Review—this is the Packers offense many of us have been expecting.  However, it took a coaching change, the season being a complete failure, solid December weather, and an awful Jets team to get it…the sad part is it’s better than being shut down by said team.

Rodgers was productive, but still showed carelessness/laziness at times—all that matters is production, and he produced 44 points.  It’s no doubt that Davante Adams is a stud, no need to elaborate.  The rookie WRs need more snaps.  Been clamoring for this for a while, but J’Mon Moore (#82), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (#83), and Equanimeous St. Brown (#19), along with Jake Kumerow (#16) should get all of the playing time possible with Rodgers.  They each bring something to the table and the Packers need at least 2 of those guys to be solid if they plan on doing anything moving forward.

The defense…well, the top 3 defensive linemen were out (Clark, Daniels, and Wilkerson) and who knows if Wilkerson will return next year, but he could add depth.  To borrow my cousin’s phrase, the safeties are just a bunch of Slugs, and it’s very apparent Josh Jones continues to need snaps as he can only improve while having a ton of physical talent.

Preview—Detroit and Green Bay are locked in their respective positions as far as division goes.  The Lions will finish last (4^th) while the Packers will finish 3^rd.  Which means Green Bay will face the NFC South 3^rd place finisher (Carolina, Atlanta, or Tampa Bay) at home, and the NFC West 3^rd place finisher on the road (San Francisco or Arizona).  Along with that, the Packers are locked into drafting anywhere from 10^th to 17^th.  Keep in mind the Packers hold New Orleans’ 1^st round pick, which is no worse than 26^th, or better if you look at it like that.  So the Packers will have 2 picks, first from 10^th-17^th, and their 2^nd anywhere between 26^th-32^nd in the first round in April’s draft.

As for the Lions, they bring the 26^th ranked offense (19.5 points/game) and the 19^th ranked defense (24.0 points/game).  The Packers matchup fairly well, especially coming off a 44-point performance vs another bad team.  The Packers rank 12^th and 22^nd, respectively and will look to add to those totals and likely increase their offensive output, while likely worsening their defensive rank.

Overall—there will be a season recap later, however for what it’s worth there’s a winner of this game that needs picking, or at least hopefully.

Lions 17
Packers 34

43-24 overall record.  Likely moving to 44-24…interesting offseason, that’s certain.

Review—finally the Packers are officially eliminated from the playoffs and the fans that were holding on to hope, can shift their focus to the draft and next year.  The Bears played an OK game, which proved enough to beat Green Bay’s best shot.  We learned that Matt Nagy (Chicago’s head coach) loves to be the smartest guy in the room, and that will cost the Bears against a good team.  The Packers got away from running Aaron Jones due to not having 3 starting offensive linemen, so needing Jamaal Williams to help with pass protection vs Khalil Mack and the Bears’ pass rush, instead of running the ball with a very effective Halfback….yeah, read that again.

The Bears clinched the division and they celebrated like the Cubs won the World Series, but now Packer fans are left feuding with one another about “who’s a True Fan?” which some people are taking issue with Cheeseheads wanting their beloved Packers to lose their final 2 games.

Green Bay has an opportunity to vastly improve the situation next year by playing as many rookies and young players regular season game action, and if they lose both of their remaining games while getting some help (bad teams “behind” them winning) could move up the draft order from their current spot; 11^th.

Preview—enter one of those teams “ahead” of the Packers, the New York Jets.  The Jets currently sit at 4-10 and the 4^th overall pick.  It would behoove each of these teams to lose, so as you can tell the “hype” for this game should be as low as possible.

The Jets don’t have much talent, none on offense, but feature one of the best young defenders in Jamal Adams.  He’s the 6^th overall pick from last year’s draft (2017) from LSU, wears #33 and a bunch of sweatbands…oh, and he’s also really good.  While watching him, think he’s the type of player that the Packers could draft next year and immediately help, IF they can crack into the top 10 in the draft.

Prediction—these are 2 bad teams, the Jets rank 24^th in points scored and points allowed, whereas the Packers rank 16^th offensively and 17^th defensively.  Green Bay has quite a bit more talent which I believe will be the difference-maker…

Packers 31
Jets 17

42-24

 

Not the result some wanted (yours truly) and now because things keep falling into place, the Packers still have a shot (4% as of Fri, Dec 14^th, up from 0.97% following the Arizona loss) at the playoffs.  I’ll state this, and for many who know me maybe you think a pessimist, or Negative Nancy, but trust me, I’m as objective as a fan can be—which I believe to be realistic.

