Game Balls and Lame Calls: Lions 40, Packers 10

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Morgan Burnett had a pretty sweet celebration. And the Packers put on a pretty ugly show.
Morgan Burnett had a pretty sweet celebration. And the Packers put on a pretty ugly show.

Aaron Rodgers may have a shot to play next week. And the fact that the Packers may have just played their last game without their quarterback may be the only positive takeaway from the team’s Thanksgiving debacle.

It’s hard to remember, but at one point this season, the Packers were 5-2 with what looked like a favorable upcoming schedule. One fractured collarbone later, and the Packers are 5-6-1 coming off what T.J.Lang called, “Probably the worst (expletive) offensive game in the history of the (expletive) Packers.”

With Aaron Rodgers, the Packers would have had more than seven first downs. They would have possessed the ball for more than 19 minutes. But I’m not sure if Rodgers would have helped tackle, confuse or even provide resistance to the Lions offense.

Still, if No. 12 is back and able to play Dec. 8 against the Atlanta Falcons, they have a chance. It’s hard to believe, but the Lions and Bears are both capable of losing two more games, and the Rodgers-led Packers could win their last four. If that’s the case, the Packers win the division.

After an atrocious showing like Thursday’s, it’s hard to find positives. Without question, the Packers’ postseason hopes are waning and there really weren’t any positives to take away from the Packers’ produce in Detroit.

But if there’ ever been a reason to be optimistic about an improved offense since Rodgers went down, it’s now. Simply because he might be back.

Thursday was ugly. So this is going to be brief.

Game Balls

Morgan Burnett

The Packers’ lone game ball goes to Morgan Burnett, solely because of his Funky Chicken celebration. Burnett didn’t play particularly well, but he had a pair of fumble recoveries and a sick touchdown dance. Way to go, Morgan. Nicely done.

Lame Calls

Offense

The Packers had 126 total yards and scored three points. The writing was on the wall when Matt Flynn looked past a wide open Andrew Quarless and tried to force the ball to Jordy Nelson–needless to say, the pass was incomplete. Detroit continually stacked the box to shut down Eddie Lacy–and they did, to the tune of 16 yards on 10 carries–and Flynn was simply unable to take advantage of it. It was the worst offensive showing I’ve seen in a NFL game a long, long time. But things weren’t all bad for the Packers offense. At least they had seven first downs.

Defense

The Lions had 561 total yards and put up 40 points. The Packers have been starved for turnovers of late, but they provided little resistance throughout the afternoon despite coming up with three takeaways. Detroit racked up 241 yards on the ground, and Stafford added a cool 330 through the air. The Packers had no answer for Reggie Bush, Calvin Johnson, Joique Bell or Jeremy Ross. Yeah, that Jeremy Ross.

Special Teams

That Jeremy Ross dominated the Packers. On top of catching the game’s first touchdown, he had a 35-yard punt return and a 30-yard kick return. The coverage units were less than stellar, and Micah Hyde was (again) unable to get anything going in the return game. To win this game, the special teams needed to step up. They didn’t.

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Marques is a Journalism student, serving as the Sports Editor of UW-Green Bay\'s campus newspaper The Fourth Estate and a Packers writer at Jersey Al\'s AllGBP.com. Follow Marques on Twitter @MJEversoll.

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66 thoughts on “Game Balls and Lame Calls: Lions 40, Packers 10

  1. There is no way the Pack wins their next 4. They will be lucky to go 1 win, 3 losses the way they are playing.

  2. Being optimistic and maybe a little assanine to think they win out. Even if they put Rodgers in on defense we don’t win out. Only playoff scenerio is: Pack wins 2 of 4 remaining games and Bears and Lions lose the rest and you can take that to the bank…

    1. Wouldn’t surprise me a bit if they won out. You just don’t understand what a Franchise QB mean to the entire team and organization! Its not only felt on offense by a long shot. I’m not predicting they win out but it would not surprise me in the least if they did. 3-1 seems very reasonable and I fully expect that. 4-0 is definitely possible especially w/ Matthews, Perry, and others getting healthier and likely getting Cobb back.

