There were some moments during and shortly after Sunday’s game where I felt transported to another time.
Years back, the way the Packers lost the game against the Colts likely would have stuck with me for the entire week. I’d have spent the rest of the evening stewing, and probably would have avoided any kind of football-related media for at least several days following the defeat. I felt some of those emotions stirring in me, but they quickly subsided.
This year, I have to say, the losses, even the heartbreaking ones, just don’t affect me like they used to.
I’ve gained a lot of perspective throughout the pandemic on a lot of things about my life, and the football season certainly is one of them. I find myself frequently remembering there was a time as recently as late August where I wasn’t certain the NFL season would happen at all.
It might seem silly now, given how the NFL has trudged along even as cases have skyrocketed, but there were legitimate concerns that the league might not be capable of putting on more than a month’s worth of games this season, if that.
I think the combination of how close we were to not having football combined with the state of… well… everything this year has given me a greater appreciation for what we have right now as Packer fans.
This is a team that’s been a consistent winner for nearly three decades. It’s currently 7-3 atop its division, a game back from the first seed with six games to go, and a quarterback playing at an MVP level.
In a year that’s caused me to look at my life and reevaluate my priorities and reassess my convictions, I think I appreciate more than ever the remarkable nature of what we have with the Packers, and how at any moment it could be gone.
Aaron Rodgers doesn’t have too many years of football left, and I could spend the rest of my life watching the team try desperately to find its next franchise quarterback to lead them to glory, like the Browns of the last two decades, or the Dolphins since Dan Marino’s retirement.
I’ve spent my entire 32-year existence on this planet knowing nothing other than a Packers team that just wins. If, after everything we’ve gone through collectively this year, we can’t take a step back and realize just how incredible that is and how fortunate we’ve been as fans of this franchise over the last several decades, what does that say?
Don’t get me wrong, I still will yell at the TV, or send out my impassioned tweets and in-the-moment overreactions.
But ultimately, holy shit, have we ever been fortunate. And this team is still a contender for this season.
And I’m thankful for that.
I’m thankful for Matt LaFleur’s face of incredulity
By now, just about every Packer fan is familiar with the absolute god-awful question reporter Mark Daniels asked Matt LaFleur in the post-game press conference in Indianapolis.
“Matt, I hate to be blunt, but how do you live with MVS?”
LaFleur’s face in response says it all:
To LaFleur’s credit, he gave a very diplomatic answer to an absolute bush league question that honestly should probably get Daniels’ credentials revoked, at least temporarily. It’s one thing to be critical of a player, but phrasing it like that is unprofessional at best and malicious at worst.
But I’m thankful for this screenshot, because the memes it will be able to be used in for years to come will be glorious.
Wisconsin Beer of the Week
Someone on Twitter recently suggested I look into beers by Humble Forager. I’d had an Untitled Art collaboration with the Waunakee distribution brewery (founded by the owner of Minnesota’s Forager Brewery) before, the Oat Cream IPA that I featured several weeks ago. However, I’d never had one of Humble Forager’s solo projects.
I have to say, after trying this one, I’ll be on the lookout for a whole lot more.
My chosen brew for this week is Humble Forager’s Voyager’s Getaway, an absolutely fantastic stout that features flavors of marshmallow, cocoa, vanilla and coconut. It’s so incredibly rich and smooth that it almost feels impossible that it comes in at a powerful 12 percent ABV. There are some so-called “pastry stouts” that can come out a little too sweet for my liking, and while this one definitely is on the sweeter side, it’s definitely not overpowering.
In addition, there are a lot of breweries that fail to deliver the velvety mouthfeel I enjoy of higher-ABV stouts. That’s certainly not the case with Voyager’s Getaway. Not only is the taste sublime, but the drinking experience is excellent as well. Served at cellar temperature in a stout glass, this one is just a pleasure to sip on and enjoy with a good book or a roaring fire.
Cannot recommend highly enough. I found it at my local Woodman’s. Not sure what their distribution range is like, but if you find it at your local liquor store, make it a point to grab it.
I’m thankful for Davante Adams
Davante Adams is one special player.
Can you remember a more ho-hum 7-catch, 100+ yard, 1-TD performance in NFL history? The guy just makes it look so easy and routine now that you almost take his greatness for granted.
Adams has been the league’s best receiver this season, full stop. He leads the league in catches, yards and touchdowns per game, and despite missing two and a half games is still right near the top of the leaderboards in volume stats as well. For yards per game it’s not even close--he’s averaging 105.9, and the next closest is DeAndre Hopkins from Arizona at 91.2
Adams has long been the league’s finest route runner, but he’s become a more well-rounded player than ever before, and the connection he’s developed with Rodgers has become otherworldly. I would say it even rivals or exceeds the connection Rodgers had with Jordy Nelson for so many years.
