Corey,

You've written some crazy stuff over the years, but this just might be the worst. Capers arguably deserved to be fired after the 09, 11, 12, 13 and this year.

It's GM. And coaching. And players. All of the above.

If Capers is retained after this season no matter what happens with McCarthy, it will be another wasted season because he IS one of the biggest parts of the problem. Great or even good Defensive Coordinators all seem to handle injuries better than Capers ever has. Even when he has a full slate of starters he struggles defending the middle of the field (6 years and counting) stopping the run, or holding down a lead. Lets face it folks, even with all of Capers faults Thompson hasnn't given him prime rib to work with, more like rump roast.

Rodgers would have a hell of a lot more come from behind victories if not for Capers Prevent or Zone Defenses at the end of games.

While were at it can we PLEASE fire Zook at the same time!!

You need to finish the article. The part you forgot is that it's the GM. Regardless of the outcome, Ted needs to be convinced that it's time to retire.

MM and maybe even Dom should get another season (although I'd be fine if Dom decides to go fishing too), but the personnel decisions on this team are ridiculous. I'm on board with not putting the team in cap hell by staying out of the day one FA lottery, but FA is one tool of many, and Ted just won't use it.

Fire Fire Fire
Same experts who screamed to Cut Adams.
All over these sites crawl Viking fans and packer football organization experts with all the facts yet none of the responsibility.

I have to agree with Cory.
No difference maker(s) , many many mediocre draft picks and players.
As I said in another topic, none of these guys would be starting for the chiefs or broncos...

Seems like our defense just needs to do one thing ....blitz. When we brought the heat last nite we were usually successful. Just stop blitzing from the secondary please.

People are going to get their wish after this season: Peppers, Jones, Hyde, Perry (and Shields)...all of these guys who play major roles on this defense could hit the road after this season. I think the Packers will bring Perry back if only because he's looked better this season and they can't likely replace two (or three if you count Jones) edge rushers in one off-season. They like Hyde: he could come back, too. But I wouldn't be surprised to see most of those guys gone. Will change the complexion of this defense dramatically...it's debatable whether it will be for the better.

I agree with Cory to a certain extent, but it's not just playmakers....they need leadership. I'm not sure who will emerge as a leader (not Daniels, he's tried but doesn't seem to be working) but this defense has to learn to play together better. They are banged up and because of that they need to be cohesive as a group. The Cowboys had worst personnel then the Packers, but are getting better results. The only group that seems intact is the Dline. Maybe the Packers need to go to a four man front to stop up the run and protect what's left of their LB corp. I don't know, but it's not just injuries, and lack of playmakers, but also leadership and working together.

When Capers came to Green Bay, he brought a new defense to the team. He changed the look of the defense. He came up with the Psycho package and he would send blitzes from every where.

He does not have the players to make some of those things work like it once did. He doesn't have a Woodson, Collins, Bishop among others.

While he doesn't have some of the players he once did I have to question if he is putting his current players in the best spots to be their best?

A prime example of that is Hayward. Since his rookie year he really didn't do much impact wise. And he leaves and is having a Pro Bowl type of season. So that begs the question to be asked. Is Capers using the right coverage's that fits the players he has? Sometimes you have to play to the strengths of the players you have.

Watching Mathews being moved to ILB is a good plan. But why is he dropping into coverage as much as he did to start the game? The first play of the game told me that Mathews was being used as a normal ILB, and was not being turned loose to be a playmaker. Mathews is special. He should not be limited to playing the normal ILB role. He should be put into a Hybrid role. Much like his first game at ILB.

With Capers there are some other questionable moves I have to ask. Like why was Hyde starting over Rollins? The defense got burned when Hyde was on the field as the 3rd CB. When they switched to Rollins the defense played better.

I think in the off season they need make a change at DC.
A coach I would love to see them go after is Dave Aranda. He has learned a lot from Capers. They run a similar scheme, but also Aranda has experience defending college schemes, where a lot of the NFL is going to now.

To think or expect 2nd, 3rd and 4th stringers of any position to immediately perform and compete on a Pro Bowl level is...well...just stupid. C'mon Man!

I agree with you claiming that Dom Capers is not mainly responsible for bad D plays if any, but I disagree with you that D did not do much yesterday.
Eagles had scored average 25 points per game till Packers come to Philadelphia. Now they have 23.91 points per game. Packers D allowed only 13 points to Eagles, which was the best efforts against them whole season. At home they had average 27 points per game.
Next best against them was Seahawks with allowing 15 points, but that was in Seattle. I agree that winning possession time helped D much, it is normal. That is how other teams are making their D better...
Just to mention that Vikings D played terrible at the moment when their O felt appart...
Just for the sake of the arguments...

This is one of the most foolish articles I've ever read here.

Good teams find ways to win. That's not the Packers Defense. The Packers defense has only found ways to cost them a win.

Capers schemes are archaic and predictable. Now when he blitzes there are no exotic looking formations. It's just throw as many people at the QB as possible and hope somebody breaks through before the 4.3 speed WR gets ahead of the slow ILB.

