State of the Packers Address

The 2017-18 NFL Season is now over, and despite a great Super Bowl, it was a down year overall, and not just for the Green Bay Packers. I do congratulate the Philadelphia Eagles on a great season and for winning their first Super Bowl. I have a lot of respect for how the Eagles built their team. Even when they had the best record in the league, they were still looking for ways to improve their roster. They didn’t take anything for granted, and when Carson Wentz was lost for the season, they rallied around Nick Foles, the MVP of Super Bowl LII. Perhaps the Packers’ front office can learn a few things from the Eagles and make the necessary changes to the roster in order to bring home another Vince Lombardi Trophy.

The Packers got off to a promising 4-1 start to their season, and then Aaron Rodgers broke his collarbone and missed all but one game the rest of the season as the team fell to 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons. Let’s look back on some of the highs and lows from their year.

Win of the Year:

For the second year in a row, the top win in my opinion is against the Dallas Cowboys on the road. The Packers fell behind 21-6 at one point, but they rallied in the second half, and in a fourth quarter that saw five lead changes, the final one belonged to the Packers, who scored with 11 seconds remaining in the game on a pass from Rodgers to Davante Adams. Adams, who suffered a concussion in the previous game vs the Bears on a Thursday night, scored twice in the game. The Packers improved to 4-1 on the season, and Rodgers was looking like a serious MVP candidate at the time.

Honorable Mention:

It’s always gratifying to beat the Chicago Bears, especially at Soldier Field, but this one was more gratifying than most others. Rodgers was injured, and Brett Hundley was the starter at that point. Entering the Chicago game, the Packers were 0-3 since Hundley took over and not looking good at all, especially on offense. The Bears and their fans were licking their chops, thinking this is the perfect opportunity to kick them when they are down. The Bears, favorites vs the Packers for the first time since 2008, came out flat, especially on offense. The Bears, down 10-3 in the first half, had a golden opportunity to get a score and tie the game, but Benny Cunningham fumbled the ball over the pylon and out of bounds near the goal line. He was originally ruled out at the 2-yard line, but Head Coach John Fox, thinking that he may have scored, challenged the play, and even though he won the challenge, he lost the ball on a turnover. Hundley had a decent game, and the defense played fairly well that day, and the Packers won 23-16 and are now two games ahead of the Bears in the all-time series. Fox got fired after the season, and this game, especially his decision to challenge the call, weighed heavily into that decision. Even though most of us thought it was a lost year for the Packers, you had to admit that you had a smile on your face after that win, even if it lasted for just a few short days. No matter how badly the season went after that, no Bear fan could talk trash after that game and be taken seriously.

Worst Loss of the Year:

Could it be anything else? The loss in Minnesota was the worst. After that thrilling win in Dallas, they traveled to Minnesota, where their season would change for the worse. As we all know, Rodgers got hit by Anthony Barr, who drove him into the turf, breaking his collarbone. That hit sucked the energy out of all the Packer faithful. Whether we wanted to admit it publicly or not, we knew that our season was all but over. Rubbing salt in our wounds was the fact that many (but not all) Viking fans were cheering the injury. It’s no wonder why many of us took great satisfaction in seeing the Vikings get destroyed by the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. It’s why the win over the Bears was especially gratifying for me as well since some Bear fans were cheering Rodgers getting injured. What goes around comes around.

(Dis)Honorable Mention:

After that road win over the Bears, the Packers hosted the Baltimore Ravens, who also had one of the worst offenses in the NFL. Unlike the Bears though, they had a veteran QB in Joe Flacco, who was a Super Bowl MVP at one point. Brett Hundley played poorly, and the Packers were shut out 23-0 at home, their first of two that season. They would lose 16-0 at home to those (censored) Vikings in December as well. Both losses I mentioned here (the first loss to the Vikings and the Baltimore loss) came after the two wins (Cowboys and Bears) that I mentioned earlier.

We all knew how valuable Rodgers was to our team, but never did it show more than it did this year. If Rodgers played the whole season, there is a great chance they make it to the NFC Championship Game at least. Without him, they can barely beat the winless Cleveland Browns. As soon as their season came to an end, changes were made to the front office and to the coaching staff.

Dom Capers is (finally) gone, replaced by Mike Pettine. Edgar Bennett is out as the Offensive Coordinator, and Joe Philbin is back in Green Bay. Ted Thompson is also out as General Manager. He got reassigned and has been replaced by Brian Gutekunst. QB Coach Alex Van Pelt has been let go, a move that didn’t please Aaron Rodgers very much. When you expect greatness (and greatness means championships in Green Bay), changes are going to be made when you go 7-9 after 8 consecutive playoff appearances.

I am optimistic about these changes. Gutekunst says that he will focus on signing free agents, a welcome change after what we had to put up with in Ted Thompson. Pettine is fired up and wants to win a Super Bowl. If he can improve the defense and get them into the upper half this next season, that will be a great sign moving forward.

Also, I know many of you are worried about some comments that Rodgers made recently. He said that he may have to go elsewhere to finish his career. He also was perturbed about the change in QB Coach without him being informed about it. I agree that it was a blunder on their part, but winning changes everything. I don’t expect the front office to make that mistake with Rodgers again. I also expect in the next year or so that Rodgers will sign a huge contract extension, virtually guaranteeing that he will remain with the Packers for the rest of his career. Despite what you heard from Rodgers, he wants to be in Green Bay. They took a chance on him when they drafted him, and he is thankful for that opportunity.

I am optimistic about the future, but they also have to prove it to me with results. Ted Thompson messed up badly when he let Jared Cook walk when he wanted to return and Rodgers wanted him back as well. We cannot afford mistakes of this magnitude if we want to bring more championships to Green Bay, and we certainly want to do that. This team is not far away at all. There is no reason why we can’t make the Super Bowl next year and bring another trophy to Titletown.

I predict that within the next two years, we will add another trophy to our collection. It’s not about whether you fall down; it’s whether you get back up. We will get back up, and we will be stronger than ever before. Stay positive Packer fans! We will be on top again very soon!

As always, Go Pack Go!

@DieHardPackrFan #DHPF #GregGoshaw @gg901