"What exactly do the Packers do well at the moment?"

Uuuuh, I'll have to get back to ya.....
But don't hold your breath

It's time for the Packers faithful to realize this is a .500 team at best and stick a fork in it for this year.

What we're seeing is a (hopefully) short-term fall off until fortunes turn around.

I heard one of the commentators say something is really off inside the Packers organization as the entire team seems to be in a malaise. Malaise was a word tossed around frequently in the 70's and 80's. The problems then seemed insurmountable and continued year after year. On one show the host said Robert Salah and Mike LaFleur basically pulled the same plan out of the hat the 49'ers used a couple of years ago to beat Green Bay. Apparently Matt LF didn't realize it.

Like it or not, Gute and MLF have to take responsibility for this. When Rodgers first started whining about a contract extension years ago, I said he should have been traded him to then Oakland for David Carr. Carr was in Gruden's doghouse and Rodgers began his quest to run the team. Instead they extended Rodgers and now have extended him again for potential catastrophic financial consequences. "All in" has resulted in "all out".

The fans have to grow up a bit too. Never have the Packers had the amount of success the team has had since Ron Wolf hired Mike Holmgren. We've become used to winning most of the time. The NFL cycles builds the weak to replace the winners. The Packers will be in a down cycle now for awhile. The whole program of paying for top talent is now showing it's negative side. We all have to adjust and remain fans, just like the fans did in the 50's after Lambeau's early success and the 70's and 80's. But it will be tough to watch them lose to teams they would have beaten not all that long ago.

It should have been seen coming, perhaps it was, but denial is a hard habit to break.

When and while the team had many a veteran of reliable play on both sides of the ball, MLF looked awesome, but his postseason fails told a truth. That truth is now obvious. He has reached his ceiling and his floor is now exposed and falling.

Joe Barry was Joe Barry before the FO hired him, and he's Joe Barry now, and will be Joe Barry afterwards.

I sided with keeping Rodgers because I have no faith in Love to be anything more than a .500 QB at best. Moving on from Rodgers before the deadline is the only way this team possibly has a chance to win something. It won't save the season, or the salary cap issues that are coming, but it can certainly ease the pain of both going forward.

As to the question, What exactly do the Packers do well at the moment?

If my eyes are open, not much at all.

If my eyes are closed, I don't watch things with my eyes closed, because I don't do fantasy. Reference the last part of my first sentence.

Make meaningless statements in supposed explanation and focus on the minutiae not the big picture dysfunction to prolong their employment.

Tim - Thanks for your thoughts and observations. Agree and have believed the very same things for a while. Nothing more to say.

Excellent, spot on take. However the headline says "sudden mediocrity" but the article lays out that it is not all that sudden.
The list, the very short list, of who is playing up to expectations we should have Pat O'Donnell added I think.

There are eleven games to play. Plenty of time for a turnaround. At this point, there are ten teams with winning records. Four of them are in the NFC. Seven teams from each conference go to the playoffs. That is what matters. The Manning led Giants won two SB's after posting regular season records of 9-7 and 10-6. The last time the Packers won, they had a record of 10-6. The formula has worked repeatedly: make the playoffs, get hot, win an SB. Will this happen? Likely not. But if you want hope, here it is. And without hope, what's the point of living?

The fact that MLF hired Mo Drayton & Joe Barry is very troubling!
This makes you wonder WTF was MLF thinking when he thought they could be competent NFL coaches!

1. The Packers may be the best team in the past five or even six years to be able to keep their opponents in the game. They blow no one away.
2. The Packers have the ability to pick players in the draft with a long history of injuries and wonder why these guys are always hurt. Watson,
Watkins, Amos, Cobb, Belaga, Jenkins, etc.
3. The packers are capable of having three different defensive coaches who all use the same packer defensive playbook, changing nothing.
They were all told before hire, no 4 3 defense here, we dont want to pay for defensive ends, you make it happen with linebackers who are cheaper. Otherwise your hired.
4. The Packers are the only team to be favored at home in playoff games and look like they are the visiting team without a clue.

It’s just a ball shortage problem, the coaches, players and fans in Green Bay need to grow some.

It's almost too much to wrap your arms around at once: Rodgers has a financial stranglehold on the organization, you passed on the chance to give Love a full evaluation, there are a litany of questions about the coaching staff, and Gute's plan to rebuild the WR corps has blown up in his face. On offense, we have almost become the Green Bay Bears with subpar OL play, and little in the way of play-making receivers or schemes to get them open.