Let’s say everything falls into place, the Packers somehow get into “the tournament,” they’d likely travel to Chicago for the Wild Card game, which would obviously be very winnable.  Then being the 6^th seed, they’d (as of now) have to travel to New Orleans for a showdown with the best team in the NFL, in a stadium they never play well in, vs a team they can’t stop.  Let’s say for some reason the Rams get home field advantage, then Green Bay would have……….see what happens, there’s a game to be played, along with 5 other scenarios that must happen even in order to think all this through.  Meanwhile the chance of getting to the super bowl (not winning it, just showing up) is still <<<<<1%.  Hence, losing out to get better draft stock, not just in the 1^st round, but each round following, can only help the organization.  Unless you think that winning out, finishing 8-7-1, missing the playoffs or getting bounced in the postseason would somehow benefit this team more than 10+ draft slots because of the confidence gained from winning those games, losing out is the way to go.

The Good—the Packers played a pretty good game vs. a very confusingly-bad Atlanta team and looked like what many thought this Packers team would look like all year.  What I liked is Pettine (Packers’ D coord) had the sensational rookie, Jaire Alexander, follow around arguably the NFL’s best wide receiver (Julio Jones) all game and for the most part, hung in there and did fairly well.  The other promising factor is with the injuries, 2^nd year man (my man) Josh Jones is getting valuable snaps…keep ‘em coming.

Joe Philbin didn’t necessarily call a great game, as far as play calls, formations, schemes, etc.—but what he did do is call with tempo, which allowed Rodgers and the offense to establish a rhythm, which proved to be more important than “good” calls, at least vs. Atlanta.  Mid-season pick up, Breshaud Breeland (CB) had a pick-6 against Matt Ryan, on a poor throw, but ultimately a good play.  Lastly, the 2 challenges on the Julio catches, which the first one, by rule, should’ve been an incompletion, set the tone and seemed to get buy-in from the entire sideline.

Going complete fan here, but this team has talent, and it’s very apparent the firing of Mike McCarthy looks to be their galvanizing moment the QB has been looking for, it may be too little, too late in terms of making a run—however, if they get in, I can’t imagine many teams begging to see a hot team led by Aaron Rodgers…unless it’s the Saints in New Orleans, because the Packers can’t win there.

The Bad—Kenny Clark, arguably the team’s best player, suffered an elbow injury, but later returned.  It’s stuff like that happening, that I hate…I still don’t believe this team can/will win the Super Bowl and injuring your best player could substantially injure your chances next year.

The Ugly—the Vikings fired offensive Coordinator…John DeFilippo.  He looked like he may have been auditioning for a head coaching job with a capable QB with all the pass plays he called during the Vikings’ near shutout in Seattle.  The reason I put this under Ugly, is due to Mark Murphy (meddling owner) not using a search firm to find the next head coach, and may be stuck in his ways as DeFilippo may have been on his radar prior to the fiasco in Seattle, and there’s a real chance he could be hired as next coach…again, many who know me know I love running the ball and playing great defense…DeFilippo shows none of that.

Match-up—the Bears bring one of the most-complete teams (on paper) into this week 15 matchup.  When looking at Points and turnover margin, the Bears rank 7^th on offense, 3^rd on defense, and 1^st in turnover margin (+13).  Until last week, the Bears hadn’t beaten a team with a winning record, and it was obvious neither QB (Rams’ Jared Goff or the Bears’ Mitch Trubisky) wanted to play in the cold.  It’ll be interesting to see how he performs vs a Packers’ defense that has seemed to improve throughout the season, or at least become a bit more consistent as the season has gone on.

The main thing to keep an eye on is if Rodgers and the Packers come out with a quick-hitting passing attack that led to their comeback vs Chicago in the 2^nd half of week 1’s matchup, which may mean less snaps for Aaron Jones (Jamaal Williams is the preferred pass blocking HB).  The other reason this could be essential is Khalil Mack only played on a limited snap count in week 1, but is obviously ready to rock now—the issue, Packers RT Bryan Bulaga is listed as DOUBTFUL (as of 9a Sunday), which could be great tape from Jason Spriggs on how “Not to pass block vs the best defender in football.”  It’s a very intriguing matchup to see if the Packers can utilize the short-passing game to act as the running game.  Green Bay will likely need a solid performance from Rodgers and the defense to get a turnover or 2 to pull this game out.  Also, if you’re all in for the playoff push, which is pointless without a Super Bowl victory, keep an eye on the Miami @ Minnesota game too.

