Anyone else take a few days after a Packers loss (especially a bad Packers loss) before they’re really capable of soaking in media related to the team once again?

Because sheesh, that’s how I felt this week. 

It’s Thursday, so by now we’ve exhausted everything we need to discuss regarding the Packers’ impressive belly flop in Tampa on Sunday. Hopefully, most of us are convinced that there’s no reason *yet* to press the panic button for the Packers’ 2020 season. We can move on to Houston and everything that comes next, right?

Right.

Riiiight.

But…

HOLY SHIT MIKE PETTINE WHAT WERE YOU DOING SPENDING THE ENTIRE GAME LETTING TOM BRADY PICK APART A THREE MAN RUSH OVER AND OVER AGAIN WHEN HE’S ONE OF THE LEAGUE’S WORST QBS AGAINST PRESSURE IN 2020?!

GOODNESS GRACIOUS AARON RODGERS HOW DID YOU JUST COLLAPSE LIKE A TAILGATE TABLE UNDER AN AIRBORNE BUFFALO BILLS FAN AFTER ONE LOUSY THROW GETS TAKEN BACK TO THE HOUSE?!

YIKES TIMES INFINITY, ENTIRE PACKERS TEAM, IS THIS WHAT WE CAN EXPECT WHEN YOU FINALLY FACE ADVERSITY IN AN NFL MATCHUP?!

Okay, okay, I’m fine. It’s all out. I promise.

Rodgers says this game was an “anomaly,” and I want to believe him. I really do. And I’m willing to give this team the benefit of the doubt.

But there’s a disturbing trend that’s starting to form in which the Packers under Matt LaFleur may not lose often, but when they do, they get absolutely embarrassed, and most times in front of a national audience. 

You hope that this time it’s different, that this will be the game that serves as a much-needed “wakeup call” and that the Packers will take every week and every opponent as seriously as they should, especially in marquee matchups. 

There’s a whole lot of season left, so no matter what, it’s far too early to start talking about the Packers being doomed or anything like that. Just about every champion within the last decade has been blown out once or twice during the regular season. 

So no, it’s not time to panic. 

But it’s also completely fair to be not be brimming with quite as much confident in this team’s ability to steamroll their way through the NFC into a Super Bowl appearance.

On the bright side: Packers’ upcoming schedule looking favorable

In the category of good news, let’s talk about the Packers’ upcoming schedule.

At this point in the season, the Packers were supposed to be in a post-by murderer’s row. Back a few months ago, the prospects of facing Tampa Bay (an expected contender) followed by three playoff teams in Houston, Minnesota and San Francisco certainly were not appealing. Most expected this four-week stretch to be by far the toughest portion of the Packers’ season.

However, the Texans and Vikings have won only one game each, and the 49ers are in limbo at .500 in a tough division. 

All three teams still pose plenty of danger, but the Packers’ odds of winning the majority of the games in that four-game stretch have to be significantly higher than they were before the season started.

Suddenly, it’s not that date with the 49ers on Sunday Night Football that’s looking like the Packers’ toughest matchup--it’s a game with the Titans in December that looms large as a tough fight. The Titans have a pair of MVP candidates in Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry and have been bullying teams left and right in this season so far. Can’t say I envy the Packers’ defense, who will have to find a way to tackle Henry in cold weather.

Wisconsin Beer of the Week

I grew up having it hammered into my head that you “don’t fruit the beer,” that this was some sort of horrible violation against a sacred “man code” or something ridiculous like that.

People, the year is 2020, and I am here to tell you that it is okay to fruit the beer. In fact, we’re living in a golden age of fruited sours right now, and it’s a fascinating and rapidly evolving area of brewing that is producing some really exciting and delicious stuff. The level of difficulty that goes into brewing beer with a lot of fruit cannot be understated--fruit makes the beer much more volatile, so it takes a very skilled brewer to produce something that turns out great.

Here in Milwaukee, as well as the rest of Wisconsin, there are a few breweries producing some great fruited sours, including 1840 Brewing Company, Component Brewing and the one I’m featuring today, Eagle Park Brewery.

Eagle Park has exploded in popularity over the last several years due to its highly unique fruited sours and milkshake IPAs (not to mention its delicious and more conventional IPAs, stouts, ambers and lagers). Their primary tap room is located on Milwaukee’s east side, but they also recently opened a Muskego location that also has a distillery. Both locations serve some pretty solid food as well.

This particular beer was released earlier this year, and is a perfect example of the kind of excellence breweries are capable of producing with fruit and berries right now. The name is “Who’s Berry Badrinath?” a reference to that Broken Lizard movie classic, Beerfest. 

As you can see from the photo, this beer very much looks the part of a fruited sour. Its deep reddish-purple color and thick pink foam make for a fun, appetizing appearance. This kettle sour with boysenberry, blackberry and strawberry comes in at just four percent ABV, but it’s so packed with berries that it feels like a full dessert. 

I know I am almost certain to get some comments here, probably from some of the elder statesmen of our readership, voicing their disgust over the idea of “fruity beer,” but trust me--forget what you think you know about fruited beers and try one yourself. I highly recommend starting with something like New Glarus’s Wisconsin Belgian Red, which is excellent and also widely available throughout Wisconsin, and expanding your horizons from there. It’s a whole new world of beer right now that’s seeing some big-time advances.

Texans a rare opponent for the Packers

This week will mark just the fifth time the Packers and Texans have played.

The Texans joined the league in 2002 and first played the Packers in 2004. I distinctly remember the game being hyped up as a potential future star in David Carr (heh) taking on the legend Brett Favre as a sort of “present versus future” matchup. 