I'm not giving up on the season yet, but the next two games should be very telling about how this team responds to adversity: one against a bad team, and one against a very good one. If they flop on both on both occasions....I don't know what the organization can do to wiggle out of this situation they put themselves into. Happy to hand this depressing thought to others--maybe they have some creative (but realistic) solutions.

When so many players are underperforming, it seems time to scrutinize the coaches.
***
Why do we have to pay Aaron Rodgers if he retires?
Is there any way to get out of his contract?
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Let's start by firing anyone in management who decided to bring back arrogant Rodgers.
How can we entrust our team management to anyone who wanted to bring back a guy who basically held out the past two seasons, and seems to interfere so rudely in both the job of general manager and head coach.
As an example, when Rodgers publicly announces, in effect, that the starters are going to play in the meaningless game at the end of the last regular season against the Lions -- apparently before the head coach has made that decision -- then it's a huge problem at the core of the organization. (By the way, we lost Bakh and MVS to injury in that game so that both we're unavailable in the playoffs against the 49ers.)
***
Where is the dignity of a general manager or head coach who allows any player to interfere in their jobs -- or the dignity of any executive who pressured them to do so?
We need to find out who made the call on re-signing Rodgers, and even who went along with it. It seems all of them should be fired, or at least the main culprit.
How can we be confident that this current management will be able to ever lead the Packers to success when they've failed in the fundamental duty to assert their authority against an arrogant and intrusive quarterback?
The groveling of management to Rodgers has undermined the entire team by creating a basic dysfunction in the proper running of the team.
The hard reality is that until this fundamental flaw has been remedied, the Packers just can't be winners.
***
Too strong? Please, tell me why.

I did not look at any articles after the loss until today. My thought was that all I would read would be complaints and after looking at this article and others, that is true. Plus, yesterday, I did not know what to say in any comments other than to complain as well and I really did not and still do not know really what the problem is. You can't say the offense stinks, or the defense stinks or special teams stink. They all played pretty bad and I am still trying to figure out 'what is the problem?'.

I think the team knows from the player chatter in the locker room. There is more to this than just 'they are not playing well right now'. I believe you have to look at the coaching. The planning for each game is not going well and as I have mentioned a lot in the past, in game adjustments just do not happen and we continue to fail. The players know this and I think they just kind of give up knowing the outcome of the game.

Tim, you mentioned that Lafleur is the problem but hesitate to say what must be done with him. You sound like he should be let go but then when it comes right down to it, you don't make that call. As to Barry, I thought he coached pretty well last year but now they have added some good players and they are not playing well at all. I would imagine that when Barry was hired, based on his DC history with two other teams, a high percentage of us wondered why this guy was hired? But we had faith in LeFleur that he knew what he was doing.

The team lacks that killer instinct and they do play soft. I think the team should make some coaching changes. To what extent, I can't tell you but some change needs to occur.

This should be interesting this week and depending on the results of the next game, the following week as well.

I think we are all pretty disappointed right now and none of us can agree in total as to what should be done to improve things.

One has to question MLF’s judgement and leadership: Exhibit 1- His failure to address the terrible performance of STs over the past three years; Exhibit2- The hire of Joe Barry; Exhibit 3- Promoting Steno a highly successful oline coach to OC; Exhibit4- inability to motivate the team and Exhibit 5 - Allowing ARod to dictate the offensive scheme. MLF reminds me of a leader who needs to be liked. Strong leaders often have to make decisions for the good of the organization, that are going to piss some individuals off

I don't agree with anything in this Article. You want to blow up everything. And if I was a player, I'd get the Hell out of GB. Resulting in the Pack will never be back. Money isn't going to buy are way out of this. So let me start.
#1.LeFluer- He's young. And his staff had departures. Finally He's trying to break the ST curse that has been there since 2010.
#2. Barry- Seriously Barry needed new blood. ILB, DL. and really is Savage the answer at FS? Blame his coaches! Don't Blame the Game plan!
#3. Trading Rodgers. - For What?= 2 #1s and going back to where The Pack won't be back. I guarantee one would have been used to replace Love.( And they would be late in the draft!) The Veterans wouldn't come here if it wasn't for Rodgers. So forget spending money unless you want to extend the career of a used up player. You wanted to play TT.
#4 on the rest of the season. - Rodger's isn't a coach. He's a QB who needs time. The OL has been so screwed up since the start of the season. It's not going to change; if the coaches keep experimenting, and keep following the same old pattern. Their Screwed!
Rodger's has never been pressured, or knock to the ground so much, since he broke his collar bone. You may hate his ego and life style. But he's still the best chance we have to get to the super-bowl. The call in GB has always been. Get the stars some help. When will the calvary arrive??