Prediction time—a little different format here, however while I want the Packers to lose, I will attempt to root for it as well, but rooting for the Packers to lose against the Bears just doesn’t sit well in my stomach – even if it’s the best for the team long-term.

Packers 16
Bears 24

41-24: a win-win at this point. If the Packers win they’re still alive for the playoffs, and many fans will enjoy that. If they lose, they improved draft stock (although losing last week would’ve gone much further in that dept.).  Either way, it feels like purgatory and when in doubt, root for a W????

The Good—they actually did it!  The Packers mailed it in and lost to arguably the worst team in the NFL.  The bad news is since firing Mike McCarthy, it seems as though that’s rejuvenated this team and they may come out and actually win.  Since trading the quarterback in the offseason isn’t happening, ‘nor would I want to now since his value is low, the best thing for the franchise is to lose the remaining 4 games, get better draft position in each round and hit a complete reset.  Keep in mind Green Bay holds the Saints’ 1^st round draft pick in this coming draft (trading back so New Orleans could take pass-rusher Marcus Davenport, whom many predicted Green Bay to initially select), but the Saints are looking like they’ll have a very late draft pick, so it’ll be closer to the 30^th or later.  If Green Bay can lose out, that would put them in likely in the top 6 as they’d currently be selecting 10^th.  Many believe with Rodgers at QB and a new head coach, this team could realistically compete next year and if that’s the case, the higher the draft choice the higher the chance that pick will contribute to that “success.”

While many may think losing out isn’t a good idea, regardless of what the team will be trying to do, they obviously have lost quite a few games to bad teams, only have 4 wins through 12 games, and are essentially eliminated from the playoffs—this team is flat out bad and hopefully that continues for the last month of the season for the betterment of the organization.

The Bad—the Packers are in search of a new head coach, and while that’s good (change was needed, and I was a McCarthy backer for years, still don’t mind the guy, but change was needed) Green Bay finds itself in a position of needing to a. Find a really good NFL head coach (difficult already) and b. Find one that will reign in Rodgers and gain his respect.  These seem like difficult tasks all because of the absurd contract extension given to the QB earlier this season which leads to…

The Ugly—the main issue seems to be the structure of the hierarchy of the front office.  President Mark Murphy still has his nose in every single football move and while they believe/say 17 other franchises have a similar structure, I can’t remember any of them actually winning or consistently winning with said structure.  Meddling owners are as bad a situation that can be asked for in sports.  All of this leads me, and possibly some others, to why Rodgers received the highest contract in NFL history.  It’s tough for me to imagine a new General Manager, with all the leverage, giving more $ to a player they already had under control for another 5 seasons.  This screams a move dictated (intentionally used this word) from a meddling owner.  Murphy’s main objective is to make money, however when fans don’t show up and leave empty seats in Lambeau, especially with a ¼ the season left, it’s embarrassing…owners don’t like that, it hurts their pride, regardless if they’re making money because the opportunity looks as though they could’ve made more.

There’s potentially the issue that the Packers won’t get back to winning A Super Bowl, let alone multiple Super Bowls (true objective) until a new President takes over and turns the football operations to someone that should be in control of football operations.  That would mean even more losing before winning, which may be tough to swallow, but this is a probable serious mess that might take some time to clean, but it’s the bed that’s been made.

Atlanta Falcons—here’s another team that has quite a bit of talent and is used to making the playoffs, but has completely underwhelmed as well.  It’s tough to point to why Atlanta has struggled so much this season, then again, who cares?  That’s their problem.  The Packers are favored by about a touchdown, yet it would behoove both teams to lose this game.  I’ve looked up the stats and whatnot, but what’s the point?  These are two bad teams playing for nothing other than a few fringe guys to put good tape for their future employers to view.

There’s an opportunity for Green Bay to get their young kids some meaningful live action snaps/experience, e.g. J’Mon Moore, who’s only played a handful of snaps all season.  There should also not be much frustration viewed from any of the Packers as this is the bottom of the barrel and is the new normal for this season…get the kids some snaps so they can develop and as painful as it is for a Packer fan to say- it’s as obvious to see how important a loss would help in the long-term.