We’re not too far off from talking a contract extension for Adams (probably during the 2021 season), and he’s going to have absolutely earned it.
He hasn’t been getting the hype needed for it, but Adams should be firmly in the discussion for Offensive Player of the Year at the end of the season, in addition to securing first-team All Pro honors.
Around the NFC North
Once again it’s time for us to take a look around the NFC North.
The CHICAGO BEARS had a much-needed bye week after dropping four consecutive games and allowing Kirk Cousins to pick up his first ever Monday Night Football victory. Their prize is a trip to Green Bay on primetime where they get to play a motivated Packers team and a sizzling Aaron Rodgers. The Bears of the Matt Nagy era have been absolutely awful in front of national audiences, and their quarterback situation remains in flux as the extent of Nick Foles’s injury is still up in the air. Not that it matters--no matter who’s under center, this offense is garbage and the defense, while great, won’t be able to win too many games for them with the kind of handicap the offense provides.
The DETROIT LIONS serve us up their yearly Thanksgiving “treat” today, an annual tradition something akin to an overcooked turkey or lukewarm mashed potatoes. A week after getting blanked by a subpar Panthers team in an embarrassing performance, the team gets to take on the Houston Texans, who are coming off a victory over the New England Patriots and have a quarterback playing as well as anyone in football, despite the rest of the team’s deficiencies. This Lions team has the look of one ready to keel over and get rid of coach Matt Patricia already, so don’t expect this one to be close.
The MINNESOTA VIKINGS had a lot of hype coming into Week 11 as a team making a “turnaround.” In fact, a Fox NFL Sunday pregame segment devoted about 7 minutes to hyping up this team that had had a 1-5 start. The Vikings then promptly went out and lost at home to the horrendous Dallas Cowboys, who have half their team on injured reserve. The Vikings have a last chance in their “turnaround” bid when they play host to the Panthers this weekend--a loss would surely put them too far out of reach in the wild card race with just five games left to play. It’s do or die time for this perpetually overhyped team of professional underachievers.
I’m thankful for a Thanksgiving of any sort
Thanksgiving will look very different for the Backes family this year. It was initially going to be just my family of five plus my two parents, who help us out with childcare. But a potential COVID exposure has shrunk the celebration down to only my household. We’re still making a turkey and stuffing and all the good stuff, but it’ll be very different than the large celebrations we usually take part in.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things to be excited about! With it being a low-key celebration, we’ll be setting up our Christmas decorations on Thanksgiving for the first time ever, with the sounds of NFL football in the background and a fire crackling in the fireplace. My oldest son is now old enough to at least have a small role in helping get the tree set up and to have an understanding of what the holiday is, so I’m excited for him to experience it for the first time with this perspective.
At some point in the day, we’ll have a Zoom session with the rest of my family.
It’ll be weird not to split a couple imperial stouts with my dad, or to watch the games with my brother, or to avoid potential political discussions with my father in law, but I’m thankful for a healthy family, a stable household and the ability to have any kind of celebration at all.
I’m thankful for this bomb NFL Films VHS I found on Amazon
When I was a kid, I watched the NFL Films review of the Packers’ 1996 season on VHS so many times that I wore out the tape.
For years I’ve been searching for a replacement that wasn’t used, and finally found someone selling an unopened copy on Amazon.
Feast your eyes on this bad boy.
Now that I have it in my possession, my next step is to find someone who still has a VCR I can borrow so I can hook it up to my computer and digitize this thing so I never lose access to it again. If nothing else, I’ll head over to my nearest Goodwill and buy one for like three bucks.
I feel like I probably still have this whole thing memorized, so I’m looking forward to getting to see it again for the first time in many years.
Week 12 quick forecast
All week I’ve just had this lingering feeling that the Packers are going to absolutely beat the stuffing out of the Bears.
I don’t have a whole lot of football-related reasons for this. In fact, I think the logical choice is that the Packers grind out a tough win against a team with a really strong defense, the difference being that the Bears are incapable of playing offense.
But something about the energy we saw out of this team in Indianapolis combined with the way people like Matt LaFleur and Aaron Rodgers talked about the game in its aftermath just makes me think that they’re going to be up and ready to play on primetime Sunday.
So I’m willing to admit that there’s a bit of homerism going on here, and that I’m not being nearly as logical as I tend to be with my picks, but something tells me Rodgers has a classic in him this Sunday evening, and that the Packers thoroughly undress the Bears on national television.
Hopefully my sixth sense here proves to be accurate.
Packers 42, Bears 17
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November 26, 2020 at 11:16PM
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Hello Wisconsin: Giving Thanks for Packer Football and Tasty Brewed Beverages - Cheesehead TV
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