"When the 2023 Green Bay Packers gathered to begin training camp last summer the plan was pretty clear, and it seemed solid. The strategy was to surround first year starter Jordan Love with enough veteran talent to provide leadership and productivity, while gradually developing several promising rookies. "
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(gradually developing?)
That sounds an awful lot like draft and develop.

It also sounds like you were watching a different training camp than i was....veterans?
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I got this excerpt from an article about Watsons family blaming Love for Watsons troubles....

"The fact of the matter is that the Packers’ offense is the youngest in the NFL, by a large margin. Prior to the season, the only pass catcher on the roster that had more than one season’s worth of games of NFL experience was Josiah Deguara. There have been no veterans in the wide receiver room to help Watson and the other young wide receivers learn how to be NFL pass catchers.

And the fault of this lies on the front office. This is the position they put themselves in while also expecting that the offense would be good enough to fairly and accurately evaluate Jordan Love." - Robin M Adams
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I don't know Robin Adams, but it's nice to know that somebody besides me gets it.

Alexander's current problem is his shoulder, not his back.

The RAS score for McDuffie is 7.32. Ford is above nine. Deguara is 6.66 (this is not a joke- look it up yourself). Watson is in the very high nines, or a ten (kind of like my wife). Reed is 8.88. Wicks is 9.17. The point? Get guys who can run precise routes, can create some space from a defender, and catch the ball when it is thrown to them. And have defenders who are assignment sure and can tackle. Get the team football players, guys who love the game and can perform on the field. Men with toughness, tenacity and attitude.

This year we non professionals knew we had to run the ball. Instead we saw no obvious attempt to shore that up. We stuck unswervingly to Myers and Runyon, we put Tom at RT (to which he didn’t profile well to last year.

When Bakh went down again ( surely a known possibility at least given the off season hedging), we ditched Nijman for reasons unknown and gambled in Walker not Tom on the blind side. I like Walker, but he was clearly not ready. So in effect gambling in the most pivotal OL position while launching a new starting QB.

To make this season work, and give the rookies and near rookies a chance, we had to focus on run and protect. We could possibly not have done anything less calculated to achieve that.

Then we rolled out Love throwing consistently deeper than any other QB in the league and an impotent running attack only required longer developing plays pitying more pressure on the line and QB and less in opponents. In fact inciting them to attack.

I can not conceive of a worse plan to win, embed a new QB successfully and get him in Rhythm. Our key skill position veterans at RB—the only ones, rendered impotent or at least swimming up hill and a game plan for Love that goes against pretty much every piece of traditional wisdom.

That in turn makes the catchers job difficult and forced our young TEs to block in line more, something they were not expected to be proficient at. We seem unable to get players to run proficient slants or screens. Our scripted plays have been a disaster in terms of points and basic coordination.

I could not conceive of a worse way to approach this season if I tried. We knew what we had, and the challenge, we knew we had critical imperatives in terms of the O. None have materialized. On D, we got a carbon copy of the Barry of yore. Still not cutting it.

This plan, but perhaps not the roster is incredibly inept conceptually and in terms of ability to realize essential basics. It’s going to hold back what talent we have and if not prevent growth, limit it or delay it’s flowering. It’s also likely to lead to mistakes in evaluation of the Hyde/ Heyward type through poor usage of players.

It’s time to stop pretending. The problem here may be the roster in part but it’s sure as hell what’s been done with it. This team is woefully coached. It’s not merely bad. It’s not merely one position or group, it’s team wide.

The time has come to learn why we failed with Rodgers and a strong roster and now the reasons have been laid bare in excruciating depth and detail, if only one opens one’s eyes. Until we get a leadership with vision and the ability to realize it on field we won’t have a clear view of this roster or any future one and we won’t win as much as the roster should.

The author has delineated that many changes that have happened with the 2023 Packer roster, but I don't think the roster is the source of the Packers 3-6 record. To me the places where change hasn't happened, the FO and coaching staff, are the places that are most responsible for our poor 2023 season.

I think Murphy and Gutekunst were at odds over Aaron Rodgers and the shift from drafting Jordan Love to signing Rodgers to a mammoth new contract did this organization no favors. Either give Rodgers all the tools you can or move on from him, but halfway down each road makes no sense. Then Murphy hired a very young head coach who promptly populated his staff with the likes of Mennenga, Drayton, Barry, Butkus, etc. and insured that the "develop" part of "draft and develop" wasn't going to go as well as hoped. Not to mention lousy game plans and a near total inability to make in-game adjustments on either side of the ball have done little to help the record.

The Packers will need their young players to develop, but change in the front office and coaching staff will need to happen before the on-field product gets appreciably better.

I'm looking forward not back. Evaluate and develop this season, which is progressing nicely. Draft and hope the injury bug lessens next season.

Does Love want to win?
I mean really put his heart on his sleeve, and Win?

And thats exactly where we stand with A different Backbone.
You can point to Reed. I'll point to opportunity.
You can point to whose missing. But nobody is Cares.
We talked about Tanking. Rodgers leaving.
And it just seems No one feels their jobs unsafe.

