OK, I'll start with the injuries. James Jones had the wind knocked out of him. He did return. Tory Humphrey had a concussion. He did not return. Chad Clifton had both thumbs sprained there at the end and was out on the final drive. With that, I'll take your questions.
(The offense at the end failed again. How much of that falls on Aaron Rodgers?)
I think it's on the whole offense, and quarterback is a big part of it. The two-minute drive there at the end really without seeing the film as far as the throw, the coverage and so forth ... We were attacking the seams with a double move on the outside, so I couldn't really answer that without watching the film.
(Was this game similar to the last couple with giving up a long drive at the end, not converting short yardage situations, etc.?)
I think this game had some similarities to some of the games we've had of late, no doubt about it. The bottom line was the outcome. We did not make enough plays to win the game. You can go through the different situations, some of the communication errors we had in the first half, the ability to score in the two-minute, the ability to keep them out of the end zone, those are the things we're not doing in the important spots in the game.
(Five times in the second half you needed a yard for a first down and didn't connect on any of them. What happened on both those series?)
Well, I mean obviously the run game - once again without seeing the film and the breakdown on each play, I couldn't accurately answer that. Second-and-one, third-and-one, fourth-and-one was a tough go for us in the second half for whatever reason. It definitely factored in the game.
(You've been successful with the quarterback sneak. Did you consider using it?)
That's an option in that spot we hit. I think we hit it in the first half, but yeah, that's an option there.
(How disappointed are you in this game and the season to this point?)
Well, nobody is happy about where we are. We had high expectations. Our expectations will never change at the Green Bay Packers. We are fully aware of that, but we have a big game coming up against Chicago, and we need to shift gears. We need to get in there tomorrow and get ready to play that game. So we fully expected and had our opportunity to win this game, and we did not get that done. We did not make enough plays, and that's why I'm standing here 5-9.
(So you think you are what you are?)
I think those are probably better questions for after the season. We lost a game today. The offense in the red zone in the first half, the communication wasn't as clean as it needed to be and it affected some of our performance. The communication in the first half defensively as far as the calls and so forth put us in some tight spots, and the two-minute to win the game. Those are all the keys to why we did not win today.
(What happened on the third-and-goal in the first half?)
That's what I'm referring to is the communication as far as the huddle call was following a timeout. There's no need for that. We should be set and ready to go there. The quarterback - it's a two-way play that we refer to as far as his options, what's going to occur on that play, and frankly the formation not being lined up initially factored into the play. That's why we're kicking field goals instead of scoring touchdowns.
(Was Jermichael lined up on the wrong side?)
I don't want to get into that. I mean, it's all of our faults. We should not have problems lining up after a timeout. That's what happened.
(There were instances of guys yelling at each other during the game. Is the frustration of the season setting in?)
That's communication, that's what I'm talking about. There are play calls that come in from the sideline that need to be communicated, and it goes from the communicator all the way down. It wasn't as clean as it needed to be today.
(What happened between Harris and Poppinga?)
I've just answered the question three times -- it's a breakdown in communication. A certain coverage is called and it has to be communicated all the way down.
(Coach, the players have said the last three weeks that it was a "must win". Do you question the character of these guys at all?)
I don't question the character of our football team. I understand preparation is different than gameday. I applaud their work effort. They're prepared for games. They put great effort and we're losing tight games. We're going to sit down and continue to talk about this play and that play, and that's the difference between winning and losing. Right now we're not making them, we're not making those plays.
(Do you now give other guys a chance to play now that the season is almost over?)
I won't make any decisions here today based on any of our personnel.
(What happened on that long pass at the end?)
I did not get the communication. It was the first play of the series, so I'm still in communication with the offensive coaches.
(This late in the season do you find that a bit beffudling, that they're not communicating better?)
I'm not saying they're not communicating. It could be cleaner. Communication is something that you do every day, and there's days you do it very well and days you could probably do it better. And we had one of those days.