I can confidently say that the game didn't turn out quite the way we all had hoped. But that doesn't mean we can't look back on some concepts from the game. The game itself may have been bad, but it wasn't all bad. Join me for the final Passing Chronicles of the 2019 season, won't you?

Play 1: 3rd & 6, 13:24 remaining in the 2nd quarter, Packers trailing 0-10

Let's start with some of the ugly, knowing full well that even ugly can be interesting. Ask anyone who has ever had a good conversation with me! 
/proceeds to sob in the corner

This is the 3rd down strip-sack of Aaron Rodgers [12]. You can see Davante Adams [17] pointing to the blitzer before the snap. Rodgers looks over and appears to see it. More on that in a second.

Rodgers is looking for Jake Kumerow [16] out of the bunch on the right, running a curl. Given the alignment of the defense pre-snap, that looks like the correct read. Unless the slot-blitzer drops back under the curl.

The slot corner blitzes, so it looks like Kumerow will be open. But check out the drop from Dee Ford [55]. At the snap, Ford sprints across the formation to pick up the curl. That's a tough angle for a quarterback to pick up, especially since they don't typically look for an edge rusher to drop to the other side of the formation. Still, Rodgers sees Ford and doesn't pull the trigger. If he does, the pass would have been either knocked down or intercepted.

He pulls it down and is immediately strip-sacked. So what of the protection?

The 49ers are showing 7 potential rushers and the Packers have 7 back to block (I'm counting Jimmy Graham [80] as one of the blockers since he chips Bosa, then follows Bosa down to David Bakhtiari [69] instead of immediately releasing to a route).

The 49ers end up bringing 6 men on the rush, with Ford bailing to pick up the aforementioned curl from Kumerow. Bakhtiari is dropping to pick up Bosa off the chip. Elgton Jenkins [74] is looking to block Ford, but switches back to the inside after Ford bails. Corey Linsley [63] is blocking the guard, but switches to the middle pressure after Jenkins rotates.

Jamaal Williams [30] picks up the other middle pressure, while Billy Turner [77] rotates to pick up the slot blitzer. Bryan Bulaga [75] has Arik Armstead [91] on the edge. 

Everything seems fine, but Turner is out-of-position and whiffs on the slot blitzer. Rodgers does not appear to be in any hurry, because he seems to trust the protection. But it all goes wrong and ends up with a strip-sack.

Play 2: 1st & 10, 9:12 remaining in the 2nd quarter, Packers trailing 0-17

Nice follow concept. This one is a little deeper than the ones we've been looking at recently. On this play, Adams is running a deep crosser, pushing hard to the middle of the field. That gets the attention of the single-high safety. 

With the safety backpedaling and keeping an eye on Adams, it's up to Kumerow to get a clean release on his dig route. He aggressively pushes upfield, getting his defender to flip his hips downfield. At that point, Kumerow cuts to the middle. The safety is gone. The slot defender is gone. Fred Warner [54] settles into his middle zone, and Rodgers fires to an open Kumerow in the middle of the field for 23 yards.

Play 3: 2nd & 15, 1:08 remaining in the 2nd quarter, Packers trailing 0-20

This is Rodgers' first interception, thrown towards Geronimo Allison [80] on a three verticals concept.

Let's talk about verticals for a second. Four Verticals - or "4 verts" - is a play that is very common in Air Raid systems. Hal Mumme simply refers to the play as "6", since the goal is to score 6 points when you run it. The idea itself is simple while the execution can be difficult: send the receivers downfield on go routes and have them read the defense. Based on the coverage, the routes will be adjusted.

That's the tricky part. You need the receiver and the quarterback the read the same thing and react the same way. That's where this play goes wrong.

The boundary cornerback drops back to cover the deep slot while the slot defender falls under the outside route. That gives an open zone in the field to throw a comeback route. The timing is tight, but the opening is there. Rodgers throws to the open zone, expecting Allison to run a comeback route into that zone. Instead, Allison keeps running a go route.

With Allison blowing right past the zone, Emmanuel Moseley [41] simply steps into the path of the throw and picks up an interception.