      This team could easily sneak into the playoffs yet and if they did I guarantee no teams would want to face them!

      1. Every team would want to face the Packers secondary. Cobb coming back would help, but he’s not playing defense. The run defense looks helpless. Capers is still playing that 2 down linemen and getting chewed up and spit out. It’s not people don’t understand what a franchise QB means, we’ve all watched a 5-2 team go 0-4-1. Personally I wouldn’t want to see the Packers get humiliated again in the playoffs. Perhaps you forget this teams first option for a injured OL is Marshall Newhouse! Nope, shut down Rodgers, Cobb, hell anyone injured. With that medical staff I’d just soon they don’t even touch the few great players the Packers have. Murphy needs to clean house and get a GM that can actually hit on some choices, or at least more than one per draft. MM and DC need to go too.

  3. Suppose Rodgers plays..suppose the Packers win out..suppose the Bears and Lions and the Packers make the playoffs. Are they going to beat the Saints in NO? Can they beat the Seahawks in Seattle? Before you answer, consider that Rodgers does not play defense yet, that DC still calls the defensive plays and MM still calls the offensive plays. So what do we gain? Another chance to for the Packers to embarrass themselves on national TV. Now let’s look at the risks. Rodgers gets sacked because Newhouse was busy scratching his ass when the ball was snapped, House drops a sure pick, Burnett still running in circles,they get flagged for putting six players on the line (like yesterday), they get a flag for 12 men on the field (like twice in one game a few weeks ago), Rodgers shoulder or collarbone gets busted up and he’s done for 6 months or longer, we don’t get to find out if Tolzien is for real or he can play QB in the NFL, we lose good picks in the draft,MM keeps his job, even worse DC keeps his job. See? Too many risks if Rodgers plays again this season. Nothing to gain, way too much to lose.

    1. I agree. One small quibble: The only way the Packers make the playoffs is as NFC North winners. They won’t have the record or the tie-breakers at 7-8-1 or 8-7-1. That means they’d be playing a wildcard team (Carolina, New Orleans, Arizona, Seattle, or SF) at home. Not that it matters; this team has shown that it can lose anywhere.

    2. I’d rather make the playoffs and be a long-shot than essentially tank in order to move up a few spots in the draft. I’d love to keep wearing my “NFC North Champions” shirt again this coming year!

      1. If the Packers sneak by the Lions and the Bears it will be because those two teams choked. I have to admit that i always enjoy leonine & ursine failures. So there’s that angle to winning the division, even if it’s by default.

    3. The only way the packers get in the play off’s is if their last 4 opponents come down with the bird flew and can’t play. Even with Rodgers they are still a bad team. No defense, No offense and no special teams and lousy coaches. Losers one and all.

  4. Im baffled that this same D that manhandled the Lions up front at Lambeau this year got totally dominated yesterday? Can’t help but to think they are ailing physically along with mentally. Besides the fact that they lost their fight mentally with a lack of hope with no Rodgers , Pickett, Jolly and some of the others seem banged up or just worn out. This team is at a all time low and seems to lack talent at a lot of positions, but, I have a mustard seed of hope that Rodgers is back for Atlanta, the old & the ailing players get the rest they need with this mini bye week, and that we are at full strength player wise. If so, I think the team rallies around Rodgers and beats Atlanta at home. This gets the confidence back and the Pack out scores Dallas with Rodgers in the next game (the Dallas D sucks just as bad as ours), beating the Steelers at home is doable, which leaves a show down at Chicago with a revenge game for taking Rodgers out and ruining our season (maybe Cobb is back by then). I can’t believe I just got optimistic after yesterdays game, but, with Rodgers , the running game will be back and the time of possession will tilt to the Pack. This means less points for the opposition and a fresher D. Anything is possible with Rodgers.

    But the way this season is going, Rodgers won’t be ready, we will get more injured players and lose the rest of our games…lol

    1. What is to be baffled about?

      Capers is the DC, no talent in linebackers, safeties and corners. No one tackles one on one. Defense is out of position most of the time. Still baffled?