What do the Packers do well right now? Well they actually kick FGs, PATs and Punts well when they aren't blocked.

Beyond that no offense can do anything well when the OL is a Hot Mess which is the current status of the Packers OL. The team can't run or pass well when the OL doesn't block effectively. The OL failures are on the offensive coaching staff. The OL left to right should be: Bak, Jenkins, Myers, Runyon, Nijman. That puts our best 5 on the field and at the positions they can be most effective. Why we're keeping Jenkins at RT and Hanson at RG I have no idea but it's not working and it's stupid to continue.

On defense we're playing far too soft and the alleged improved DL has not materialized. Campbell has taken a step back from last season, Walker is all over the place and takes himself out of plays or he can't get off his blocks. Stokes looks like he has regressed from his rookie season and Savage remains inconsistent. 7 first round picks on defense and these are the results we are getting? Except for Clark, Gary and Alexander I am beginning to be concerned about the quality of our other first round picks. They again Barry is our DC so maybe that explains it.

As I posted on another thread earlier today, Murphy's efforts to keep the Packers relevant is diametrically opposed to building a team that can win now or in the short term future. Hiring an HC after just one meeting is a reckless and often a mistaken approach to hiring someone for any position. But he saw an up and coming coach with alleged fresh ideas for the offense but obviously no clue about defense and STs. Then Murphy compounded the problem by extending an aging QB. I am as big a Rodgers supporter as anyone here at CHTV but even I advocated trading him for picks because Rodgers time has passed and our team needs an infusion of young talent at numerous positions. It also would have given MLF a chance to recreate his offense around Love or possibly another QB.

However trading Rodgers probably means playing through at a few sub .500 seasons and Murphy who will likely retire in the next 2-3 seasons does not want to go out with the Packers in full rebuild mode. He wants to keep the Packers relevant for the remainder of his term as Packer President. I suspect that he will retire with Rodgers or shortly thereafter.

I wouldn't want to give up on MLF yet but quite frankly what this team need is a Mike Holmgren like HC assuming that there is any one like him out there. Holmgren's teams never looked as disinterested as this Packer team has looked over their last 6 quarters of football. If MLF cannot turn this team around and the season goes bad, i.e., below .500 I would chuck the entire coaching staff and move on otherwise the team will get the message that management is OK with continuing to lose. As for Rodgers I hope that he decides to retire before he is seriously injured. It's only a matter of time if the OL continues to play as poorly as they have the last few games. Thanks, Since '61

The Super Bowl window is as slammed shut as the windows on a February day in Green Bay. This was entirely predictable and expected. Murphy has announced his retirement in 2024. QB1 is fighting Father Time and the betting odds are on Dad. The man upon whom the franchise relied is neither as mobile nor as accurate as he was ten years ago and the fire in his belly to do superhuman tricks appears to have gone out. The HC or QB1 seems to not understand the team built by the GM who ignored the WR position for years (actually, the organization has historically ignored WR despite the NFL trend to WR passing focus). The MLF offense was supposed to be a RB TE focused offense but Lewis is elderly and Tongan coming off an ACL. MLF has been outcoached at every criticaljuncture…he does appear lost. Good TEs we’re available in free agency but of course the team had no financial ability to go after one or a WR because of the decision to resign #12 who would never have had greater value than after the first or second MVP particularly knowing that the WR reserves were low with or without Adams. There was an expected regression on defense. Douglas and Campbell were practice squad or street free agents who had unexpectedly good years. (Douglas pick in Arizona was a thing of beauty from the stands). Add in a subpar DC hire and… well regression. Special teams has been a disaster for years and can’t be turned around immediately although it has played better. I’d argue that the ST coach may be a good interim HC. The O Line is a mess. But given two starters coming off of ACLs that was to be expected especially given HC reluctance to try out a new alignment to replace a failed line.

Looking at the schedule, playing as they are now wins are going to be hard to come by the Commanders, the Bears and maybe a split with the lions. As the losses to the cream of the crop pile up as I e pest, the fire in the team will further dim and the schisms will expand.

The packers are in cap hell. Regardless of when QB 1 steps away the team has dead money up the wazoo. There will be no trades to the rescue or practice squad saviors. They will draft next year in the teens or better. Love is probably not the answer. However, it is time to rip the bandage off and begin the tear down rebuild. Trade QB1 for whatever you can get. This will require paying most of his salary but that’s gonna happen regardless. Trade Jones. He has a 10 or 20 mil cap hit next year. That’s a lot for 5-6 touches a year. He could bring a first or second rounder. Go with any man and get what you can for Bahk. A contender will give a third or so. Trim payroll Now to accelerate the rebuild. Give the DC his walking papers. Mike Zimmer may do wonders as an interim DC. Reduce cap disaster, reload picks, change leadership. The rebound will be quicker that way and the pain less prolonged.