Typically during a Blitz you can scream at the TV and say Blitz is coming from left side...it's HaHA. He gets picked up, and WR is running free while being covered by our slow squishy ILBs.

Capers "bend but don't break" philosophy is beyond horrible. Typically his defense breaks.

Capers defenses since 2011 historically make mediocre QBs look like Hall of Famers. Elite QBs destroy his defenses.

Even with the win last night Wentz easily threw for 254 yards against Capers. The Eagles is also an incredibly injured offense that is easily the worst offense that the Packers will face the remainder of the season.

This is the same Defense that gave up an average of 35+ points over 4 games. That's on Capers. Talent or no talent you scheme to win and that's something Capers doesn't do.

Even if the Packers somehow squeak into the Playoffs they'll be one and done because Capers defenses are just pathetic.

I don't think Capers has done a good job--he'll be gone after the season--but the problems run deeper.

The D-Tackles have provided little to no push. Guion makes the occasional play, then disappears. Clark is talented, but needs an offseason in the weight room. Pennel has been a major disappointment.

Clay Matthews is a real problem. Sure, when healthy, he's still our 2nd-best overall defender (after Daniels), but there's the rub--he can't stay healthy. He's just too injury-prone for his price tag, and this hampers the defense.

Perry MUST be re-signed. He's a decent pass rusher and tremendous run stuffer. Datone Jones is woefully inconsistent. Let's hope Fackrell develops in Year 2.

Shields appears finished, and Hyde can't cover anyone for long. Too slow.

We need more talent on defense, plus a new DC. It's not either-or; it's both.

Did the D put up a good performance last night? Yes. Is the Eagles offense bad. You bet! A good performance does not change the fact that changes need to be made at DC. Capers has his scheme, and tries to plug players into it. We need a DC who creates a scheme based on his players strengths. I agree with Cory that there are a lot of guys on this D, but there's still enough talent to perform better than they have. In 2017, I'm hoping for a change in management, plus a D heavy draft.

All that said, I'm really happy with the W, and can't wait for next week! Go Pack Go!

Totally agree Corey. Fully recognizing the benefit of hindsight- it seems there was a huge rush to annoint Randall, Haha, Rollins and even Gunther as being steals in the draft. They are just guys. I think CMIII's play style lends himself to over pursuing much of the time, and causes him to rely solely on his motor to make plays. He is frequently out of position and seems more and more injury prone. While DC is not quite polishing a turd, he's done a good job with what he has. TT needs to own some of this. How many 1st round picks are on this D? Wheres the Tylenol?

I've posted for years here that this defense needs someone who can take over a game and wreck an opponents game plan, like a Reggie White or a Nitschke.
We have some good players on the defense they are just not leaders or consistent playmakers. Daniels, CM3, Dix and Burnett are a good foundation. Ryan and Martinez can evolve into solid ILBs, if they remain healthy, we'll see. Perry and Jones have both disappointed as #1s and without Shields our CBs are bad. An experienced FA CB and edge rusher would really help to solidify this defense right now. During the off-season the NY Giants were in a similar, probably worse position than the Packers. Like GB they have a franchise QB with a good receiving corps but a weak running game and an OL not as good as GBs plus a weak secondary. They went out and spent $200 million of FAs to shore up their defense, in particular their secondary. Even with a poor run game and an OL not as good as GBs they are 8-3 this season with a shot at their division and probably a lock at a wildcard. Not to mention that they have a former Packer position coach as their HC. The point is they identified a weakness and solidified it during the offseason and went from a .500 team to a serious playoff contender/participant by utilizing an FA approach. They know that time is running out for Eli Manning. TT does the same thing through the draft but by the time the draftees develop another part of our team becomes a weakness and prevents success in the playoffs. It's clear that this season our draft picks and UDFAs just are not good enough, especially at CB. You get what you pay for and in this league, opposing coaches find and exploit your weaknesses with deadly efficiency. I have called for DC to be fired in the past but to be fair he needs some level of talent to work with. No matter the scheme or how hard players try you can't inject them with ability if they don't have it. TT's role is to provide players with at least some level of ability. The coaches role is to utilize the talent effectively and win games. Right now our defense is a bunch of guys because that is what the coaches have been given. Something in our approach needs to change or our offense will need to find ways to continue to keep our own defense off the field. Thanks, Since '61

It started with TT. Please fire Moss. And if anyone says NO. Fire them!

I dont like Capers...and if I ever see the infamous 3 man rush on 3rd and long I will shoot my TV. But Capers called a good game last night...constant pressure on Wentz eventually got to him and in the second half he was off..if our guys could tackle we would have had 3 more sacks of him. ..so yeah the defense is still the problem but it didnt rollover like it has in the last 4 games.

cory nails it. not even belichick could do much with these guys. and you see too that CMIII is pretty much breaking down. none of these number 1s on the D have turned into more than just guys.

IMO, that's the best article I've read in a while.

Let Thompson draft among the first 5 players available each year rather than drafting among the last five for the last decade and chances are good that we would see much better players on that defense.

I remember from my old sandlot games in grammar school that my first two picks among the kids were a lot better than the last two I got for the team.

Different situation of course, but the principle is the same.