      In the NFL they say that a receiver is open when there is one yard of separation. opponents against the Packers are open by 3 to 5 yards. That is unheard of.

      Still baffled?

      1. Lions were missing Calvin Johnson in the first game or did you miss that? That means the Packer played base D to stop the run and hardly worried about pass D. With Johnson in the lineup Capers played basically 2 DL the entire game on Thanksgiving! Even when the lions were running on us he stayed w/ nickel and only 2 DL.

        If you cant figure that basic stuff out you CLEARLY don’t know dick about football!!

  5. All true. If the Pack stinks it up in DEC as badly as NOV, you would hope we would see major changes but I just don’t see Murphy doing it this year regardless of how embarrassing this team plays. They may have to pick a scapegoat (Dom Capers) but the stink in Denmark goes all the way to the top. TT mnay be a perfectly fine man and may have tried his hardest, but just like Mike Sherman, it is his time to go, he has failed, utterly. He has made nearly 100 draft picks and hit gold on two, and he is riding them for all its worth. GMs need do better than that to stick around this long. TT may be the longest tenured Packer GM since Lombardi. Hell, Lombardi was barely here 10 years.

    1. I wouldn’t say TT has failed completely. He did put together a team that won it all. I do agree that something has gone wrong in the front office.

      The drafts from 2010 on haven’t been that great & the Packers haven’t done as good a job with scouting in the past few years. Seneca Wallace showed up in GB with a dead arm. How did they miss that? Jeff Saturday was beyond done when the Packers signed him. If that’s the level of scouting they’re getting, the future looks dark.

  6. The talent level on this team is pathetic. Especially on defense. If you don’t believe me, look at the facts. Pro Football Focus grades: I will start with the Packer Lion match up. Anyone who thought the Pack had a chance to win this game is a foolish, head in the sand, non-realist. The offense grades have the pack 41.60, Lions 47.20. Defense -29.63 to 34.60. A 64.23 difference! What happened was not an aberration. Special teams 7.70 to 11.20.
    Lions have more talent in all phases of the game. How can coaches be objectively evaluated with this poor of talent. If you take a look at the grades since 2008 of the active players you will see that Newhouse is the worse player at -45.50 followed by Hawk at -44.20. Replace these two and you solve a lot of problems. The other problems: Raji -13.40 ( don’t pay for this! ), Bush -12.90, Worthy -12.60, Jolly -11, McMillan -9.10, Bakhtiari -9.30, Palmer -7.90, Barclay -7.60, Mulumba -5.40, Neal -5.10, J. Jones -4, Quarless -3, Jennings -2.10. Very poor drafting. It is on the coaches that they keep starting some of these dregs.

    1. Amazing huh John? Thursday afternoon it’s all thumbs up when suggesting TT has done a poor job drafting. Now, 36 hours later it’s all thumbs down. Perhaps the easiest way to look at is this way. TT signed Hawk to a $33.75 million contract before the 2011 season. He signed Morgan Burnett to $24 million for his “Funky Chicken” celebration cuz he sure as hell can cover or tackle and the Packers first OL off the bench is Marshall Newhouse. How can anyone even defend that?

      1. And we had no back-up QB or C.

        Somebody’s asleep at the switch and it has got to be at the feet of TT. He hired everybody. He is the GM. Everything we see is of his making. Except for ARPD, Cobb, Finley and Hayward, we had all our starters on the field. 4 losses is common in the NFL by the 3/4 mark. Injuries are not the excuse. Poor player personnel decisions is the cause and that goes straight to TT.

  7. Remember MM and TT’s philosophy… Change is SCARY we will not do it. Keep things as they are and they will eventually come around. I say just one swift kick to the ding ding may straighten a lot of things out.