/s Lost the rose colored glasses

and there's this ..very .telling...""I'm not attacking anything," Rodgers said. "I just think that based on how we've played the last two weeks, I think it's going to be in our best interests to simplify things for everybody -- for the line, for the backs, for the receivers, especially with [Randall Cobb's] injury. Just simplify some things, and maybe that'll help us get back on track."

"I don't know what that means," LaFleur told reporters on Monday.

that was Rodgers post game at the mic and MLF when told what Arod said...I have no faith in this coaching staff anymore...sure they'll win some more games this year but this era, just like the Favre era, is coming to a close...people want the Love era...good grief...

I have all of the same complaints y’all have, but my question is can this be corrected—and I say yes!
The o-line can be fixed;
Aaron Jones can be better utilized;
If Barry is fired and/or he pulls his head out of his a$$, this defense can still be excellent;
Bisaccia WILL continue to make the special teams better;
I see a free agent WR being added;
My biggest skepticism is regarding Flappy-Arms LaFleur—I see no scheme and no energy—-BUT, I do believe you can (at times) overcome your coach/coaching. We did it with Dan Devine…can we do it again?

Offensive woes start with the OL. The concern is that everyone can see it. The right-side is horrid. The inability to pick up and handle basic stunts points to bad coaching. Then inability to recognize and change out players that simply cannot perform is puzzling. At some point, you have to try the younger guys and simplify the game if need be. Hanson is too weak and Newman is bad.

MLF is overwhelmed at this point. He got AR interested and was a change in voice. I remember Love's first start last year(?) and he was unprepared for blitzing. He seems to have reached his limit. Couldn't correct ST last year in any appreciable manner. I think his position came a little too easily to this point, and now he has to solve some difficult problems. We will see what happens. Track record is not promising as he is more of a OC than HC.

“All too often missed opportunities are in plain sight.” ― Germany Kent

Not trading Rodgers last year (a once-in-a-decade opportunity) - is tantamount to managerial malpractice. Instead the "brain trust" wagered $50 m on an aged and declining QB. The team may not make the playoffs this year - which Jordan Love and a vault full of draft picks - could have also duplicated. However the team would have been 2-3 years ahead in their development had this (Love) course been taken. Instead...

My thoughts are right in alignment with you. The top brass afraid to face pain by putting it off, should have unloaded Rogers two seasons ago for great picks and rebuilt. Now they are screwed. You got an old man whose best days are ove and you can't unload him.

You have a d coach who either he is clueless or he thinks our d backs lack the talent speed and brains to play cover. Capers, Pettine and now Barry, maybe it's the players and not them. Stokes is lost amos slow and Douglas easily in the wrong place.

Ya this team is going nowhere this year. The rebuild will begin whether Murphy wants to or not. Gutt needs to go to

I’m not sure what is more discouraging. Going all in this year and getting virtually no help from your 2022 draft class or having no one in the organization see the decline in Rodgers. $50 million for Rodgers is criminal.

Equally disturbing, 1 TD in the last 6 quarters.?

His Monday press conferences are mediocre too. I really think ML is not going to be able to right the ship. No fire, no emotion no sense of urgency. He seems to think it just poor execution. Isn’t he seeing his o line get manhandled?
Does he see his defense unable to stop teams in the second half? Does he see the lack of separation on his receivers? Poor throws from his QB?

Let’s face it, for a number of years any real physical team beats the Pack. When our team gets punched in the mouth they play on their heels. We have been a finesse team for quite a while. I was at the Jets game and we played weak and passive.

Neither LaF or Barry are capable of making in game adjustments and the NFL knows it.

To be fair, this slow-motion train wreck started way back when Gutekunst used a first-rounder to get Jordan Love. THAT was a sign of the beginning of the end.

There's much to be said about how the Packers ended up 3-3 looking like one of the worst teams in the NFL. I go back to Gutenkunst and Murphy. This team was trending upward post 2019. They made it back to the NFC championship after back to back losing seasons. It then seemed like the Packers actually weren't that far from being a contender again. However, they got destroyed in that NFC Championship to the 49ers, so while they showed that they could get back to the playoffs there was still work left to do. And then just like that in 2020 things got weird. And every draft over the last three years along with other management decisions has led to this current team. In 2020, they drafted the controversial Love, Dillon, and Deguara with their first three picks. Dillon is the only real contributor from that draft. Some other guys include Jon Runyan, Jake Hanson, and Vernon Scott. Vernon Scott isn't even on the team anymore along with some other guys.

