Packers fans disappointed in NFC championship game, but it was a good year

GREEN BAY – Few Green Bay fans at the beginning of the season expected the Packers to be in the NFC championship game, but that didn't make losing to the San Francisco 49ers any easier to swallow.

"I don't think we expected to be here. From that standpoint, that's great," said Jeff Plante of La Porte, Indiana, who was watching the game with hundreds of other Packers fans at Stadium View Bar, Grill & Banquet, just down the street from Lambeau Field.

"But when you get to that point, you want more."

More wasn't in the cards Sunday, when the Packers were steamrolled 37-20 by the 49ers, who will meet the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Feb. 2 in Miami.

"Hard to be too disappointed in the outcome when the Packers were playing with house money," Chris Richards of Plover said in an email after the game. "An ugly loss pairs nicely with a season of ugly wins.

"For me, the bottom line is they were still playing in mid-January, one game away from the Super Bowl. They were in the NFL’s final four, with a rookie head coach to boot. The game was hard to watch, but that doesn’t diminish all the winning that preceded it."

Fans packing Stadium View were fired up before the game, making rude gestures toward televisions when three of the four Fox broadcast crew picked the 49ers to win. Terry Bradshaw, picking last, drew a loud cheer when he picked the Packers.

There wasn't a lot more to cheer until about eight minutes left in the second quarter, when a Packers' drive started with a Jake Kumerow reception and a couple of Aaron Jones runs. But the cheers died pretty quickly when a fumbled snap gave the ball to San Francisco.

The Packers trailed 27-0 at the half, so fans already had a sense how it was going to end, although they weren't ready to give up.

"They are undefeated in games with Kumerow catching a pass," said Scott Wegner of Green Bay, watching the game with high school friend John Proctor of Minneapolis and their families. "If there's a silver lining, I'm going with that."

They'd seen that kind of treatment at the hands of the 49ers in November, when the Packers were defeated 37-8 in that same Levi's Stadium.

"I'm hoping San Francisco is just that good," Proctor said.

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Plante thought the Packers seemed lifeless.

"I think (the 49ers) are pretty good. They do have a lot of good players and you just can't control them all," he said.  

The Packers elicited a few more spontaneous cheers from Stadium View viewers, on touchdowns and long completions, but they were few and far between. To their credit, most stuck it out to the end, when they didn't so much leave as drift out the door for home.

Dick Larsen, who watched the game from home, took the longer perspective. 

"A disappointment to be sure, but nice to get this far after the last couple years," he emailed. "I’ve lived (through) the years between (Bart) Starr and (Brett) Favre, so glad to be in the playoffs. They didn’t look very good, but hopefully Gutey (general manager Brian Gutekunst) can fill the holes."

Jon Lardinois of Santa Cruz, California, watched the game at a bar where about 75% percent were 49ers fans.

"Ouch! That was tough to take. We looked outcoached, outplayed and outhustled," Lardinois emailed.

The percentage of 49ers fans got higher when some of the Packers fans moved to a bar across the street. Lardinois and a couple of others stayed with the 49ers contingent.

"Most were friends. ... We were treated well and the trash talk was fun and friendly. I’m lifting a beer to a great season with an optimistic view of 2020," he wrote.

Aaron Rodgers shares some of the blame in the view of David Erickson of St. Louis. 

"I hear the common refrain that we should be pleased that we exceeded expectations, but I can't help but be disappointed," he emailed. "I think all of my disappointment can be centered on Aaron Rodgers and the offense.

"I never got the sense that we improved after the return of Adams from injury.  Whether it was holding the ball too long, not throwing to open receivers or not 'trusting' anyone other than Adams, I can't help but feel that we missed an opportunity this year and there's no guarantee that we will have another one soon."

Jon Neuhaus expressed the disappointment of a lot of Packers fans, judging by their comments on social media in recent years.

"Blessed with Brett (Favre) and Aaron (Rodgers), we should have more than two Super Bowl rings by now. Unacceptable," he emailed from Hermosa Beach, California. "Feel for the players, coaches, fans, fellow co-owners."

Neuhaus was an executive producer of the 2017 movie "The 60 Yard Line," about two Packers fan friends who buy a house adjacent to Lambeau Field. The movie was shot in Green Bay.

The Packers missed drafting or acquiring difference-makers, such as T.J. Watt and Marshawn Lynch, among other problems over the years, Neuhaus said. 

"Whatever that ‘it’ is, we need to find it. Cause if this holds, Dandy Don (Meredith) will keep singing, ‘Turn out the lights, the party’s over,'" he wrote.

Tyler Derby, who lives in the San Francisco Bay area, agrees the Packers need to upgrade positions, including defensive line and middle linebacker.

"Not a lot to say about this one. The offense needed to be a lot better, to help the defense out early, and they couldn’t get it done," Derby wrote. "Give Coach LaFleur a lot of credit, because I think this Packers team outplayed its talent throughout the year. It was the first year under this regime and really should have been a rebuilding year."

Contact Richard Ryman at (920) 431-8342 or rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at  @rrymanPG or  on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG/