I want to say this right away. To be clear, I’m not actually hoping for a loss this weekend. Obviously I’ll be cheering as loud as always. Never would I actually hope for a Green Bay loss, as a lifetime fan. I’m also not throwing in the towel and giving up on this game as if I don’t think the Packers can win. I do. They’ve shown me enough this year to say that anything can be possible with this team. They have the tools to get the job done, and San Fransisco isn’t bulletproof.
Not only that, the first round bye in the playoffs isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. It’s not uncommon for a #1 seed to blow their first game in the playoffs coming out of a bye.
I’m merely trying to keep my expectations realistic. I do not see that the Packers are a Super Bowl winning team this year. If things keep trending this direction, the Packers have a VERY big window of opportunity to bring the Lombardi Trophy back home. But for this year, I just feel that youth and inexperience will eventually be their downfall. It’s not a matter of if, but when. So when it does happen, I feel like the 49ers are the perfect team to fall to.
I know, I know. Why would a lifelong Packer fan ever say anything like this about the 49ers? This team has a long history of removing us from the playoffs, including several times in the last couple of decades.
But to me, that’s what makes them the perfect team for this job.
Jordan Love and some of his teammates were there for the last time San Fransisco sent us packing in the playoffs back in 2022. But back then, Jordan Love wasn’t under center. He merely sat on the sidelines, held hostage by the show in front of him.
I know he wants this game, and wants to write his own script. His many rookie teammates have definitely heard the stories of San Fran removing us by now, and they don’t want to be another statistic either.
So why wouldn’t a loss the the 49ers be bad this time around?
Because this is a young team that everyone, including themselves, knows has nowhere to go but up. These talented rookies and 1st time starters have developed and improved more in the last 3 months than most young players do in 3 years. I’m genuinely excited to see how the off-season develops them further, and I’m looking for that little extra “spice” to push them harder.
The sting of losing in the playoffs is always real, but the sting that would come from yet another loss to the 49ers may be exactly what this team needs to send them into beast mode. They’ll train harder in the off-season with one goal in mind. Making sure this never happens again.
In short, a loss to the 49ers this week may likely be the last time we lose to them again for a very, very long time.
I can live with that.
COVER PHOTO CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS
