Just scoring is ok. It worked for Lynn Dickey in his day. Wait! They used to score so fast that the porous D was on the field the whole game. It was fun to watch as long as we were used to losing.

The Packers could get lucky for a change and sack a passer or actually catch some of the interceptions they get in their hands.

Face it. This team isn't set up for a playoff run and we know it. Just stay healthy and go 5 and 1 in the division this season. This next game is the Vikings' Super Bowl. Worse! Don't let them go into the offseason on a win streak and the Packers on a losing streak.

Sure, they need to score points, but the question is, can they?

Against Denver and Chicago, they were 1-9 in the redzone. Willis improved that against the Ravens, but expecting this team to become an offensive juggernaut to offset a leaky defense might not be realistic.

The upside is maybe Hafley's guys grab an attitude about being run out of the building and buck up against Minneshithole.

Will Laflop get his 3rd or 4th last chance to prove that's his skills don't top out at a being a slightly better than average OC? Let's hope not, but I'm not holding my breath.

This team is what it is. The defense has issues stopping the opponent if the opponent has an above average offense and sometimes an average offense. There are no super heroes that will come in and help this defense. They are going to have to do what they can to stop the run. If that means a five man line do it. Make the QB have to throw the ball. The DBs are going to have to cover one on one. The one thing that a 5 man front opens up in the run game is runs to the outside.

I would say we can beat the Vikings with a 4 man front and a normal defense because we should be able to score enough points to win.

In the playoffs whether we play the Eagles or the Bears we will have to play a five man front.

Just Score Baby? Just hand out the book (or Kindle),
"When Pride Still Mattered".

Now, opportunities don't allows present themselves. The Pack are in the playoffs. May I share a quote by Lao Tzu:

"Be who you really are and go the whole way".

Dig deep Boyz. Introduce your head to your heart,

lil burp

*Come on....make a stand, someone. Refuse to park in the heated underground parking lot. Park above ground...let the cold air enter your lungz.

**I am trying to learn more about R Gary, the person and the football player. So much so, I just finished the book, "Fifty Shades of Gary".

I aint sayin' nothin',

PB

Cory, you are absolutely right! Just look at the Bear - 49er game. No defense. The Ram - Seahawk game, there was no defense in 4th quarter and overtime. There is no team in the NFC that is stopping anyone. So yes, crank up the offense. So here is what needs to happens.

This week rest Love, Jacobs and Watson. Love can play a couple of series, but let Willis play. Watson is the key to a good offense. Want him fresh and rested.

Then, a few things Lafleur needs to learn. First, the team is not physical enough to have success in short yardage plays. Don't lose a possession by getting stuffed on 3rd or 4th down. Then, if you get ahead, stay aggressive. Avoid plays like the interception against the Broncos. Also, Watson is better if he runs under the throw rather over the top of him Love has to learn that. And finally, the platooning of WR in the second half of games has to end. We need Watson, Doubs and Reed on the field in the second half.

We drafted Gary to play in a 3-4 system not a 4-3 system …..

I always try and stay positive, but the last three games are making it hard to believe in this current team. It’s mind boggling to believe that this season has gone side ways on one play, Surtain interception, Wow!!! Yes, injuries are part of the game, but when MLF is talking about doing a better job of coaching in week 18, that really has me believing there should be a change made with this staff. Whatever decision is made in the off season regarding a new staff or not will affect this team for years to come. Remember MLF has been in charge for 7 seasons and sooner or later his approach and style of coaching could fall on deaf years, tough decisions are coming.

For once, I agree with Cory.

This Packers team needs to open things up and turn games into track meets. I would argue that's been a part of how they've played the better teams on their schedule this season: pass to run. Open up the field, make defenses play sideline-to-sideline AND cover downfield, run the ball when the opportunities present themselves. This doesn't necessarily mean "play with tempo", but it could become a more significant part of the offense.

Red zone issues might be assuaged by taking more shots from outside the 10 or 15 yard line...this Packer team seems to be allergic to throwing into the end zone inside the 20: instead, they run and they throw short to the flat. That's gotta change.

I'm hearing some talk about exposing the defense on TOP...well, I think what we've seen is that this Parsons-less defense is going to be a crap shoot every week. I'd rather they took control of the game offensively and put pressure on opponents to try to sustain drives and keep up.

"The Packers will have to look like a Big 12 team in the playoffs. Score as often as you can. If that means putting up 30 in the third quarter, so be it. "

Um. If they could put up 30 in the third quarters of games, I'd hope they'd be doing it, anyway. I don't know where scoring in bunches is suddenly a "so be it" kind of thing.

I don't believe this defense is broken.
Sure we loss Parsons.
But- Nobody stops Henry.
At least with guys, that are just too light.

Where is a Grave Digger when you need one?

Gute biggest failure as a GM has been the DL.
His teams never have been able to stop a good run game.
And when you have Dts built like Des.
The defense just gets knocked out.

So far Gary is Missing in action.
But was he ever considered a good DL?
It's time to blitz other positions.
Because this 4 front is playing like rubbish.
Wyatt has been missing before.
But- Clark is the guy that is missed most!
The packers must over-play their problems.

