2011, Divisional: Falling off the edge

2011, Divisional: Giants 37, Packers 20

This was our year.

All season long, I listened to Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" as the inspiration for the season. We were on the edge of something special - back-to-back Super Bowl wins. That would truly be glorious. Winning one Super Bowl is spectacular, something they can never take away from you. But winning two in a row - you're never forgotten.

I knew there was something seriously wrong when I found out this past week that Lady Gaga was a Giants fan.

Then this game happened. From the third play from scrimmage, it was clear that the Packers were not meant to win this game. They could not defend the pass - again. They survived the first series to only be down 3-0.

Then they drove downfield, but this was different from most games this season. In most games this year, the Packers would score that touchdown, and seize control for good. This time, Aaron Rodgers missed Greg Jennings, and the Packers settled for 3.

It only took a couple passes for Eli Manning to torch the Packers and go up 10-3. I knew the team was in trouble then.

Thanks to an atrocious call by the officials, the Packers kept the ball after a Jennings fumble, then scored on a Rodgers pass to Kuhn. 10-10 - we may have been lucky, but let's face it, every team gets lucky from time to time.

The Packers then tried an onside kick - I may have called it stupid, but I also pointed out that the Packers weren't stopping them anyway, so might as well try it. Brad Jones then blocked the field goal try, and the Packers were at their highest point all evening.

Then came an Eli Manning interception, but followed immediately by a Kuhn fumble. The Giants scored a field goal to go up 13-10.

Still, everything was fine. The Packers got the ball, and although they failed to score, they punted and gave the Giants only about a minute with the ball - with no timeouts. Any reasonable defense would hold them out of field goal range - even an atrocious defense would hold them to only a field goal.

But not this defense. The defense gave up a long run where the runner somehow even got out of bounds, then Eli Manning tossed one to the end zone on a Hail Mary - and the defenders were way out of position, and the Giants came down with it. 20-10 at the half - and suddenly alarm bells were going off.

Rodgers fumbled on the first possession of the second half, at which point things began to look bleak. The defense actually played well for a quarter, enabling the Packers to pull within 7 - although they missed on a potential touchdown again.

The Packers failed on a fourth down midway through the fourth quarter, at which point the Giants took it downfield to make a field goal. Down 10, I tweeted that the Packers would have to play perfectly the rest of the way for a chance at victory.

Then came the devastating play - Ryan Grant fumbling away a completion, returned by the Giants to the Packers' 4-yard line. A TD by the Giants put the game away.

It's true that the Packers did score a TD to pull within 10, and nearly recovered an onside kick, then got the Giants in a 3rd-and-11. At this point they at least had an outside chance at a comeback - one that would require an onside kick recovery (another one had they gotten this one) but at least some hope. Instead, they gave up the first down, later gave up the touchdown, and things were out of hand.

A Rodgers interception was the most appropriate way to end this game, with a 37-20 loss.

As far as losses go, this was one of the most devastating I have ever seen. Super Bowl XXXII of course hurt because the team was one win away from being a dynasty. The 2007 NFC Championship Game hurt really badly - against these same Giants, at home - because Favre had his last chance to win a Super Bowl as a Packer. This one is very much a mixture of the two. The prevention of becoming a dynasty, with the team falling at home to the Giants. It probably ranks 3rd among losses all-time - I'll have to re-rank the list this summer.

There's nothing left to say. This team was on "The Edge of Glory." And yet we find that glory was still so far away. 15 regular-season wins, home-field advantage, all down the drain. A completely devastating and mind-numbing loss.

+'s & -'s:

+: Donald Driver, in what may have been his final game as a Packer.

-: Everyone else, and I literally mean, everyone else. Honestly, every other player on this team played an absolutely miserable game today.

2011 Green Bay Packers: 15-2, no "Glory"