In 2008, the Texans squeaked out a late victory against the Packers in Aaron Rodgers’ first year as a starter. It was one of a number of close losses for the Packers that year that showed the tema had potential, but wasn’t quite ready to put it together (largely due to the defense).

In 2012, the most famous meeting of the two teams occurred, the so-called “shhhh” game in which Rodgers scorched the Texans for six touchdowns after a slow start to the season, and after JJ Watt had the audacity to mock the belt.

In 2016, the Packers outlasted the Texans in a snowy Lambeau Field during their epic “run the table” stretch. The game produced one of my all-time favorite Packer photos that I still to this day use for my phone’s wallpaper:

The 2020 edition finds a Packer team in need of a rebound victory, and a Texans team that’s fresh off firing its coach and in need of some direction. 

Around the NFC North

As always, it’s time to take a brief look at what the rest of the NFC North accomplished (or failed to accomplish) over the weekend’s action.

The CHICAGO BEARS are a playoff team. It’s hilarious watching Packers Twitter find all the ways they can to justify their argument that “this isn’t a REAL 5-1 team!” just a year after foaming at the mouth over the same disrespect shown to the Packers. Look, the Bears are what their record says they are. They’re not winning pretty. They don’t have a good offense. But with this defense, they can at least be competitive with anyone in football. I don’t think they win the division and I doubt they make a deep run, but they’re here to stay and they’re not going to give anyone an easy victory in 2020. The Panthers had been building some impressive momentum the last couple weeks, and the Bears just fully smothered their offense, despite Nick Foles’ attempt to throw the game away near the end.

The DETROIT LIONS desperately needed that kind of win that they just had over the Jaguars if they are to have any hope of salvaging their season. Rookie running back D’Andre Swift is looking the part of a real, dynamic playmaker for the Lions, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him continue to get a larger share of the time in the Lions’ backfield. For now, at least, the talks of a Matt Patricia midseason firing are kicked down the road for another week, but you can bet they’ll be revived before too long.

Have the MINNESOTA VIKINGS completely given up? After an incredibly deflating loss to the Seattle Seahawks in week 5, the Vikings’ season was on life support, and they needed to come out with energy this week to begin building the momentum they’d need to get their season back from the dead. But three Kirk Cousins interceptions later, the Vikings were drubbed by the winless Atlanta Falcons, and got some garbage time points to make it look like a much closer game than it actually was. There have only been three 1-5 teams since the merger to make the playoffs (1970 Bengals, 2015 Chiefs, 2018 Colts), so the Vikings will need an all-time season comeback to have a shot at getting in even in the new seventh seed. You can write them off now. Good riddance.

A little more about the Bears

The Bears are a fascinating study this season because they are very much counter to what most of the rest of the league looks like during this unusual 2020 season, especially the other teams near the top of the standings.

The 2020 season has been defined by unusually high scores and touchdown counts, with defenses being slow to catch up after an offseason without any real in-game work. This is very similar to the 2011 season, where numerous teams and quarterbacks set offensive records after a lockout shortened the offseason and defenses were forced to play catchup for much of the year.

But the Bears are winning games with a throwback style in which their defense is dictating the ball game and the offense is just trying to stay out of the way, for the most part. It’s classic Bears football in all ways good and bad--the team still can’t play offense, but when your defense is playing at such a high level you can compete with pretty much anyone.

Now here’s where I must give the disclaimer that yes, The Bears Still Suck and always will. But I can’t help feeling as though I completely underestimated this team.

The Packers/Bears games this year are going to have some extra “oomph.” It’s been a bit since both of these teams were legitimate playoff-caliber teams at the exact same time--the 2013 season is the last time there was a game between these two teams with real postseason implications for both teams. 

As much as you hate to see the Bears win any game ever, it’s hard not to admit the rivalry is more fun when there are some real stakes. And with the Packers and Bears playing in Chicago in the final week of the season, there’s a legitimate possibility that game will be huge for the NFC playoff picture.

The Old Fashioned in Madison needs your help

I spent four years of my life in Madison, Wisconsin and I very much wish it could have been longer. A part of me is still very much there to this day, and I try to visit whenever possible (and when there’s not a pandemic).

One of my very favorite places to enjoy a drink or a meal in Madison is The Old Fashioned on the capitol square. This place just oozes Wisconsin, and it’s by design. You can get a variety of old fashioneds, there are dozens of Wisconsin beers on tap, and there are all kinds of fantastic Wisconsin entrees and snacks, including some of the best fried cheese curds in the state and some really awesome Wisconsin-themed lazy susans. 

There are a whole lot of places around the country that are suffering during the pandemic. The Old Fashioned is one of them. They’ve got a GoFundMe running right now, and if you’re feeling generous, here’s the link. 

The Old Fashioned is often out-of-state visitors’ very first introductions to Wisconsin. It’s where I take people who visit Madison for the first time. It’s where students who come from out of state bring their parents when they’re visiting to give them a quintessential Wisconsin experience. It’s one of the anchors of the square and a special spot.

I hope to see them succeed and stay open as we all attempt to make it through what’s likely to be a rough winter.

Week six quick forecast

After a shockingly bad output against the Bucs, the Packers are in sudden need of a “get right” game, and so here come the one-win Houston Texans. 

Now, don’t get it twisted, this Texans team still packs some firepower and is led by one of the premier young players in this game in Deshaun Watson. This isn’t likely to be a game you can expect the Packers to come in and win by 30.

But the Texans’ defense, particularly its back half, has been pretty bad, and its defensive front doesn’t pose nearly the threat it once did. Even the great JJ Watt has had a relatively pedestrian start to the season by his standards. 

After facing a highly dynamic, aggressive defense, the Packers’ offense needs to get its mojo back. They should be able to control the flow of the game enough on offense to come away with a victory that isn’t overly stressful.

Packers 34, Texans 23