This post. Yes.

(6-10? I'm having trouble finding 2 more wins. MIN and CHI? OK, but I refer you to the past 2 weeks. Are the Packers actually a better team than anyone right now?)

There are a lot of concerns regarding this team and the direction its going. No question about that.

I have a few thoughts on this.

First:
The basis of the problem with this team right now is that they haven't been able to overcome the rash of injuries to starters. Not just starters, key players.

Their best and only shutdown CB has basically been out the whole season. And have been without the other 2 top CB's most of the year. Arguably their best defensive player and best pass rusher has missed the last 3 games (their record is 0-3 in those games). Their RB which they have built the offense around has been out 1/2 of their season already, as well as their only other RB on the roster.
Those injuries have changed this team.
I don't blame Thompson for not having more depth at CB. He actually had really good depth at CB. Not many teams expect to lose their top 3 CB's for most of their season.
I do blame him for the mess that has happened at RB. Going into the season with only 2 RB's is just dumb. They kept a 3rd that was with them all season, then they dropped him after claiming another RB. Which they kept for a week and let go. Sorry but you have to have more then 2 RB's on the roster.

Second:
Thompson has done a poor job of putting enough quality players on the roster. He has put to many developmental types of players and not enough developed players on the roster.

Third:
McCarthy hasn't done enough with the players he does have. He is to stubborn with his schemes and reluctant to change even though since week 6 last year it has been proven how to be beat.

Against the Titans, he said that they had to scrap what they had planned on doing due to the score of the game. Ok, fine I get that. But that means to use 11 personnel with essentially the same players for every play on offense? He can't rotate players in and change up the looks? I just don't like how he keeps using the same players, the whole game. And why in hell does Richard Rodgers continue to play over the other WR's, and Ripkowksi? I heard a guy on a radio show that said that Rodgers is a good number 3 TE. He would be a good number 3 on most teams in the league. He is NOT a number 1, and does not deserve to play 83% of the offensive snaps.

I do think there will be changes made in the offseason. What those changes are, we will see.

This team has been circling the drain for a long time. Rodgers is seemingly past his prime. The injuries are staggering but even when healthy we haven't played Packer football for over a year. Perhaps this is the new version of the Packers. That is a difficult pill to swallow. I can see us going 0-4 in this next stretch and losing one of the last three. I guess that would make us 6-10 on the season. It getting difficult to watch I'll tell you that.

I see the Pack going 6-1 the rest of the season and all you will be silent :)

As a President/CEO I think Murphy has been excellent for the Packers. His stamp on on the Organization will be here long after he's gone with "Titletown". But right now he's also in danger of leaving another stamp if he doesn't make some changes after this season and make them quick.
The Packers aren't making the playoffs unless the Vikings continue to lose (Probable) and the Lions start to lose MORE than the Packers (Doubtful). Murphy needs to have his ducks in a row bright and early the morning of January 2nd, 2017. He should have his next GM already selected and ready to be put in place. The new GM's first duty will be to fire McCarthy if McCarthy hasn't resigned, and the entire GB Coaching Staff. Have a short list of coaches you want to interview (McDaniels Please) and get it done. Be the first to take action, I'd imagine Rodgers would still have a lot of appeal to most coaching candidates.

I've said 100 times TT is the "Best Cap Manager" in the NFL. Where he lacks is using all the different ways one can better his team. You can't build JUST through the Draft and expect to win the SB. You put yourself in the position of constantly waiting for players to develop. Seems to me to ALWAYS be counting on Rookies and hoping for 2nd & 3rd year jumps from those developing players is just as risky if not more so than signing a FA here and there. It might be cheaper, but Ted hasn't really hit on an UDFA since Sam Shields. Lane Taylor HAS been a pleasant surprise, but when you look at the number of UDFA who have made this team the last 5 years, you'd hope for more than just Lane Taylor.

