Missed field goal, 4 th and1 stop instead of 3 , missed interceptions, no third down stops on the 49 ers last drive .

I have a serious question related to our limited cap space. I really liked Bakhtiari and appreciate what he has been to this team. But when he missed almost the entire year last year, and this entire year, why haven't the Packers provided him with an injury settlement?

His huge salary has been an anchor on the team both years.

You've spoken about the loyalty of the Packers to players and staff. I get that. But when a player suffers through season ending injuries in consecutive years, it seems to me that loyalty to the rest of the roster is a higher priority, putting the team in the best position to win.

I don't pretend to know the finances involved in an injury settlement for a player under contract with guarantees and such a big cap hit. Surely, if they'd provided and injury settlement at the beginning of this year (knowing he wouldn't play in any game), if not for this year, the Packers would be in better situation financially next year? Go Pack go!

Here is what i find troubling about the end of the Packer/49er game.

We have a 2nd year 7th round QB, and a 4th year 1st round QB.

When the game is on the line, who are you betting on?
I think that has been answered.
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Speaking of which……
WTF was Love thinking throwing that ball that resulted in a pick?
I mean, it was 1st down, he had 2 time outs, why try to force such a low percentage throw?
His best option, is a Favre to Tracy Porter self destruct in the 2009 NFCCG?
Made no f’ing sense at all.

Call Love a franchise QB if it makes anyone feel all warm and fuzzy inside…but that isn’t what i was watching,

Hmmm, let's break it down.
1. Packers play a top team well but have numerous missed opportunities throughout the game which could have made things easier.
2. Near the end of the game the Packers have several opportunities to extend a lead and fail (3 and outs, missed FG, TO).
3. In the end the Defense has a chance to make a stand to win the game and fail, spectacularly.
4. At the very end the Packers have the ball and enough time to either tie or win the game and instead throw a mind numbingly dumb interception for no apparent reason.

Ok, I get it, they're young. The problem is that these issues have been a reoccurring theme for our beloved team and at some future point will have to be overcome. Winners win...

The Packers went from a 4-man rotation to a 3-man rotation because of the Enagbare injury. Which meant that a great (older) player (Preston Smith) was gassed in the 4th quarter. Why wasn't Brendon Cox, jr. brought up off the practice squad? Did Pat O'Donnell take his place? Two punters on game day? Even though sick during the week, Whelan looked fine to me?? If you are going to bring in someone last minute to bolster up a position, how about Robbie Gould? As Paul Revere & the Raiders once sang, "Kicks just keep gettin' harder to find!"

The kicker experiment gave Carlson some good experience. It also gave the Packers a loss. And don't give me any of this crap that one play doesn't define a game. This game was too big for "the experience!"

I think your take on Barry on the last drive is spot on. It’s not just what you can do but what you actually call. That’s a temperament. When it matters Barry doesn’t get it right even on good days. To ignore that this far in to a tenure is simply not winning leadership. A coordinator has to help us over the hump not make it steeper.

LaFleur as an OC has probably proved himself, though I thought we missed some tricks with the use of WRs in this game. Watson, Reed and Melton have the speed to trouble but were rarely used aggressively.

Keeping Barry is a move that can’t be defended with this much talent developing. Such decisions are about ambition and determination to settle for the average. If LaFleur keeps him then it’s a sign we still need a true HC. It feels rather like having Sherman as GM Head Coach, which seldom works whomever it is, but in our case it’s OC & HC.

If you stick with players regardless that will have some winners, but there has to be a cut off where one accepts that a player isn’t growing and the willingness to change things up. For us, that appears to take injury, being forced to change. That’s not worked for us overall, despite the emergence of Walker.

It’s not just sticking with the truly bad, but accepting borderline adequacy far too long. We saw that on the OL this year at C and RG. It parallels the coaching decisions. Just go with the status quo till forced to accept it’s not working after it bites us. Again, not a trait of a HC one can rely on.

Winning in this league is a question of tiny margins. As you mention. Does LaFleur seem like he’s capable of grasping that and making the tough decisions to try to get better? I still don’t see that demonstrated anywhere.

One final point on Bakh. If we cut him we save 20 million in cap while still taking a similar hit. Are we ever going to know if he’s healthy truly on a season length perspective? If Walker is as good as you have just been saying, why would we impair his development? I just don’t see gambling on Bakh staying healthy when that cap could be a decent FA at S, C, RB or elsewhere and continue to develop Walker. Surely it is time to move on?

I hate the "future is bright" narrative. Love was good, not great, this year. He melted in the biggest game of the year. Will he learn from this?... who the hell knows? He tends awful throws and ill-advised. throws. The leader of the pack, MLF, also melted. In the last two games our leading receiver all year, Reed, had 4 catches. Wicks had none this game. Watson 1. 194 yards throwing in total in the biggest game of the year. LaFleur has so far proven only that in big games he, too, melts. He's not a rookie coach anymore and yet he came up small. Barry became Barry in the biggest drive of his career as the 49ers marched down the field as if against a high school defense. all had bad games. None of this is encouraging for the future.

For too many years we've suffered losses that are almost impossible to fathom. We analyze and conclude, that if only one of the 15 things that we did wrong hadn't happened we'd have won, and then we think it can't happen again, and it does.

Of course, they won't can MLF. Every team thinks their future is bright. The future is bright when you win.

I think most of Packer fans agree with both Aaron and Andy in that we would like to see the Packers move on to a different defensive coordinator in2024. I did a little research and found this list of about 17 defensive coordinator interviews conducted for 2023 along with a few details about each. Take a peak if you are interested:

https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/2023/12/21/24010753/2024-nfl-defensiv...

Keep on looking thru your rose colored glasses Packer fans, Lafleur, Gutey and Barry got you trained pretty good to accept mediocrity.