Mike Macdonald: "All Of Our Goals Are Still Ahead Of Us"

Mike Macdonald (0:00)

Man, it was a great atmosphere. I just told the team, it really stings. That we had a great opportunity at home in front of the 12s, and our fans did a great job, so we appreciate them. So, but it stings, you know? I thought, just in general, you gotta give Green Bay a lot of credit. I thought they out coached us. We didn't have a good enough plan in all three phases. I'm responsible for that. And then frankly, we didn't play good enough.

Didn't do the things that we've been doing that have won us games. We didn't do those things. We can rattle those off if you want. But just told the team, hey, like the good news is everything that all of our goals are still ahead of us, and we'll go back to work tomorrow. So we'll watch the tape and attack the heck out of it, like we've done the rest of the season, and move forward and get ready for a good Vikings team coming in here and let's go. So got a lot of football ahead of us, all of our goals are right there, so we got to learn from it, which we will, and move on.

SPEAKER_2 (1:04)

Mike, what do you know right now about Geno's injury?

Mike Macdonald (1:07)

Yeah, so it was a knee for Geno. I'll tell you this, I mean, this guy, probably the toughest player I've ever been around was severe enough for him not to come back in the game. We'll do all the tests tomorrow and figure it out as we go. But right now, just structurally, it looks like it's okay.

But, you know, we got to get it mentioned and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_2 (1:27)

Was he close at all to being able to come back?

Mike Macdonald (1:29)

He wanted to and then he was about to go back. I think one of those drives, I think it was the one we threw, I think it was the one before we threw the pick. And then he just couldn't go.

SPEAKER_3 (1:38)

Do you expect him to miss more time, Mike?

Mike Macdonald (1:41)

I don't know. I mean, we got to get the tests done and I know he'll do everything humanly possible to go play. But just don't know right now.

SPEAKER_4 (1:48)

So you can't, just to clarify, but it's a sprain or whatever or you just don't know. What happened with him?

Mike Macdonald (1:58)

Yeah, it's like a quad knee combo. Again, not sure the severity, severe enough for him not to come back in. So we'll figure out the extent of what the imaging and all that type of stuff tomorrow.

SPEAKER_3 (2:12)

Prior to the injury, he was struggling a bit and through his fourth end zone. Oh, no, Geno.

Mike Macdonald (2:18)

Geno.

SPEAKER_3 (2:19)

Through his fourth end zone interception. What do you think accounted for that in the game?

Mike Macdonald (2:25)

Well, again, I haven't talked to him about the play, but yeah, I mean, again, our whole team didn't play good enough to win. I mean, it's just, so I'm part of that, Geno's part of that.

And we got to learn from it and keep moving forward.

SPEAKER_3 (2:40)

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_2 (2:41)

How much of the way that the game unfolded early, followed by 14-0 impact, the way that you guys were able to run the football, especially coming out of the last week's game?

Mike Macdonald (2:50)

Yeah, well, you know, we didn't run it effective enough, and I think we still felt like we were going to stick with our plan to a large extent. We knew this team starts really fast. Defensively, we didn't hold up on our end of the bargain about calling that start on how these guys operate, but we'll look at the tape and see where we fell short and move on.

SPEAKER_3 (3:11)

What do you think happened in the first half?

Mike Macdonald (3:14)

Why? I just, you know, all the above. I mean, it's just microcosm for the rest of the game. There's some plays that we normally make that we didn't, and there's plays that they outplayed us and earned those yards, and I can call a better game, too, and have a better plan, so all the above.

SPEAKER_4 (3:31)

What was better in the second half of the defense than playing things turned out a little bit?

Mike Macdonald (3:34)

Well, I mean, our guys are going to fight, and I mean, we fought even though we, you know, we ended up running it out, and at the very end, just, you know, three scores at a certain time, just it's not worth risking injury, but our guys fought, you know, really up until the touchdown throw, that, you know, four minute to 87, which is a heck of a throw and catch. You know, we had opportunities to get back in the game. I think we got down to 10 points and had a couple of possessions on offense to get it to a one score game, and then we ended up turning it over and gave up the touchdown, and then that was it. But our guys fought their tails off. Coaches were fighting like heck on the sideline, making adjustments, our guys are in tune with figuring out how they're attacking us and tracking up with some solutions. So our guys are always going to fight to the very end. Would you say it was a nice sampling? Well, I just suppose it wasn't good enough to win. I know he's disappointed.