Thompson has rode the coattails of Rodgers for years. A few years ago I suggested if Thompson hadn't drafted Rodgers where would he be? FIRED, at least more than likely and I was met with a chorus of "In Ted We Trust". It's time for change and it's not something the Packers can't afford to put off. It's clearly getting worse, not better!

Be careful what you wish for. Look around the league. Show me the % of teams that switched GM and HC in the last decade or so and got immediately better. A new GM and new HC bring upheaval and unpredictable results. In GB's case Eliot Wolf would be a smoother transition, but that's in the works anyway. This team has made it to postseason every year after 2008. The only other team that's done that is the Pats. I don't think Belichick is available.

RCPackerFan's thoughts about the injuries this season are spot on. Bloggers and fans who think more big buck FAs would prevent that or that a new GM/HC would turn third stringers into All Pros are looking for unicorns and magic.

I just seen a piece where MM stated that he isn't worried about the football team. And after the game for some reason he had to tell us what a successful coach he is ,if that alone doesn't sound like denial.... It's become increasingly difficult to say anything about this team and it's coach and GM that hasn't been said hundreds of times, it is what it is, all that's left to do as fans is to watch the last 7 games and see what happens after that.

I'm sorry, but I don't buy the injury excuse. Yes, we've had some significant injuries but every other team in the NFL has significant injuries too.

And what do injuries have to do with a team that shows up unprepared and plays heartless football? Nothing.

For whatever reason, Mike McCarthy lost the respect and trust of Aaron Rodgers. Ever since, AR's play has declined and with it so has our record.

How Aaron goes, so this team goes. Next season get a new HC who Aaron Rodgers respects and trusts and this team will turn it around. That is what I believe.

Why are so many thinking that injuries are the cause of this teams demise to its state at this point. When, before injuries this season or last season did this team play well. Even when they were 6-0 last year we all knew this team won because of the lesser and injury hurt teams early. Stop placating yourselves as the Packers are now doing.

I can see the following scenario play out after the season ends. Mark Murphy and Ted Thompson use the injury excuse as a way to rationalize the teams poor performance. Mike McCarthy is called in for a meeting in which he is put on Double Secret Probation and told if the team doesn't make the playoffs next year he resigns. Mike McCarthy then fires a bunch of coach's( Dom Capers retires) The new DC brings in a 4-3 defensive scheme and the new OC will be the play caller.

If Mike McCarthy is shown the door does Ted Thompson ask John Schneider for permission to talk to Darrell Bevell?

Nice article Cory!
I think you are right. Mike McCarthyx might not lost his team immediatelly after NFCCG, but I think he lost them at the beggining of the 2015 season. I can imagine that Mike McCarthy left that game behinfd him, after he made some (cosmetic?) changes, but that not means necessarily that all the other players from the team was able to put it behind themselves...
I'm affraid that Packers problems are more mental and emotional than physical and that would be much harder to deal with.
It does not matter wether I like Mike McCarthy or Dom Capers, if they fail to bring new enthusiasm in this team they have to go, and I think they need to take with them Tom Clements, Bennett & Zook.
That team has to leave Packers together because they were and are, as the team, part of the problem. They share common philosophy and they are what they are.
I would hate to see Mike McCarthy as some others team HC , but I think he would get the immediate job with several NFL franchizes - namely Browns, Jaguars, Bucs, maybe Bengals, Jets, Rams or even SF. But if that needs to be done to heal the team, I'm all for it. And, also, I think that suggestion to hire Josh McDaniels, Patriots OC are good idea, and I'm also not so hesitant to accept as good hire David Shaw from Stanford...
I would like some comments on this?

...The Packers don’t look like a team right now. They are a bunch of individuals playing for themselves. They don’t have sights set on postseason football; instead they have become fixated on things like incentives and bonuses...

I expect these kind of wild leaps by us crazy fans but really Cory. I would stop watching the team if this type of play was so evident. You should probably stop writing about the Packers if you feel this is the case.