Who is showing up are the rookies.
So-- there has to be some coaching up.

I really believe; Backbone doesn't explain it.
This team did exactly what the odds makers planned.
So-- don't point to people here and there,
when the biggest question is their heart.

"Isaiah McDuffie and Rudy Ford lead the unit in solo tackles, and Ford leads in interceptions with two. Both are having breakout years. Did you see that coming?"

Breakout years? Now I love Kens enthusiasm but I'm not sure I'd call it a breakout year. McDuffie was good two weeks again filling in for Walker. Last week not so much. Rudy Ford has been okay but IMO the Packers still need TWO safeties.

I do really like Reed and Wicks though. Both have had to learn on the fly without the benefit of solid coaching OR a veteran presence in the WR room. Hopefully they keep progressing in spite of the coaching they get and can grow together and be great once MLF and his staff are gone.

Would anyone here please raise your hand to identify that you believed this was going to be a good season?

Most fans realized it wasn't. In fact, after the departure of Davante Adams you could see the future on the horizon. The Rodgers to Adams connection hid a lot of problems which are now quite apparent. It's good that some rookies, etc. have stepped forward but a core problem in Green Bay remains player evaluation. Part of it is the NFL system that makes the weak strong and the strong weak. New England, six time Super Bowl champ, is in worse shape than Green Bay. The Packers have been drafting low for many years but other teams(like the 49'ers, Eagles and Chiefs) have been able to secure quality players.

It could be a long road back to the top. Lets hope not.

Best analysis I've read of where we were, where we'd thought we'd be, where we are, and where we may be in the future.
Thanks, Ken
The Szotman

This pretty much sums it up to how we got to where we are. This is well done. It allows people to see what we thought was going to happen before the season and how we go to this point.

I feel like you have been reading a lot of my posts because I have been say the same things.

While we have a 3-6 record. 4 of our losses have been by 4 points or less. In 3 of those games we had 4th quarter leads in them. Also in the Vikings game we had plenty of opportunities to come back, it just never happened. These have been close games. Even the blowout loss to the Lions. We brought it back to within 10 at the beginning of the 4th Quarter. Had they shut them down and got the ball back, who knows what happens in that game.

So the question is what will happen these final 8 games. IMO the offense is coming off 2 of their better performances these last 2 games since the first 1 1/2 games of the season. Some key players are starting to get healthy and I feel like Love is starting to gain some momentum and is settling in. I would not be surprised to see them start going on a bit of a run.

But these final 8 games are very important. They are important to build momentum into next year. We want to see this team fighting and finding ways to win these games. We want this team to build something for the future. You can't build a great house without a great foundation. Right now we are working on the foundation. I'm excited to see what happens not matter how it happens.

I love my team through and through!

Go Pack Go!

I believe we can agree injuries have derailed this team, along with youth and inexperience. However, what perplexes me is the lack of intermediate routes. I attended the Rams game, and you'd think we were Chuck Noll and the 79' Steelers with our run, run, bomb scheme (occasional motion madness thrown in, to small effect). The trouble is that we didn't have the o-line, RB's, or receivers to execute it. I'm not ready to start a riot (yet), but Matty needs to throw in some slants, crossers, and button hooks about 8-15 yards down field to help Love. And to be fair, Love needs to work diligently (i.e. film study like his life depends on it) to progress through his reads at a quicker pace to find the open guys. Still, inexperience will more often than not lose to experience, no matter the youthful athleticism our young players exhibit. I am unabashedly on board with the direction of the program, despite the current status quo. Am I mad? Probably! But I don't think this story ends the way we think it does. Tell you what folks, if we aren't a playoff team next year, I will be here to eat a mountain of crow; can you pledge the same?

I expected 6 wins because of the soft schedule, but we’ve lost all the games I believed we would win. The toughest loss for me was against the Broncos (hate that team), but we couldn’t beat Desmond Ridder either.
If the Chargers lose to Joe Barry’s defense, they will fire people by the end of year; or sooner.
Several have previously written this is an inept, undisciplined team—mostly due to the coaching staff—slipping on a banana every step.
I think that sums it up pretty well.
Go Packers!!!

Reed was a great pick, he as well as Wicks, both should make a jump next season.

Looking at the past two years with picks vs. play, I'd say Gutey has a leg up on MLF and Joe with Mark Murphy, as far as job security.
Seems like Gutey wanted his own team when he drafted Love and was ready to deal Rogers. But LaFleur wanted wins now as a young coach and Murphy also wanted a Super Bowl before retirement, so they made a deal: sign Aaron and let Love develop. It was a decent, if ultimately unsuccessful attempt. (The good fortune that smiled on the team in 2008 was paid back in spades in 2014 and 2020.)
But I don't think anyone gets fired this offseason, unless the Packers lose to the Bears.
I do think there is a good chance that there is a coaching change (and maybe a GM change) when Murphy retires, if not right before if they pick a successor early and have them sign off on it.