"Another question that has often arisen is lack of elite talent. One of the goals the Packers had when acquiring Micah Parsons before the season started was to add another elite player. GM Brian Gutekunst has built a roster full of good players but are there enough elite players?"

SO...Is it the lack of elite talent or is it the coaches failure to bring out the "Elite" in the players? Back when Ted was the GM he'd draft an O-Lineman in the 4th or 5th round and about 3 years later you had a sure fire All-Pro O-lineman or so it seemed. That same could be said about the WR position. Take a WR in the 2nd round and we'll have a future All-Pro a few years later. Where in the hell are Gutes All-Pros he drafted???

I've thought for a long time the assistant coaches on this team for the most part aren't worth a damn. We hardly ever have our staff raided by new coaching staffs or even interviewed for HC jobs. There's a reason for that and I'm guessing most of the staff is just not that good.

Since Gute took over in 2018 and Matt LaFleur in 2019, those All-Pros or elite players have been few and far between. You also have to look at the time Gute and MLF have been given. I mean this has been going on since 2018 and I don't feel like the Packers are any closer to winning a SB. In the last few drafts Gute HAS done better. Since the 2022 draft and beyond, there's actually players I'd like to see extended. But the 2020 and 2021 drafts were putrid. Yes we drafted Love but that is all and frankly the jury is still out on Love.

I don't know what the answers are, that's why I'm the "Fan". But I'm hoping and thinking our new Team President does have some answers and I can't wait to see which way it goes. Hopefully to Championship #14!

All great points Gil and yes, I believe they all contribute our losses. In addition, we do not get the turnovers as much as we should. This is also a big reason that contribute as well.

"In that game, the Packers’ play calling was aggressive, and they won in part due to their success on fourth down. But was that just a one-game adjustment or a new approach for LaFleur?"

What if one or two of the fourth down attempts had failed, like in the Bears game? I’d say Campbell’s style is too aggressive, and it cost him the playoffs last year and several games this season. Being overly aggressive doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right way to manage a game—there’s a lot that goes into making the right decision. MLF was very aggressive in the Bears game, and some might argue it cost them the win.

Of course, hindsight makes it easy to critique. Overall, I’d like to see MLF hand over game management decisions to a competent coaching team handle them so he can focus on play calling.

As for penalties, they can be frustrating, but we’re middle of the pack there—no pun intended. Interestingly, two of the better teams, Jacksonville and Denver, are second and third in penalties, respectively. On the flipside, the Rams, 49ers and Cinci have the fewest.

Packers have a lot of GOOD players.

Packers have a GOOD head coach.

Packers have a GOOD GM.

The Packers have just one GREAT thing going for them Micah Parsons.

With most of the core players returning and still relatively young but no 1st round pick and little room to spend under the cap I expect another GOOD but not great season in 2026.

Merry Christmas to all my fellow Packer fans and the excellent CHTV staff and contributors. I wish everyone a great holiday.
Enjoy! GPG! Thanks, Since ‘61

The number of issues presented in the article answers the very question posed to us fans. Each will create different opinions about them all, but correcting them is the real question. Recognizing the issues is the first step, but it seems that those who could correct them are unable, unwilling, or have tied hands.

Since these issues seem perennial, all we can do is hope that an answer slips through the cracks that are preventing the resolution of them. What's another 15 years, we can tie the drought between Starr and Favre.

Merry Xmas all.

I'd say it's "all of the above." But each issue has shown up and played its role at various decisive points of games and various and decisive games. It's not one big gaping hole but many popping out of the dyke while trying to plug one.

BECAUSE THEIR LOSERS.
It's that simple.
Losers never have their way.
It short lived and in spurts.

Yea - you can point to discipline./repetitions

Winners; know they won't lose and don't
succumb to pressure.
IMO- emotional Resistance.

Special teams: I've come to the conclusion that the actual coordinator is just a figurehead. In the past 15 years we've had coordinators that have succeeded in other places, but when they come to Green Bay, they haven't been effective. So maybe this organizational blight falls at the feet of the head coaches and their lack of proper diligence to the matter?

Lack of stars and leaders: Stars and leaders usually don't happen instantaneously. The Packers always seem to be one of the younger teams in the league, so that's a partial explanation.

Talent: Plenty has been written about Gute's drafting methodology, so I'll skip that.

But what about the deployment of that talent? For instance, it's pretty apparent that Morgan is a tackle, not a guard. Mixing and matching may be useful in a pinch, but it's not a long-term strategy for sustaining a winning offensive line. And what about our most recent first-round pick? Is he not good for more than an occasional pass and another bleeping end-around? All that time Reed was out and you can't get him more involved? I've heard suggestions his route running wasn't where it needed to be, but still, you need to get him more experience--and besides, his talent should be able to overcome some deficiencies even though he's not perfect yet.

Low-scoring games: You hate to see us lose when the defense does it's part. That's happened three times this season. Currently we rank around the median in red zone TD percentage at 58.9% (although you would never know from the last game). We have the talent to do better. A great way to beat yourself is not to score TDs when you should, especially from closer in.

So in my horsey days - when I had a steed that I thought / hoped should perform better – the first decision was usually to change the jockey(s) – to see how our runner would respond to a new set of hands. If that didn't produce the desired results – then maybe a new trainer would be considered. If my wishful retirement investment still continued to underwhelm – then a sale or a trade of bloodstock would occasionally occur.