  8. You are onto something big T. I’ve been mulling this over in my mind – what the Sam Hill is going on with my team? After being embarrassed by our own cast-off, none other than Mr Ross, I’m thinking its not the lack of talent that’s thepp problem. The pack seems to be stubbornly sticking to old things that don’t work. It’s the definition of insanity -to keep trying the same futile path, expecting it to work next time. Big T, you’ve gotten to the root of it. Our team isn’t lacking talent or coaches inept. Our coaches are insane. And what makes this really bad, is that I’m insane too! I keep turning on the tube hoping for great things only to see their asses getting kicked again this week. In light of this development, the pack not making the play offs doesn’t seem nearly as important.

    1. What are you smoking…. The Patriots pick near the bottom of the draft the past 15 years and they are able to get great players more than not. You are drunk on kool-aid.

      1. I’m with Skyler–Ted Thompson gave Capers 25+ NEW DEFENSIVE PLAYERS in 2 1/2 seasons–that’s enough players to COMPLETELY REMAKE THE DEFENSE TWO TIMES OVER–give Belichik that many players to fix his defense and he’ll have a top ten D within two years or FIRE his coordinator.

  9. 1. Congrats to the Detroit Lions. They whupped GB yesterday in every facet of the game except turnovers. (Jenkins,and Shaw – you listening?)

    2. Since GB is all but done, I’ll be hoping Detroit wins the division for the first time since I was 10. That’s better than the Bears winning in any Packer fan’s book. Besides, Detroit is a better team than Chicago – so that would only be right.

    3. I still will not be rooting for any NFC team in the Super Bowl, and I will be actively rooting against whichever NFCN team backs into the playoffs.

    4. GB has had made the playoffs 17 times in the past 20 years. This year, while it’s sucked, is the exception, not the norm. #perspective

    5. The injury epidemic has to stop at some point. Some of it might be bad trainers – but most of it is just plain old bad luck. The sheer number of players out or on IR and their strategic importance to the team has been astounding: 3 of the last 4 years have been all but wrecked by injuries.

    6. Since 2006, McCarthy has said “we’re going to fix Issue X” 5 times. He’s never failed to fix it the next year. GB will come back next year a better team on defense. That might be with a new defensive staff (I hope so) – but I trust MM’s word. When he gets angry (and he is right now) good things happen for the Packers.

    7. Don’t get used to this Lions, Vikings, and Bears (oh my!) fans. ARod is in the prime of his career, along with CM3 and a host of other very good players. GB will be extremely good for quite awhile. We all know who the daddy in this division has been. Daddy has got his sights on another couple super bowl titles in the near future! And at any rate, he won’t be ready to give up running things around the NFCN for quite awhile yet.

    8. While I agree that the front office hasn’t done as well lately – remember that TT was picking in the top 10 in each round after 2005, 2006 and 2008. It’s harder to land great players when you are continually picking after 25th each round.

    9. Also – the front office has lost a LOT of talent. 3 GMs now have left TTs scouting department. Time for Elliot Wolf to step up and for TT to find a new (unused) director of pro personnel.

    1. What’s this? Someone with a calm, rational perspective? A voice of reason that avoids wild and irrational overreaction? Unheard of!

      Bearmeat, are you sure you’re on the right board, buddy?

      1. Thanks. I posted this on my FB wall today to at one time mollify and shut up my buddies who are Lions/Vikes/Bears fans.

        But to be fair, I was breathing fire online yesterday after the game too. 😀

        1. Here’s the funniest part… suddenly everybody wants to believe that the entire Packers organization is completely rotten to the core, with absolutely no redeeming virtues. TT and MM are laughably inept. Dom Capers is Lucifer. No player other than ARod and Matthews even deserves to be in the NFL. Heck, they’re even trying to lynch the trainers and waterboys.

          And yet none of the NFL intelligentsia who post on this board recognized this utter and inexcusable abomination until now. You would have thought that such perceptive students of the game would have noted such a horrific lack of management and talent long before they did… but I guess not.

          Odd.

          1. I’ve been telling all of you these very things for quite some time…. just to get berated and labelled a pessimist.

            Looks like I may have been on to something after all.