The team is playing poorly, confused, miscast but they have not quit. Thankfully, there are enough commenters who are giving the subject some critical thought.

The comments on showing TT/MM the door are comical. Take your delusional selves, grab a beer and wait for 2018. Mark(what me worry?) Murphy is doing nada until Titletown, razing neighborhoods and expanding their footprint is complete. Making the Packers financially viable for the future obviously takes precedent over the quality of football we are subjected to on the field.

My wfe an in laws big pack fans, im just an observer. From my perspective I put all the blame on the GM.
Draft and develop is a cover up for playing cheap money ball. Ask yourself, of the 15 ufa's, would any of them make another team or be playing now.
Ths is a team lacking skill players on both sides the ball. Pass rush, ho hum, run game nothing, pass d horrid. Many of these isxuez would be non dxiatant if Ted would have spent some bucks a long the way with free agents.
Ted has to go. Change starts at ths top

Mailing in the season before it's over

I like TT's draft and develop but at the same time a couple successful experience players could make all the difference in this team. I noticed watching the Mon. game the coordinators where on the sidelines and I'd like to see ours there to get the players charged. MM has enough to do trying to manage the flow of the game. IMO he doesn't have enuf experienced horses and that's on TT. We have opinions on this team and probably all right and all wrong. Might not make sense to you but does to me so 'what the hell'. If I remember correctly last year we moved the ball without Nelson. One of players that helped that was Montgomery until he go hurt.
Well he ain't hurt no more and we have moved the ball when he's used. So not being used is on MM or Bennett, who I think might be above his head. I would think there are good OC's out there that would move to GB as there is a good chance for changes in near future. As much as it hurts to watch them play like this I will root for them every play just like I did during 70's and 90's.
Made me sick at Colts game to see how MANY so called fans sold their tickets to opponents fans. As season ticket holder I realize we can't go every game but I would like to think we are better fans than other organizations.
Wew, I better stop now.

So Cory floats the idea that the the team leadership is in denial, and the team has punched out. It sure looked that way to me except for a couple of rah-rah moments from Cobb, Adams, and Daniels. Yet almost all posts here are stuck on TT, MM, AR, and injuries.

I guess you guys aren't seeing an unfocused, assignment unsure bunch of millionaires phoning it in like I do. Where's the pride in these guys who have the good fortune and talent to play for the NFL in front of millions of fans around the world? Grown men playing a boys game getting paid in 6 months what most of us won't make in a lifetime. Bitch at the players not Cory.

My issue with Ted Thompson is that he's actually a scout masquerading as a GM. I've long felt that way. He's almost exclusively into the draft and UDFA signings, is essentially a non-factor in the world of trades and veteran pick ups in-season when injuries hit, plus in free agency behaves like losing a compensatory 4th round pick by signing a vet is an awful trade off. See a pattern? Ted gets his buzz from the draft and the subsequent undrafted free agency free for all, and that's pretty much it. Exactly what you would expect from a scout. He's into combines and talent evaluation -- good qualities for a GM to have, but not to the virtual exclusion of other common ways of trying to improve a roster.

Cory - there is no better evidence that the Packers are living in denial than MM declaring that he "is a highly successful NFL coach and that he is happy with his team." Now I understand that he is trying to put up a brave face to the public and maintain whatever shred of confidence his team still has but he would have been better advised to say that "I have been a highly successful NFL coach and therefore I realize that I have not been getting the job done for last 4-5 games. I'm responsible for the results here and I'm going to get it fixed." I have been and remain a huge supporter of MM, particularly for his resiliency and his integrity. I still see his resilience but I can't say that I saw his integrity in his Monday comments. If he can say that he is happy with his team rather than that he's embarrassed by the effort and results then I lose some of my respect for him. I'll continue to support him but I'll be questioning his judgement much more along the way. Thanks, Since '61