I likewise see this as the order of action(s) for the newly minted President of the GBP. With the large assumption that the status quo will be upended. If so, then we should be looking at a new jockey (coach) to start. Should Policy want to go full action hero – then he may jettison the trainer (GM) as well. Although I don't think so as it may be too un-Packerish. Lastly - a complete dispersal sale/trade of players. While some parts may be replaced – the team body itself is highly likely to remain intact

That being so – putting myself in Policy's shoes - my off-season action plan would include:

1. Dismissal of LaFleur (and others) – possibly replacing him with Hafley.
2. Extending Gutekunst for 1 year – on a prove-it contract.

Then watch and closely monitor the 2026-27 season.

Happy Holidays to All!

"One factor that is often discussed is coaching."
"Another potential factor has been a lack of discipline."
"Many fans also question how much coaching plays into this lack of discipline."
"Another question that has often arisen is lack of elite talent."
"There are fans that also blame GM Brian Gutekunst for the way he has drafted this team, especially in the first round."
"Other people question the leadership of this team."

Seems to me we have a theme here. From front office to GM to coaching at all levels down to the team. All of the above starts at the top. In any organization, talented individuals can overcome adversity at times for a while. Long term it becomes increasingly difficult. To truly be top of the class. Tip of the spear. Your gonna need leadership that sharpens the effort and focus every day. The Packers are better than most. For some that's good enough. For others, if you are not No.1, you are forgotten.

Are the Packers going to take all of the experiences of this season, good and bad, and use them to finish strong.
I guess that's a question we can apply to our lives as we enter into the astounding miracle of Christmas, and try to take the spirit of the season into the new year.
To paraphrase Bart Starr (in quoting William Jennings Bryan), life is not a matter of chance but of choice, not a matter of an outside destiny but of our own inner determination.
That's the drama for each of us. The stunning consideration of Christmas is that there just might be a God who actually cares about the intimate details of each of our own lives, who roots for each of us passionately as not only our creator but also as our dearest friend.
One of the reasons there were no hospitals before Christianity is because no one in the ancient world thought that it was important to provide advanced health care to the ordinary person (with the first hospital being invented by St. Basil of Caesarea after the legalization of Christianity in the 300s, offering compassionate care to people of all religions).
Before Christ, there was no concept of the equality of all humans without exception. Some people mattered, most people didn't. Only in Christmas are we all priceless and irreplaceable, as in "It's a Wonderful Life."
Lest it be thought that I am overly sentimental and perhaps irrelevant to football, the irascible Vince Lombardi went so far as to describe the phenomenon of his Packers teams as matter of love. (Really. . . See the excellent two-part biography by ESPN as part of its series "A Football Life," which first aired during the anniversary of his death in 2013.)
Lombardi wasn't preachy, but it was essential for him to be more than a teacher of football; he desired to be a leader of men. He believed that the game of football was an important and honorable part of life, and that the lessons of life applied to football. Motivated by his faith, what Lombardi instilled in his Packers was an ethos of camaraderie and sacrificing for each other and going beyond individual achievement to shared glory.
No team before or since (in the playoff era of the NFL) has won five championships in seven seasons, and three in a row. To be the greatest team in the history of pro football suggests a synergy that goes beyond strategy and talent and even hard work. It's a matter of friendship, of love that drives a team reeling in bitter adversity 68 yards in some four minutes to win the most famous game of all time, the Ice Bowl of 1967 -- which serves as the culmination and epitome of the Lombardi Era.
***
So it is that the Packers of 2025 have the answer to the above article in their own history as a team, made tangible in the treasures of the Packers Hall of Fame. The key to the rest of the season lies within each of our players, how they prepare and how they perform in each game.
It's not a guarantee of a Super Bowl. As perspective, according to a piece of artwork on a wall behind me as I write (which is the same as displayed outside the elevator of a hotel I stayed at in 2022, a few blocks down the road from Lambeau), we have these words of Lombardi: "The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have."
This seems to be what Lombardi understood, or at least grew to understand, when he said that winning is everything. He meant that we don't live life as a matter of mediocre participation in various entities and events. We give it our best in all that we do. We chase perfection knowing we won't achieve it, but so as to attain excellence. We run so as to win the race. Then, whatever the results, we are winners.
If our Packers take this to heart as individuals and as a team, they will reach the fullness of their potential. And that is the most satisfying way we can live the entirety of our lives. And it helps a lot if we have others with us to provide camaraderie and support.
I say all this not as one not triumphant, but as one struggling and striving, as one continuously trying to enkindle the fire of hope within even on frigid and bleak winter days.
Merry Christmas to all of the staff and fans at Cheesehead TV!!! I pray for everyone light and warmth.

After teeth-gnashing most of the year I have come to the conclusion that 'I am powerless' over what Gute, MLF and Policy do. The Intel from Rob Demovsky is Policy will reinstate Gute---not my choice but I am powerless.
I over-drank the koolaid re: a SB run but it is now clear that I over-drank the koolaid. It is the recurrent problems with no solution that wear my fandom down.

The new me is more philosophical but less interested.

Maybe their masochists?

P.B.

There is a common denominator in all the reasons. If you don't see it now, you'll figure it out in a year or two. Hopefully, Policy sees it and makes the necessary change.