MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Mike McCarthy's defense was wilting in South Florida heat. The Green Bay Packers coach had just watched the Miami Dolphins put together three straight touchdown drives of 80, 80 and 79 yards in the second half of Sunday's game at Sun Life Stadium.
Injuries and a long afternoon in the 86-degree heat – the hottest weather the Packers have played in since their last visit here in 2006 – had seemingly worn out defensive coordinator Dom Capers' troops.
Yet when it came time to decide whether to put the game in the hands of his defense, McCarthy did not flinch.
Rather than try to tie the game by going for it on fourth down from the Dolphins' 12-yard line with a shade over four minutes left in Sunday's game, McCarthy sent Mason Crosby out for a 30-yard field goal that still left the Packers behind by four points.
"Well, just the fact of the matter is I obviously had confidence in our defense," McCarthy said after the Packers' 27-24 comeback victory. "There's some other things that were going on that factored in my decision. I think a defensive-minded decision-maker would agree with that and an offensive-minded decision-maker probably would not."
And a defense that had lost three starters – both starting cornerbacks Sam Shields (knee) and Tramon Williams (ankle) plus linebacker Jamari Lattimore (neck) – rewarded McCarthy for his loyalty.
"We had to get this stop to win the game and get the offense out there to win the game," Packers safety Micah Hyde said.
With help from some questionable play-calling by the Dolphins, who surprisingly threw on second down with 3:05 remaining when the Packers did not have any timeouts left (the subsequent incompletion stopped the clock) and then ran on third-and-9 to come up well short of a first down, the Packers forced a punt to set up their game-winning drive.
"What was it, second down? And they threw it," Hyde said. "That was surprising. They tried catching us off guard, but I think he ended up throwing it away. That was huge. That was an additional 30 seconds because we didn't have any more timeouts."
