My new thing is to no longer base expectations on any team being at full strength, because they seemingly never are: San Fran w/o Warner and Bosa, GB w/o Micah and Tucker, etc etc

Just take a team and randomly delete a couple front line players. Problem is, which players will it be? If it’s the starting QB, forget it! (Mostly) Naturally it matters if there is quality depth. Or too many guys from the same position group. It’s the Wild West from now on, IMHO.

Love all the optimism Mark.

And on that note thanks for ignoring the performance of the Pack's #1 pick.

"but they will have the opportunity to put right everything that has gone wrong in the last month with a win."

Being down for a month is hard to come back from in a week. I'm just hoping they were just hedging their bets, trying to look inept, shield their players and will surprise some people on Saturday.

"Sunday was encouraging in terms of the young depth players who may have to step up in 2026."

Good grief, the encouraging depth players on the OL help produce 121 TOTAL yards, minus 7 in passing yards, 4 sacks and constant pressures...in just 46 plays and 26 minutes TOP. That's pathetic.

When looking at the OL room..."Houston, we have a problem." Going forward, the OL needs a makeover and resources available to do it are an issue.

Actually, it was not as close to being a preseason game as a regular season game can be. The Packers played it like a preseason game, but the Vikings did not. They wanted to end their season on a positive note.

I guess it's good that a couple of the backup offensive linemen got good PFF grades, but I sure didn't see much to be encouraged about. And I don't know why anyone would think the sack that Jordan Morgan allowed was the result of an assignment error. He was lined up one-on-one against Dallas Turner and got toasted. Maybe he didn't know the snap count or something, but he's supposed to know it.

They came away healthy which was really the only goal for this game. They ran a very vanilla game plan on both sides of the ball. The Vikings got the win but they know how far they have to go.

Tune had no game plan and a caller who (arguably rightly) had no intent to do anything offensively. The OL suffered as a result, but it wasn’t due to Tune particularly. Flores’ aggressive offense knew it would not be challenged and just blitzed, overloaded, pulled and stinted at will. It was that that threw an OL with only one (newish) starter and 3 backups. Morgan too was playing on the other side without recent practice.

They didn’t get to practice together during the week and hadn’t before. It showed when they struggled to adjust, on snap readiness and coordination. Tune didn’t cause that. LaFleur did by his choices to not practice them or have a game plan to get toon in rhythm or use his legs.

In the context, both decisions are understandable, though Hafley clearly took a different approach, but the performances of Tune and the OL, the offense as a whole need to be seen through that lens.

On live watch, mostly the individuals held up ok on the OL. Tune didn’t make mistakes or throw the game despite consistent pressure, mostly from Flores exploiting inexperience and inability to adjust. The only player I’d say let himself down offensively was Golden with his 2 drops.

The D had more positives, notably Diggs, but also Sorrell, Cox and the IDL play of Ford and Stackhouse. That wasn’t the Ravens, but those two did a better job than we’ve seen in a long time of not being pushed back and Hopper and Johnson supported them well against the run and better I. Coverage than we’ve seen. The D really stood up well against an opponent trying to win.

Credit to Hafley for ambition and setting his group to get as much out of it individually and for future evaluation as they could. I would suggest that we might have learned something useful about our front 7 depth in particular, both for next weekend and next season.

I Dare MLF to start Morgan over Walker.
He'll have Love leaving in a ambulance.

Morgan was a pilon - said it during the game. Not alert and moves like a snail. I dont know who is training these guys in the offseason but foot speed and athleticism is better than just being big. We have more of a protection line as far as running the ball is concerned and since Jacobs kept hitting a wall of defenders - you can only break so many tackles although he is having an off year which he does ever second year or so back to his Raider days. We need him and the Oline to have a big day against the Bears. Our defense needs to be able to get some rest and we do that by limiting the 3 and outs - and running the ball. Tune was the worst of all of the backups that were playing on Sunday. Too spoiled with Willis - might /should make Gute attempt to get him to stay one more year with a big salary.

'Solid outing for young offensive linemen'

Lets not get too carried away here, lets put down the kool aid for a bit.

Tune only had 11 drop backs, and he was sacked 4 times, hit 5 times.
Meaning he was hit on 45% of his drop backs.

No charge.

I'm stunned to find out that the NFL has the Packers-Bears game not on free TV this Saturday night, nor even on cable or satellite channels either, but on AmazonPrime.
Then again, I'm not surprised that the NFL continues to show itself as immeasurable greedy and exclusive even as it has become insufferably self-righteous with its slogans on helmets and next to the end zones.
Remember when Peyton Manning wasn't allowed by the NFL to wear black high-tops to honor the death of Johnny Unitas? When it comes to woke, though, the NFL can't get enough of its pandering.
I suspect that the blather of slogans from the propaganda of BLM (is it even around anymore?) is presented as a distraction from the obscene wealth of the NFL executives and owners, including the apparently inept and listless Roger Goodell.
Has one school or hospital in an impoverished area resulted from all of the posturing by the NFL? Why not have the NFL manufacture its expensive merchandise in a struggling area of Detroit or Baltimore or Milwaukee, with $20 per hour and good benefits? Why not do something other than a few faint gestures and lots of empty talk.
The NFL never seems to tire of basically calling its fans rubes and racists for not being as enlightened as they are. The NFL never seems to tire of insulting the minorities it claims to be helping by using them for public relations but not making any meaningful difference in their lives.
The NFL sucks! Their new grift is to debase fans and wreck families with incessant allures to gambling. Never underestimate the power of greed to ruin a great thing. Maybe it's time for a real shift to a new pro league if it shows signs of being substantially less haughty.
P.S. Although I get AmazonPrime on my television, I'm angry as a matter of principle. I'm still getting over Monday Night Football being moved from ABC to ESPN. *** Meanwhile, I'm hoping and praying that the majority of Americans who really do care about each other -- across color, culture, and class -- will stop being divided by the manipulation and intimidation of elitists, and will instead join in solidarity for the rebuilding of a solid middle class (beginning with young families being able to own their own homes). To use the analogy of "It's a Wonderful Life," America is being transformed from the simple pleasures and neighborliness of Bedford Falls to the garish glitz and lonely disillusionment of Pottersville. Let's not let them do it.

I only have 1 takeaway....

F... i'm glad that silliness is over!!

Talking about, and watching that game was painful.

I understood the situation, no expectations going in, and the anomaly of the whole situation.

But...lets never do that again in the regular season...lol

Lets move on.... 😀

If he WANTS to tackle he's already an improvement over Valentine