Voices from the Cheap Seats: Did Matt Flynn Cost Aaron Rodgers the MVP Trophy?

Another piece from Jon Peterlin on a very good question: did Matt Flynn's huge game against Detroit pave the way for a possible upset in MVP voting?

Heading into Week 15 of the NFL season, Aaron Rodgers had a 13-0 record and all of the analysts shining up Rodgers’ mantelpiece to place the MVP trophy. Then a Week 14 loss to Kansas City in Rodgers' worst outing of the year, while Drew Brees was busy throwing for five touchdowns and a 149.2 passer rating against a Viking team that had struggled all year long.

You know what happened the rest of the season:

—Brees goes out and not only breaks, but shatters Dan Marino’s single-season passing yards record, ending up with 5,476 on the year.
—Rodgers throws for five touchdowns against a disassembled Chicago Bears team.
—Backup Matt Flynn gets the start in the final game against the playoff bound Detroit Lions.

That's when something strange happened. Matt Flynn didn’t just go out and give everyone watching one of the most exciting shootouts of the year. He broke records. Six touchdowns against the Lions set a Packers franchise record.

(For the record, Jordy Nelson's name really annoys me. --JS)

Ain't sayin' nothin' new

Matt Flynn isn’t new to getting his chance to start at the end of the season. At the end of the 2010 season, Flynn got two starts. He played poorly against a (then) not-so-good Detroit Lions team, but in his second start, he played very well in a close loss to a 14-2 Patriots team that would see their season end in a one-and-done loss to the Jets. Needless to say, putting up a 100 passer rating and throwing three touchdowns against a very competitive New England team impressed some people. Then in Week 17 of this season he came out and shined.

Was Flynn that much more improved or was Rodgers playing with loaded weapons? Going over the Green Bay receiving corps is detailing a who’s who of receivers I want on my All-Madden team. Highlighting the list is 2012 pro bowler Greg Jennings and Rodgers' go-to receiver in Jordy Nelson. Throw in Donald Driver, James Jones, and tight end Jermichael Finley and not many people can be surprised by the Packers' impressive 2011 season.


I’m not saying that if you threw in Brees' backup Chase Daniel, he’d throw for 400-plus yards. Obviously Flynn has talent, and that speaks volumes about the Green Bay organization that they can cultivate another potentially solid number-one starter using the same system with Flynn that developed Aaron Rodgers.

Flynn steps in, Brees steps up

Flynn didn’t get the same opportunity as Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan, who were in the same draft class but  started their rookie seasons.  That’s what being drafted in the seventh round does. He just wasn’t perceived as the next great thing back in 2008, and question marks are still there. That’s what I find the most intriguing. Nobody knows what will become of Matt Flynn, yet this one game may single handedly cost Rodgers an MVP title. They take Flynn for what he should be, a seventh rounder, not what he could be after four years of playing backup in Green Bay. I can’t say I blame anyone for doing that either. For every Tom Brady, there’s a million late-round quarterbacks who go on to be nothing more.

Are the people voting on the MVP award voting on the past few weeks, not a whole season? They’re not supposed to, but it’s hard not to be swayed by what you’ve recently seen: Drew Brees setting records.

Total passing yards – 5,476
300-yard passing games – 13
Completions – 468
Consecutive games of 20 completed passes – 36
Completion percentage – 71.2%

The only stat Rodgers' supporters have against Drew Brees in MVP voting is the difference in interceptions. Rodgers has only six interceptions on the year with no multiple interception games. Drew Brees has 14, including a season-high three against Tampa Bay in Week 6.

Voting for the MVP award has already happened. None of this talk changes who has won the award, even though nobody will find out until Super Bowl Sunday. For what it’s worth, I think Rodgers will still receive the award, but there is a much higher chance now that it could go to Brees. If it does, I wonder if Rodgers will always think on what would’ve happened had he gotten the start in week 17. I know he’ll claim he doesn’t care about the outcome as long as the Packers continue to win, and that’s all I’d expect him to say.

Jon Peterlin is a lifelong Chicagoan, avid bowler, Bears and (sigh) Cubs fan. When he's not using the overwhelming advantage of being a left-handed bowler to hustle marks at Bleeker's Bowl on 95th Street, he's asking big questions about sports issues. Follow Jon on Twitter @JPeterlin.

