We’ve reached the home stretch for the 2021 Green Bay Packers.

Coming out of the bye week, the Packers have a fast finish. Five games and a little help needed to get a second consecutive #1 seed. And after that… who knows.

Last year at this time, I was starting to get Team of Destiny vibes from the Packers. In fact, we’re right around the one-year anniversary of the team’s stunning takedown of the Tennessee Titans, a team most predicted would run all over the Packers.

After that blowout win, it felt like a Packers Super Bowl berth was inevitable.

Of course, I don’t need to spend any time revisiting what ended up happening after that.

This year, there’s been no “team of destiny” vibe from this team at all. Nothing has ever felt fortuitous or charmed about this iteration of the Green Bay Packers. Nothing has come easy. 

Instead, this team has had to fight hard for everything it’s achieved so far this year. There have been few blowouts, and nowhere near as many 30-plus point performances. The quarterback isn’t putting up video game numbers, the offense isn’t firing on all cylinders, and the team has had to deal with a massive onslaught of injuries that it largely managed to avoid through most of the 2020 season.

Perhaps this is exactly what the Packers needed to go through to finally get back to another Super Bowl.

We’re going to find out a lot more about this team over the final five weeks of the season, plus however many games lie ahead in January. But I know this much–this is the most scarred, battle-tested Packers team I’ve seen entering the playoffs in over a decade. They’re not finishing the year with a lot of hype. But they’re playing tough, winning football. 

They’re tackling well, playing hard-nosed defense and continually finding role players to step up and fill the gaps in the absence of all-pros.

I think after last year I’ve given up trying to read tea leaves and no longer believe in the idea of a “team of destiny.” Because all it takes is one shitty game to wreck everything.

But I will say that there’s a grit to this team that has been lacking for quite some time. And no matter who they end up playing in the postseason, and regardless of whether they end up with the number one seed… I like their chances.

Buckle up, folks.

Wisconsin Beer of the Week

I frequently talk about how winter is stout season, but it’s really just dark, malty beer season in general. Recently Lakefront Brewery put out a new porter that is just perfect for the season, with a clarity and crispness that makes it drinkable, but a roastiness and flavor that makes it comforting on a chilly day.

The beer is Baltic Fire, a baltic porter with a bit of a twist. This cold-fermented beer features flavors of molasses, toffee, toasted almonds and vanilla. There’s a lot of complexity of flavor here for a beer that is so drinkable.

At 6.8% ABV, this isn’t a heavy hitter at all, so it’s quite versatile. I drank one with some pizza the other day, and could see myself sipping it while sitting next to the fireplace.

As always, Lakefront makes its beers pretty widely available across the state, so if you’re interested you should be able to easily find it at your local liquor store of choice. Strongly recommended for people who enjoy ambers, porters or lighter-bodied stouts and want to try something new.

And if you’re in the Milwaukee area, be sure to hit up Lakefront’s brewery and fish fry at some point, and don’t forget to order the cheese curds!

A chance to clinch the division once again

Depending on what happens tonight in the Vikings/Steelers game, there’s a chance the Packers could be playing for their third consecutive division title on Sunday night.

The Packers need a loss from the Vikings to be able to clinch this week, otherwise they’ll need to wait until at least next week to clinch the division. There are other ways the Packers can clinch a playoff berth this weekend without a division title, but they’re more convoluted.

I was doing a little bit of digging the other night, because I was wondering how many coaches in NFL history had started their head coaching careers with three consecutive division titles. I was only able to find a few instances since the merger: Ted Marchibroda with the Baltimore Colts, Chuck Knox with the Los Angeles Rams and Marty Schottenheimer with the Cleveland Browns.

All of these coaches were solid coaches, but not Hall of Fame guys, so there’s not any real crazy precedent here to discuss. But it is still a pretty notable accomplishment for Matt LaFleur, once the Packers finally clinch the division.

LaFleur’s intradivisional record has been outstanding. He’s still yet to lose to the Lions or the Bears. And the divisional race really hasn’t been close since he took over the reins.

It’s just one more little factoid that showcases how much LaFleur seems to be taken for granted and overlooked on a national level. He’s probably still not even in the race for Coach of the Year, which is just remarkable.

Around the NFC North

Here we go once again around the NFC North leading into week 13.

-The CHICAGO BEARS continue to spin the wheel of quarterbacks, and Justin Fields now gets his first start at Lambeau Field, and it comes with the Bears all but eliminated from postseason contention. Matt Nagy is basically a dead man walking at this point, but you never really know, I suppose–-perhaps the extension is coming! But then again, maybe the Packers deliver such an embarrassing beatdown that the Bears decide to pull the trigger on Monday.