Quarterback and receiver aren't on the same page and it ends poorly. Tale as old as time.

Play 4: 2nd & 8, 9:30 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Packers trailing 0-27

I'm a sucker for a good screen pass. The Packers send Tyler Ervin [32] on jet sweep motion before the snap to spread out the defense to the left, then use play action to the right to draw them up and over. Lewis is off the end of the line. 

Lewis is known for his blocking, so no one is really looking hard for a release. He intentionally whiffs on a block of Bosa, then turns around. Rodgers throws low, but Lewis is able to dig it out and follows the downfield blocking from Bakhtiari and Linsley for an 11 yard gain. Beautiful.

Play 5: 2nd & 5, 10:55 remaining in the 4th quarter, Packers trailing 13-34

If you have learned anything over this season, I'd like to believe that it is how to spot a Mesh concept. I've talked about it a lot in this space, and I have absolutely loved seeing how the Packers have been playing with the core concept. Here, we have an offset Mesh, with the drag routes coming from the slot and the backfield. We have a dig over the top with Robert Tonyan [85], timed up to be crossing over the mesh point as the underneath drags run in opposite directions.

Tonyan appears to have a step on Richard Sherman [25] in the middle of the field as the mesh is crossing. However, Rodgers doesn't pull the trigger and ends up throwing the ball away. Why might he have done that?

For starters, Kwon Alexander [56] hangs back in the middle as Tonyan is breaking to the inside. That causes a slight delay on the initial time of release. After the break, watch the route of Tonyan and how Sherman is playing him. Tonyan is not running at full speed, allowing Sherman to stay on his hip out of the break. If Rodgers throws a ball that hits Tonyan in the hands, Sherman is just waiting to undercut it. 

Play 6: 2nd & 10, 9:28 remaining in the 4th quarter, Packers trailing 13-34

I just wanted to bring this play up to show the pre-snap read. The cornerback across from Adams is playing off, angled inside and looking at Rodgers. More than what kind of coverage that signifies, it tells Rodgers that unless that defender flips his hips to the outside at the snap, he won't be able to close on the boundary.

The cornerback bails and Rodgers throws the quick out to Adams for 8 yards to set up a manageable 3rd & 2.

Play 7: 3rd & 4, 11:10 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Packers trailing 0-27

Let's close out with a couple match-up driven concepts featuring Aaron Jones [33].

Jones motions out before the snap, drawing a linebacker to the slot. That tells Rodgers that the 49ers are in man coverage, with Jones against a linebacker. Adams runs a curl route, forcing Jones' defender over the top. Rodgers simply takes a couple steps and fires to Jones under the curl route. That puts the ball in Jones' hands in space, and picks up an easy 6 yards and a 1st down.

Play 8: 3rd & 2, 8:57 remaining in the 4th quarter, Packers trailing 13-34

This time it's the motion of Jace Sternberger [87] that signifies man coverage. The 49ers have a safety on Jones (Tavarius Moore [33]), but he is in the middle of the field. Adams is running a slant from the outside while Jones is running a flat underneath. There is plenty of room on the edge for Jones and he has a decent angle, but Moore is fast (he ran a 4.32 40 at his pro day) and could potentially ruin that angle.

David Bakhtiari releases after a chip on Bosa and escorts Moore to the ground. Jones cuts inside to pick up 6 yards and a 1st down.

Thank you all for following along with these this season. I hope you learned half as much reading them as I did writing them. This was my first season here at Cheesehead TV and I couldn't be happier with how it went. I've been writing about the Packers for a while and I can honestly say that this has been my favorite year writing about them, both personally and "professionally." 

I'm sure I'll be popping up during the offseason, but I'm not entirely sure what I'll be doing just yet. Whatever it ends up being, I'm sure it'll be a blast.

Albums listened to: Halsey - Manic; Eminem - Music to be Murdered By; A Girl Called Eddy - Been Around; Mac Miller - Circles; The Innocence Mission - See You Tomorrow; Tom Waits - Alice; Dreamend - Dreamend