The Team of Destiny moves on. The San Diego Chargers inexplicably keep the 'Eagles Home Opener' theory alive. The Chargers, a team that needed to win their final two games and for Baltimore and Miami to lose their final two to gain the sixth seed. They were rewarded with a trip to Cincinnati where the hosting Bengals were 8-0… until tonight. Do the Chargers have that look and that feel of destiny? Or was this a darker destiny, the Bengals playoff destiny. Coach Marvin Lewis drops to 0-5 and the Bengals add another year to their 23 year drought.
The 'Eagles Home Opener' theory is fairly the self-explanatory, the team that plays against the Eagles for the first regular season game in Philadelphia… wins the Super Bowl. The 2009 Saints, 2010 Packers, the 2011 Giants, the 2012 Ravens and… the 2013 Chargers. Stands up to scrutiny for me.
So that's the why, but how?
The answer is simple. Cincinnati turnovers. Turnovers of the most inexplicable and frightening variety. Terrible throws, rookie fumbles inside the 5, the Bengals are now 0-3 in the playoffs under QB Andy Dalton's watch, he played awful a 3rd year in a row. Meanwhile, San Diego played efficiently and effectively the entire game.
KEY PLAY: San Diego let Cincinnati beat themselves, 0-4 turnover ratio. Besides two horrendous decision interceptions from Dalton, the key plays were RB Giovoni Bernard's fumble on the 2 yard line and Andy Dalton's inexcusable head first fumble, in which he fumbled, un-touched, into the waiting arms of S Jahleel Addae.
MVP: Perhaps the MVP of this game should just be the entire Chargers running game. The combo of RB Ryan Matthews and RB Danny Woodhead (and a big final punch from RB Ronnie Brown) converted the Bengals mistakes into a win.
San Francisco 49ers, 23 Green Bay Packers, 20
The 49ers and Packers provided the main event to cap an exciting Wild Card Weekend. In 5 degree weather, these two historically successful and currently superstar laden teams played a great game on the frozen tundra in Green Bay.
Frozen tundra is no exaggeration either, the grass was dead, brown, kicked up, and too cold to turn to mud.
QB Colin Kaepernick and QB Aaron Rodgers were still efficient. Kaepernick utilized WR Michael Crabtree and a workhorse, thankless pounding by RB Frank Gore to take what they could get and win the field position battle. Rodgers, fresh off a broken collarbone, showed gut and grit overcoming a slow start (6 total offensive yards in the 1st quarter) and making plays outside the pocket. Not insignificant was the electrifying style of RB Eddie Lacy who picked up many key first downs against the formidable San Francisco front 7.
The offenses moved the ball well, but slowly. The defenses were not overwhelmed. We entered the 4th quarter tied 13-10. The 4th quarter was a classic, Rodgers and Kaepernick traded touchdowns, then traded long, late 4th quarter drives for field goals. San Francisco ended up in the right spot.
KEY PLAY: On said final drive, Colin Kaepernick threw what was easily the worst decision of the wild card weekend, a short pass gift-wrapped to CB Micah Hyde who failed to haul it in. The drive was kept alive and capped with K Phil Dawson's field goal. The kick actually went between the arms CB Davon House. A pair of fortunate events for San Francisco, and what playoff football is all about.
MVP: Colin Kaepernick, though he almost blew the game, he is also the only QB in the league who could have gotten to the outside for the key 3rd down conversion, a 17 yard run to midfield. That performance cannot be over-looked even by this Seahawks fan.
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