Voices from the Cheap Seats: Mike Martz's Monstrous Mistakes

Jon Peterlin, of the Fabulous Bowling Peterlins, is a 2007 graduate of Chicago's Brother Rice High School and a Communications major at Lindenwood University. He's also a Bears fan, which means his winter has been a bit more frosty than for others, notwithstanding the weather. His mother, LaVeda Peterlin, contributed a piece while on a journey to Daytona International Speedway back in February. Here's Jon's thoughts on the ongoing love saga...I mean, tumultuous tenure of Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz.

It takes a lot to get Lovie Smith genuinely angry. The Chicago Bears head coach is usually the most optimistic and positive person around, and until the Bears recent five-game losing streak, he had all the right to be.

When asked if he would bring back offensive coordinator Mike Martz, we saw an angry Lovie Smith quickly lash out: "What kind of question is that, anyway, at this time? What kind of question is that? Why would you ask a question like that anyway?"

This outburst stems from rumors that Martz is on his way out of Chicago after his contract expires at the end of the season. My question is simple: have the Bears dug themselves a hole they can’t get out of with Mike Martz and his complicated offense?

The Martz effect

Jay Cutler is 28 years old and signed through 2013 with the Bears. This is important since Cutler is supposed to be hitting his peak as a quarterback and showed signs of being comfortable within Martz’s system before suffering a broken thumb against the Chargers. So do the Bears just let that go? Getting rid of Martz is a step back for an organization needs to redeem themselves to their loyal fan base with a competitive 2012. The Bears of the 90s are over. They can’t get away with being bad for years on end and going unrecognized anymore.

If the Bears do get rid of Martz at season's end it doesn’t fix the problems this offense already has. The offensive woes (21st in the league in scoring) can’t all be put on Martz. I can’t blame Martz for lack of depth at quarterback and running back. I certainly can’t blame Martz for having a receiving corps “ highlighted ” by a return-specialist-turned-failed-receiver in Devin Hester, everyone’s favorite "white guy with great concentration and focus ” in Dane Sanzenbacher, and a clown car full of other NFL castoffs. Johnny Knox and Earl Bennett are the only two I would put on a team as a serious receiver, but as of today they wouldn’t be a number one anywhere. I’m not even going to mention the offensive line and the game of position musical chairs they keep playing from week to week.

So what can I blame Martz for? How about not using the biggest pair of NFL tight ends in Kellen Davis and Matt Spaeth effectively? In Martz’s system the tight end is heavily used as a blocker, which is why the Bears got two tight ends that are 6’7. Makes sense, right? We’ll stick them on the end and just have these two mammoths as extra blockers. That’s all good, but why are you limiting yourself and wasting two players with great hands that can bulldoze anyone on the field and get wide open? If you had a stacked receiving core I would understand, but the Bears don’t. There were more wasted yards on what could’ve been big gains simply because he never adjusted his system to what the Bears are. 

I’m not sure Martz fully grasps that the Bears aren’t the ’99 Rams team he had so much success with. The Bears don’t have an Isaac Bruce or a Torry Holt at their disposal. The only real similarities between the two teams is between Marshall Faulk and Matt Forte. He turned Forte into a running back that could also be effective in his receiving game, just like what got Faulk elected into the Hall. Forte goes down, Martz is left shaking his head and looking for answers.

No defense like a great offense

Martz supporters would claim that an NFC Championship title game in his first year gets him more time with the Bears. I’m not buying it. The 2010 Bears would’ve gotten there with any offense. Their defense was just that good, period.

Martz’s 2010 offense ranked 30th and this years is 21st. It’s a big improvement, but in order for the Bears to be successful, he would need two more years of big jumps like that. With an aging defense that will see Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs losing a few steps, and an unresolved safety situation, the years of good defense in Chicago are fading fast. Two of the top teams in the league right now, the Green Bay Packers and the New England Patriots, are the bottom two teams in defense entering the final week of the season. I think that alone speaks volumes for what a high powered offense can do for a team in today’s NFL.

So where do the Bears go from here? History would have us believe the front office sees Cutler’s last few games before getting injured as a sign that Martz and Cutler finally found rhythm and will inevitably ride that relationship out until Cutler’s contract is up in 2013. Hopefully this season and the few games the Bears suffered with Caleb Hanie taking the snaps taught them that small sample size shouldn’t be determines major organizational changes.

I’m fairly confident our time with Martz will be coming to an end soon. I honestly thought he would leave after last year and seek out a head coaching job, but stayed for what has turned out to be a devastating season and has expressed interest to stay longer if the Bears will have him. All we can do now is sit back and watch as the Bears are forced to gamble on a decision that they never should have put themselves into in the first place.

JP

Follow Jon on Twitter @JPeterlin. As always, see you in the cheap seats.