          2. I beg to differ. I have been ragging on TT/MM for years. Except for the SB year, when it was a miracle they even made the playoffs, the Packers have choked in most every big game. Yes the 15-1 streak was amazing but as soon as Romeo Crennel showed the league how to beat AROD, it was over. Remember teh year we had to play AZ back-to-back final game of season and first game of playoffs. MM showed AZ his game plan in game 1 and dominated AZ in a meaningless game where they showed us nothing. The following week, MM came out with the exact same offensive game plan. AZ did not. Result: AZ win. What more do Packer fans need to see than that to know that MM is over his head. TT is too.

    2. What are you smoking…. The Patriots pick near the bottom of the draft the past 15 years and they are able to get great players more than not. You are drunk on kool-aid.

      1. Really? Great players huh?

        Go look at the Patriots defensive rankings the past 5 years. I’ll wait.

        (Here’s a hint – it’s right there with the Packers)

        And keep in mind that the AFCE has been awful for 15 years. The Pats get a free pass to the playoffs every year – and they choke. Just like us.

    3. Sorry Bearmeat, I can’t agree with you on a few issues. #3: Whichever team backs into the playoffs? Isn’t that what the Packers did when the Eagles returned a punt (or kickoff, can’t remember) beating the Giants allowing the Packers to back in? Yes, that year the Packers won the Super Bowl. #6: Everyone was calling for DC to be gone at the end of last season after the Giants took apart the Packers at Lambeau. Their defense knew every play DC was calling just as they did a few weeks ago. Yet DC remained and MM said nothing. When he gets angry? I thought he was angry after the Philly game. Oh, and after the Giants game, and the Minny game, and now too? He sure is scaring the crap out of his players and coaches, huh? Come on!

    4. I hope next year’s “issue x” to fix is getting lit up in the playoffs. I like McCarthy but the defense has really struggled against good/elite QBs for years and his ringing endorsement of the defensive staff last week concerns me. Is it realistic to hope for another playoff run where Roethlisberger is the best QB we face? I am willing to sacrifice McCarthy if that is what it takes to clear out the defensive staff.

  10. What do the player ranking numbers mean? What’s an “average” score for an ok player? Is a zero neutral, plus good, and minus always bad?

  11. That was the kind of game that I would expect to elicit the Debbie Downer posts that have, in large part, taken over this site.

    I still don’t think it’s time to throw in the towel. If you think it’s time to give up on the season, all I can say is I’m glad you’re not our coach. Quitting is for quitters.

    1. It is not quitting but how can you win if the opposing offense only punted one time and that was because of a dropped pass. I thought I was watching Alabama vs Middle Tennessee State but that is an insult to Middle Tennessee State. It is not quitting it is called being realistic.

    2. You mean quitters like the Packers? I don’t know what game you were watching, but i saw the team quit yesterday.

      1. I saw the team quit, too. And I didn’t like it one bit. But some people seem content to see us lose out so we can move up a few spots in the drat. I’d much rather be a 1000-1 shot IN the playoffs than a 0 shot not in the playoffs.

  12. Was cleaning the house and found a Sports Illustrated, commemorative edition, 1996 Green Bay Packers. In it there is a page called making of a champion. It details where the players came from. There is a list of 54 players, here is the breakdown:

    4 players claimed of waivers
    4 players traded for (including Favre and Keith Jackson)
    25 players were drafted and …wait for it…
    21 signed as FREE AGENTS.

    Ron Wolf knew how to build a team.

    Sure once in a while you can draft a six rounder and get a Tom Brady but that is a needle in a haystack.

    The 2013 Packers lack talent and that is because TT has myopia.

    Draft only does not work and can never work because other teams will sign the players that the Packers could use.

    Very sickening.

    Thoughts?

    1. Myopic post. You can’t build a team like that in today’s flat-cap NFL. GB’s got salary cap problems on the horizon as it is.

      Imagine if you threw in a couple Albert Haynesworths?

      Wolf got lucky with Reggie and Sean Jones. Those guys don’t hit the open market anymore. Teams are better at locking them up early. And when they do hit the market – there’s usually a reason.

