Former Green Bay Packers’ tight end Brandon Bostick has taken severe heat since he botched an onside kick in the NFC Championship game this past January.
Bostick’s error definitely weighed towards shifting the game into the Seahawks’ favor and eliminating the Packers from Super Bowl contention.
Since then, Bostick has published a very emotional statement on the MMQB that explains how the play impacted him and what he has gone through. The statement indicated that he’s even received death threats since the failed onside kick recovery.
I messed up in the NFC Championship Game, and trust me. I’ll probably think about my role in the botched onside kick every day for the rest of my life. It haunts me like a recurring nightmare.
I knew it was a big deal. I knew it was a key mistake that cost us a trip to the Super Bowl. But, with all due respect, I think the media kind of took it and ran with it. I became the singular scapegoat.
Social media didn’t help, either. I don’t know how many death threats I received, but there have been a lot. I still haven’t read most of the messages that people sent me, but I want to so I can deal with the consequences and use it as motivation. But it is physically impossible for me to read every troll’s comment; the volume is simply too much. So their comments sit there, untouched, maybe forever.
I feel as if there’s a little more to it than that. With how close we were to reaching the Super Bowl, I think a lot of people in the organization couldn’t live with me being there. I think seeing me would remind them of losing the NFC championship. I think the Packers wanted a new start, so I got one, too.
While Bostick’s mistake did factor into the way things ended for Green Bay, there is much speculation that Mike McCarthy’s coaching played a major role in the outcome of the game.
Bostick was released from the Packers less than a month after the playoff game. Fortunately for Bostick, he was immediately picked up off waivers by the Minnesota Vikings.
Death threats over sports. Sadly, that’s something we have seen a lot over the years. Former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Kyle Williams received numerous death threats following his two-fumble performance against the New York Giants in the NFC Championship game back in January of 2012.
These people should be ashamed.
Photo: USA Today