’t nearly the clinic Kaep put on the year before and it was an ugly slugfest in the cold.
-2012 vs 49ers: The “Kaepernick runs all over them” game. Divisional round, Pack was the visiting 3 seed to SF’s 2 seed. The game was actually pretty good till SF opened it up in the 3rd and the big difference in the game would end up being Green Bay’s inability to contain the leaping gazelle that was Kaep at full speed.
-2020 vs Bucs: Rodgers was MVP. Green Bay was the top seed in the conference. They faced the Goat, carrying the 5th seed Bucs into his first-ever NFCCG. This game was fairly good, but is remembered because Green Bay was down 31-23 with 2 minutes left, 4th down on the 8-yard line, and Matt LaFeur kicked a field goal. They were down 8 points with 2 minutes left, on the 8 yard line, and kicked a field goal. The Packers never got the ball back after a stupid holding by a defender gave Tampa the first down and they ran out the clock.
-2016 vs Falcons: Now it starts getting genuinely hard to rank to rank by embarrassments. The Packers were the 4 seed, had beaten the Giants and upset the Cowboys in a thriller. But then they ran into the 2-seed Falcons buzzsaw and got absolutely erased. Getting that far in the first place was a decent accomplishment and I’d say nobody was beating that Falcons team in 2016 but we know how that ended.
-2019 vs 49ers: The other time GB got trampled. The Niners were the 1 seed, the Packers the 2, they met in the championship and Green Bay looked like a team that deserved to miss the playoffs. 27-0 start for the 49ers, the game was never in doubt.
-2011 vs Giants: Packers were 15-1. They were the defending champions. Rodgers was the MVP. The Giants were a 9 win 4th seed that squeaked into the playoffs. The Packers completely forgot how to hold onto a football and the Giants handily beat them. The game even included a last second hail mary touchdown from Eli to Hakeem Nicks right before half. The refs in that game made one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen to this day in favor of the Packers when Greg Jennings clearly fumbled a ball but even on replay said he was down. That was one of the times I’ve been truly, utterly frothing mad at the refs after a bad call against my team. Eat shit Bill Levy. I’m glad the call wouldn’t matter in the end. First 15-1 zero playoff win team in history. Lol.
-2021 vs 49ers: 49ers were the 6th seed. Packers were once again the #1 seed. 13-4. Rodgers was once again MVP of the league. The season was marred by Rodgers getting exposed as a conspiracy nutter halfway through the year, a public embarrassment that sticks with him to this day as he’s only gone further down the rabbit hole, pissing off basically everyone except the nutters who believe the same things he does. The reigning MVP could do no right against the upstart 49ers in the frigid temperatures. The game wasn’t even that good, it was ugly and shitty. The 49ers didn’t play a great game (At least on offense). The play of the game was a blocked punt TD. They scored a rushing TD very early and never saw the endzone again. I watched this game with my 49ers fan neighbor and had an absolutely outstanding time. When I posted my cartoon of that game I got more likes on twitter than I had ever gotten before. The entire country was collectively relishing the demise of that jackass.
-2014 vs Seahawks: Some of these games listed above are arguably more embarrassing due to circumstances. A 1-seed losing to a wildcard, a 15-1 titan going down to a 9 win team. Getting buzzsawed before having a chance. This game is different and is probably, for the wrong reasons, the most memorable of them all for the one play. You know the play. Rodgers was once again MVP. Packers were the 2 seed to Seattle’s 1st seed. The game was a mess…in favor of the Packers. Neither team could stop turning the ball over but the Packers were the only ones to truly capitalize. The Seahawks only points through most of the 4th quarter were on a fake field goal. Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix caught the final of his many Russ picks with  5 minutes left and from the way it was going that really felt like the end. Narrator: it was not the end. Seattle got the ball back with 3:30 left. They scored with 2:09 left. That’s when it happened. The Seahawks kick onsides and Brandon Bostick makes the play he’ll be remembered for in the history books. The ball doinks off his head and into the arms of the Hawks. They’d score within a minute and make a miracle 2pt conversion to go up by 3. The Packers mustered a field goal to send it to overtime, but the damage was done. Russ threw one of his best ever passes to seal the deal on the first drive of OT. The Bostick Onside Kick is now legend and the Packers embarassment final.

If you are a Packers fan and read this whole post, I’m proud of you.