Three things, first off Packer_fan is right...the Packers oline can't move the defense in short yardage situations especially in red zone opportunities. Second, I mentioned this before the Bears game, go with your team's best weapons...the pass. Pass to set up the run. Make short yardage passes a staple of the offense. Why you might ask? OK I will tell you...because the one thing the Packers can exploit is their receivers quickness in routes. Nobody wants to play Watson, Reed, and Golden close in short yardage routes because if the defender makes one mistake it could cost them a TD.
Last thing, management experiment has to end. Having MLF report to team president instead of GM is foolish. There is a reason why that is a standard in the league.
JMHO

Just two games ago, the Packers defense held the Bears scoreless in the first half, and allowed only 9 points in the game until the Bears recovered an onside kick and scored a touchdown on fourth down at the very end. In overtime, the winning touchdown for the Bears came on a perfect pass.
This is the same Bears offense that seemed to do so much better last night against the 49ers.
To put it another way, I wouldn't count out the Packers defense.
Let's hope our DC Hafley is coaching up the defense to adjust to the loss of Micah, that he has different looks for different situations on the field, and that his players respond with their best efforts physically and mentally.
Some of our guys on defense may have once-in-a-career opportunities to shine over the next two or more weeks. Careers in the NFL are fleeting. It's time for them to seize the moment.

The Minnesota game is meaningless. Treat it like a preseason game. Give Love a couple of series, then let Willis and Tune finish the game. Run vanilla offense and keep Jacob on the sidelines. On defense, show a bunch of fronts, blitzes and tendencies to give the Bears or Eagles a bunch of new stuff to plan for.

Fact is, the NFC is pretty wide open. The Packers have a chance to do some playoff damage, especially since their late season
swoon has pretty much everyone writing them off. This team is now a wounded underdog with the choice to fight or fold. If they choose to fight, the results could "Shock the World".

I think the D is flawed. The DL, even with Wyatt was a fiction. They are just too light to deal with a guy like Henry or a very good run blocking OL. I said that before the season when I looked at the personnel and it’s proved to be the case and we’ve got worse as the lighter guys get worn down. We were lucky that the Lions didn’t just pound Montgomery in both games. Henry was always a terrible match up. We’ve been very good against the faster RBs and running QBs.

Part of that is Gute. He missed an opportunity in this draft that was probably the best and deepest IDL draft for a decade. However, Hafley has also failed to adapt even with what we have, especially recently. We may have started to use a heavy, but only one. When even being pushed back slower would help, that’s not a winning strategy.

The corner room is also flawed. Many feared that. Injuries compounded it. Again Gute failed to take the opportunity to increase options during the draft. However, it’s clear Hafley wants Nixon types and the hope was that Hobbs made 2. Slower, more physical in the run game and at their best facing the QB or close to the line. That’s fine situationally, even good, but it leads to glaring problems against teams able to go deep. It leads to more when we are forced to go man when blitzing.

Ironically, our one cover capable CB, Valentine, spends most of his time in off zone, exposing his complete lack of physicality. Thats primarily on Hafley and, again, a flaw in his philosophy that he can’t seem to overcome. Melton and Valentine have never been even tried together in man situations.

I wonder about how this comes to be. Some would say Gute is simply not up to it. However, this continues a pattern of Gute drafting what coaches openly want or, when he does try to give options such as better run blockers on the OL or big men in the IDL our coaches seem to negate that somehow.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the collegiate leadership is not as streamlined in vision or purpose as many think. We lack a truly coordinated vision that extends to player choice appropriate for the coaches in place or their expertise. In short we are fighting ourselves and the result is less than it should be and sometimes flat out self-defeating.

The more I look, the more I think that the root cause here is the Murphy structural change and its consequences. The scenario I’ve described is far from unusual in other organizations. It just tends to be a downside of group decision making.

That’s not really viable in an environment where the goal is to not just survive in a pack, but to beat everyone. In fact it predicts the LaFleur era outcomes even across a completely changed roster and even with different good QBs almost exactly.

Unfortunately, that structure doesn’t make it possible to be certain where the fault lies. Is Gute the main problem or not the problem at all, just a man who has to try to build in circumstances of compromise and an only partially coherent vision?

As I feared at the time, after this long it’s become impossible to unravel it, at least for outsiders, and maybe even within Lambeau. As a result, improvement may well require a completely clean sweep to be sure of true change and the return to one vision vested in a GM accountable for it. A unified vision and purpose and a coaching structure designed to fulfil it around appropriate O and D designs.

Of course, such a change doesn’t guarantee improvement, that vision may be proved flawed as well, but without it (at least once) real, meaningful success is not coming no matter who our QB is. Policy could give Gute the reins and say show me how you change this. Gute would likely need to visibly change things relatively quickly over a couple of seasons.

Policy could just throw the whole thing out. Hire a GM and let him impose his vision. Often that would mean another year for the HC to see if he can dovetail with the GM’s vision. However, the Murphy structure makes that unlikely to work, even if LaFleur accepted it in principle. He would need to change with it and follow the vision of another and adapt his coaching and coaches accordingly.

That assumes that problems with the overall culture like discipline and continually sloppy detail don’t make it a non starter for him even if being told to replace coaches isn’t. Policy can stick to the status quo. In reality there’s zero evidence that anything much will change and some probability of decline as the cap inevitably constricts if he does. That will be on Policy’s record. Alternatively, he can decide to change things and to set the tone for his era while buying himself some time to establish himself as more than Murphy’s pet protege.

Great article, Cory. I'm in total agreement.