We will remember this Green Bay Packers season for several reasons. But one of the more bizarre games this year was a 25-22 road win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 5. It featured five missed field goals, all of which came after the 2:14 mark of the fourth quarter. While field-goal kicking (and special teams in general) remained a thorn in Green Bay’s side all season long, Bengals rookie kicker Evan McPherson has put together one of the most impressive kicking runs of all-time. Since Week 5, he’s helped lead Cincinnati to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1989.
As the Week 5 game unfolded, each kick made it increasingly stranger. Each kick could have conceivably won the game. Crosby’s first miss, with 2:14 remaining, and McPherson’s first, with 26 seconds left, would have left time for a potential game-tying field goal. But Crosby’s miss at the end of regulation and the two overtime misses would have been game-winners.
The Packers were able to escape Paul Brown Stadium with an October win. But that seemed to be about it for their kicking luck, especially when that win came on the heels of Crosby’s game-winner in San Francisco. Following the win over Cincinnati, it’s certainly arguable that every game that Green Bay lost afterwards (in games they were actually trying — sorry, Detroit) was a result of kicking woes.
- The 13-7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs with Jordan Love at the helm would have looked different if Crosby wasn’t 0-2 on field goals.
- Crosby’s missed 32-yarder early in Green Bay’s 34-31 loss in Minneapolis could have been a factor in that game.
- Add in the blocked kick before halftime in the playoffs against the San Francisco 49ers, and Green Bay might be looking at a rematch with the Bengals right now.
What could have been a nightmare scenario for McPherson’s confidence ended up being a learning opportunity, who has been historically good down the stretch for Cincinnati. McPherson hit a game-winner in his first career game and added one in Week 4 before the Week 5 stumble against Green Bay. But he didn’t nail a truly clutch kick until Week 18 against the Kansas City Chiefs when his game-winning chip shot sealed the AFC North for the Bengals. Add on game-winners against the Tennessee Titans and the Chiefs in the playoffs, and the rookie fifth-rounder has had a memorable start to his NFL career.
As a whole, Crosby’s career in Green Bay has been a tremendous success. The Packers turned a 2007 sixth-round pick into a 15-year veteran at a position that has largely been set-it-and-forget-it until the last few seasons. Green Bay invested in a volatile position, albeit a relatively minimal one, given where they drafted Crosby and turned it into an asset for over a decade. That’s a win in almost every scenario. Whether the Packers were maybe a bit too loyal for a year or two too long will be debated among the fanbase forever. But there’s no doubt that Crosby’s career has been a success as a whole.
The template that Crosby provided, and that the Bengals seem to be following, is one that Green Bay needs to pay attention to as soon as this April’s draft. Kickers can be found on the street, but if you can find one you like toward the end of the draft, a good kicker is worth his weight in gold.
McPherson might be a flash in the pan, but he certainly appears that he will be a weapon for the Bengals for many years to come. Brian Gutekunst and the Packers would be wise to use a draft pick to replace Crosby, and hope that he has even half as good of a career as the ol’ No. 2 with the salt-and-pepper beard. Even as pro football seems to increasingly eschew the kicking game in favor of analytics, this postseason has certainly helped prove the case that a reliable kicker is a must-have for a Super Bowl run.