2021 was another ho hum draft. Gutenkunst got another decent corner with Stokes. But then things quickly fall off from there. Meyers was drafted in the second round. He's okay. Then Amari Rodgers in the third round who was instantly at the bottom of the roster and one of the worst receivers on the team now. This draft also got us Royce Newman who is one of the worst lineman on the team. Then there are some other guys you occasionally see like Jean Charles.

2022 is still out in the open but based on current play I think this is another poor draft although probably better than the last two years. It was a great draft on paper. They got a linebacker and a defensive end along with an athletic wide receiver which were all needs. But the problem is that Walker and Wyatt have shown almost nothing so far. And Watson is a bust for this year. I don't want to hear about how he might be good in the future. Watson was also a project player and the Packers should've never drafted him for that reason alone no matter how fast he was. It was just another questionable decision that had little chance of working out. Doubs looks okay too but I don't see anything to get excited about. He has 2 tds!

So overall, the Packers have had three terrible drafts. Out of all the players they selected I would say Dillon and Stokes are actually good players. So maybe a few good players? Now look at who they lost over the last three off seasons. Linsley, Zadarios Smith, Billy Turner, Adams, Scantling, Williams, Bulaga, Sullivan, King, etc. They haven't drafted any player that was as good as someone they lost except Stokes who is better than Kevin King.

Then there are other guys whose role makes no sense on the team like Deguara. He was a high draft pick and gets two passes a game. I don't know if he's even good or bad because he never gets to play. Love of course sits on the bench. So the Packers go into the 2020 NFC Championship game getting no help from their top draft picks, while the Buccaneers reload during the off season, and then everyone wonders why the Packers lost or wants to blame the refs.

Gutenkunst does nothing to prepare for Adams contract ending except tag and trade, and then draft a bust project player. They should've been drafting receivers in the 2020 draft. Then someone would've been ready for Adams leaving this year. And then it would've made sense to re-sign Rodgers to a new contract, unlike now when all the receivers left except Lazard and Cobb, and they're starting over from scratch. What!

Random thoughts:
I traded Rodgers, drafted Creed Humphrey over Myers and Devin Lloyd over Walker. Yay me. But that means zero right now.

If I could have three weeks to retrain/practice with this current group, I’d go Bakhtiari-Runyon-Jenkins-Myers-Nijman. Jenkins was a center prospect before the draft, and Myers is more of a guard than a center in my opinion.

I agree that LaFleur is starting to feel like an OC not a head coach. There is a lack of perceived intensity —gravitas maybe— and that’s important in a leader during adversity. The Packers also lack it in the players; I really hope we draft a leader one of these days…

As far as Toure goes, I assume he is having difficulty with learning the complexity of pro WR duties and is a poor blocker, but I’d like to see him tried as a returner.

Newman struggled with stunts last year and is continuing to struggle with them. The problem is we don’t have a better player to plug in; all the other prospects are similar but with even less experience. Unless we pick up a vet, we’re pretty screwed there.

Here’s the bad thing… we’re in the mediocre part right now (3-3). Maybe the high water mark will be 4-3 IF the best Washington..
After that we will not see mediocre anymore. Straight down the crapper as we will be facing talented, hungry playoff bound teams.
You can’t blow two number 1 seeds and not make necessary changes. Serious contenders DONT HIRE JOE BARRY as a DC. When Martindale was available and we didn’t grab him (or Zimmer) I knew we were not serious about winning. ML does not field tough aggressive teams. He will not be hired by anyone after GB. Barry is done as a DC. Maybe even as a linebackers coach as Campbell and Walker look awful.
Bisaccia took a horrible ST unit and made them respectable.. ( except vs the Jets) . He was a known commodity. So was Barry, only Barry was known for incompetence.
Gutekunst is probably not the guy to rebuild this franchise. I don’t know who is, but maybe the executive board should can Murphy and start over . Cherry pick some good organizations ( like Seattle did to us in the 90s) and rebuild. I’m 64 and can’t do another disappointing 30 year stretch.

The best thing that could happen is for the share holders to go to tell the bone heads that are running this team it is time TO SHIT OR GET OFF THE POT and do not let the door hit you where the good lord split you and the executive board to hire Shawn Payton and put all the primidone's on notice we would rather flus this season down the shitter and rebuild than put up with their lack off efferent the door that let you in will let you out

Ya good article Tim. I would agree with nearly all of it

Do well? Nothing that is worth watching or will lead to playoff success by any measure or definition.