-The DETROIT LIONS are finally winners! All it took was a game against the greatest losers in the National Football League. There were so many times where it looked like the Lions had completely thrown the game away, but give them credit, they pulled it out in the end and got a victory in the clutch. Believe it or not, this was the first victory in Jared Goff’s NFL career without Sean McVay–a stat that is just unbelievable when you consider he’s now on his third NFL head coach. Now if the Lions aren’t careful they’ll lose the number one overall pick. Better get back to losin’. 

-The MINNESOTA VIKINGS are a soulless, pathetic excuse for a franchise and there is nothing better than watching them lose in embarrassing fashion to the worst team in the league. The only thing emptier than the Vikings’ trophy case are Kirk Cousins’ statistics. Mike ZImmer is going to get fired, the Vikings are stuck with Cousins for at least another year or two, and the Vikings have little to celebrate other than Justin Jefferson.

The band is (maybe) getting back together

Earlier this week, Matt LaFleur hinted that Za’Darius Smith, David Bakhtiari and Jaire Alexander could all be inching toward making their returns. Then the big news on Wednesday was that Jaire practiced with the team for the first time since Octoberr, a huge step toward a potential return.

As of Wednesday, since Alexander practiced the Packers had 21 days to either take him off injured reserve and put him on the 53-man roster or shut him down for the rest of the season. 

Getting Alexander back would be  huge for a defense that already has a secondary playing quite well. It will be fascinating to see what sorts of decisions the team makes with their personnel if/when he returns.

The popular solution I’ve seen floating around Twitter is to keep Eric Stokes and Rasul Douglas on the outslide and to play Jaire in the slot. This is a fine solution to me–Jaire is going to excel wherever you put him, and it beats having Chandon Sullivan or Kevin King on the field instead. 

This means King and Sullivan hit the field only in certain situations or in dime coverage, and you can keep your best three cover guys on the field for the bulk of the game.

Alexander is probably not the player of the three potentially returning All Pros who is most needed, but boy would he still manage to make a big difference in his return. 

I’ll be at the game this weekend!

This weekend will mark my fifth time watching a Packer game live, and my first time watching the Packers play against the Chicago Bears and my first Sunday Night Football game.

I’m very excited to soak in the energy all day long! I’ve never really had an opportunity to enjoy the experience before, as usually I drive up and then have to head to the stadium right away. THis time, though, my friend and I will have a really nice chunk of time before the game so we can really experience the excitement surrounding the stadium.

I’m 4-0 in attendance at Packer games. My four experiences:

• Minnesota Vikings, 2000 (He did WHAT?!)

• Detroit Lions, 2011 (Matt Flynn game)

• Minnesota Vikings, 2016 (Christmas Eve,  Jordy goes off)

• Detroit Lions, 2019 (Packers win on Crosby field goal as time expires despite never leading in regulation)

I knew I had to take this opportunity to get to a game while Aaron Rodgers is still a Packer, as who knows when his last game with the team will be. Ticket prices dropped a fair amount over the last few weeks so I had to jump on it.

It’s going to be a cold one, but I am very excited to be at Lambeau in primetime for the third time, and to be able to witness the latest chapter in the NFL’s most historic rivalry in person.

Nothing beats a tailgate brat

Since I’m heading up to the game this weekend, I’ve been reflecting a bit on tailgate foods and which ones are the best. And to me, there are certain foods that are just amplified in a tailgate setting.

For example, a brat always tastes better at a tailgate even than in a backyard cookout. I can’t explain it, and I know it doesn’t make sense at all. There’s just something about the tailgate vibe that makes brats significantly better than usual. Especially when there is sauerkraut present.

Something else that tastes way better at a tailgate: Miller Lite. Now, this might surprise some of you, but I actually don’t consider myself a beer snob. I may be passionate about my craft brews, but I don’t sneer at people who like the cheap macros. You like what you like. Like I wrote the other week, for me sometimes a High Life just really hits the spot, especially at a dive bar.

But Miller Lite at a tailgate just hits different, man. Especially on a cold day, where you barely even have to keep it in a cooler. It just tastes like football. Perhaps it’s something left over from my college days, living right in the shadow of Camp Randall and cracking cold ones at 8 in the morning for the 11 AM games. 

So my question for you today: are there any foods you can think of that just inexplicably taste better in the tailgate setting?

The prediction

Come on now. The Packers are not going to lose this football game. Forget the bye week blues, forget the fact that it’s a divisional game. This is an awful Bears team with a poor quarterback situation, a terrible head coach and a defense that no longer is capable of carrying this team to success.

If the Packers lose this game they should be completely, utterly embarrassed. But they won’t.

Packers 31, Bears 13