Falcons 24
Packers 27

40-24: glad I was wrong; hopefully it happens again 🙂

As it should come to no true Packer fans’ surprise, they came up and choked in the spotlight, vs an average QB, on the road, again.  The frustrating part is this was yet another team effort that resulted in a loss.  From the President of the Packers (Murphy, there’s that name again), to the GM (Gutekunst, still not much blame since he just took over), to the Head Coach, to the Quarterback.  This 4-headed monster keeps rearing its ugly head and finally the media is beginning to take serious (descriptive) notice.

There were 3 articles (as of Friday, Nov 30^th) calling out the rift between McCarthy and Rodgers and both are to blame (Bob McGinn, Andy Benoit, and Kalyn Kahler).  Many of you whom know me and have conversed with me know that I’m all for blowing this whole thing up.  Fire McCarthy, allow Gutekunst to bring in his own coach, trade Aaron Rodgers (although now his value is as low as it has been) and start over with a bunch of draft picks and cap space.  However, since the Packers just made #12 the highest paid player in NFL history, there’s no chance he gets dealt.  So now what?  The Head Coach still needs to go, but that then give Rodgers even more “power” as it seems quite obvious he’s been attempting to usher Mac out of the door for quite some time.  This is the boat the Packers are in.  They have the most-talented (there goes that word again, almost meaningless) QB in history, but with a huge issue…and if the next head coach isn’t the perfect fit, none of this will matter.  Couple that with still needing a top 5 defense (in points) in order to win a Super Bowl, let alone 2+ (which should be the minimum standard at this point) in the next 5 years, seems like a tall order.

Where do the Packers stand right now?  In the grand-scheme/big-picture…not good—but in the current season they sit as the 10^th seed in the NFC (of 16 total, a joke), but currently would hold the 12^th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.  If you’re one of those hopefuls that believe there’s a chance at the playoffs (8%), more importantly to win the Super Bowl (<1%) is far less-likely.

Playoffs: win each of the remaining games, 5-0.  Highly unlikely, as well as get a TON of help from 5 other teams/scenarios.  Again, if the Packers want to do things correctly, as tough as it would be, you should be happy with losses to help increase the draft picks as well as seal the fate of Mike McCarthy, since the Quarterback isn’t going anywhere.

Review—the Packers showed they’re right on par with Minnesota, however found a way to lose, which looked very lazy, but what should’ve been to no one’s surprise.  There were quite a few opportunities to win the game, but in the end Minnesota wanted the game more, which again, was a good thing since it’d take “lottery-winning-odds” for this Packer team to win the Super Bowl.

Preview—enter the worst team in the NFL, err…maybe 2^nd worst (behind the Packers?) the Arizona Cardinals.  They feature an aging legend in Larry Fitzgerald (stand-up citizen) and a rookie QB with high potential (Josh Rosen).  Arizona also features a top tier HB in David Johnson and CB in Patrick Peterson, aside from those 4 there’s not much to see with this Cardinals team.  This is as guaranteed a Win that the Packers have had in a while.  Arizona brings nothing to the table that would either be scary to beat Green Bay ‘nor a reason to head to Lambeau to watch these 2 crap teams.

Match-up—see below, the parenthesis are ranks in the NFL

	Offense				Defense
	Total	Pass	Rush	Points	Total	Pass	Rush	Points
Arizona	232.5 (32)	155.2 (32)	77.3 (32)	14.1 (32)	364.6 (19)	219.8 (4)	144.8 (30)	26.6 (26)
Green Bay	385.6 (10)	279.3 (7)	106.4 (21)	24.0 (17)	355.2 (13)	232.3 (10)	122.9 (23)	24.3 (16)

 

	Total	Pass	Rush	Yds/point	point vs matchup	Points
Ari	293.9	193.8	100.1	16.5	15.6	18.9
GB	375.1	249.6	125.6	16.1	14.9	25.2

As you can see there’s really no advantage Ari has coming into this matchup.  The other factor is the recently found motivation that Randall Cobb said Rodgers apparently has taken since the national and local media has begun to blame him as much as McCarthy for failure this season- begs the question If Rodgers begins to light it up and play “normal,” why did it take this long and for others to motivate him?

Cardinals 20
Packers 31

40-23: now the switch has happened and hopefully I’m wrong again, for the greater good.