      Think about the top level FA’s the past 5 years. Have ANY of them (other than Peyton) been as advertised.

      No.

      1. You people always respond with a straw man . You don’t have to sign $10M free agents to improved this team. A$3m safety and/or ILB would do wonders.

        1. Let’s face it – the vast majority of us have nothing in way of competent NFL knowledge. We can only respond to what we see and hear. (the media)

          The NFL has always been a week-to-week league.

          This too shall pass. Green Bay is a good team who’s had rotten luck this year and responded poorly to adversity. What does that mean about the personnel, coaches and scouts? How to make it better?

          I have some ideas, but I’m not a pro – so I really have no educated opinion on the matter. And thankfully, that’s not my job to know.

          I just want my team to do well.

        2. 3 million dollar a year FA’s huh? Ok. I’ll agree that would be nice.

          If they worked out. Tell me – how is Chris Houston working out for the Lions? How about Greg Jennings for the Vikes? How about Eric Winston for the Chiefs last year?

          Face it, each NFL team is so scheme dependent that you have 5% of the league that are blue chippers. They DON’T get to FA anymore! There are NO MORE REGGIE WHITES OUT THERE!

          Then you you another 20% that are good starters – depending on scheme. And 60% are JAGs.

          Then 15% or so at the bottom who wash out every year.

          If you want the 20% red chip players (and that’s who you are talking about), then you are going to PAY A TON 5-10 mil a year.

          If you want JAGs you can get them for 1.5-3 mil.

          But at that price, why not load up on 4 5th round pick and get one or two red chippers out of it – for 4 years.

          For 1/4 the price.

          I’m all about FA – if it works. It’s salary cap hell if it doesn’t.

          Do you remember Mike Shermans salary cap structure? And you want to go back to that?

      2. Reggie Bush looks pretty good.
        Bears trading for Marshall looks pretty good.
        Drew Brees signing in NO looks pretty good.
        Manning to DEN looks pretty good.
        Cortland Finigan to the Rams looks pretty good.
        Vincent Jackson to the Bucs looks pretty good.
        Pierre Garcon to the ‘Skins looks pretty good
        Wes Welker to DEN looks pretty good.
        Jake Long to the Rams looks pretty good.
        Jrmon Bushrod to the Bears looks pretty good.

      1. And how many times to the playoffs?

        Look – the NFL playoffs are like a slot machine. Winning it all is just as much luck as it is skill.

        Best bet is to bring a lot of quarters.

  13. Lame Call:

    Giving Morgan Burnett a game ball, are you kidding me. NO Packer defender should celebrate anything the way the play. Touchdown or not. Make a freaking play, make a tackle and do your freaking job and get back in the freaking huddle and do it again. Repeat as needed!!!!

    1. Mastay & Goode should be the only ones with game balls. They worked harder than anyone else on the team.

  14. Time to clean house and I do mean house. Davon house, and Newhouse for starters. Let them both go along with the entire back field defense. Let Caper retire and hire some new blood with new Ideas and get some talent on the defense. Offensive line…Not a good one in the bunch including the center. Draft one or two pick up at least one good one…Spend some money. Hire an offensive coordinator that can call plays. Start searching for a new Head coach, one that has the hunger to win and that can Kick ass (Gruden). That would be a good start.

    1. You have some good points but fail to see that it all starts or stops at the top. Bring in a new GM first Things are not going to change much, and the Pack will continue to waste the talents of the best QB in the NFL as long as Ted Thompson remains. For those in Packerland who say, “In TT we trust,” a super bowl every 15 years or so is good enough.

      1. There are 32 teams in the league. On average, then, each team should win once every 32 years. And you are mocking the very notion that Packer fans should be willing to accept a GM that does merely TWICE AS GOOD as average.

        Think first. Talk second.

        1. However, at the most important position in football, we don’t have an “average” player. We have the best one in the game.

        2. You conveniently forget that we currently have the best QB in the NFL and that before him we had a hall-of-fame QB in Favre. So, with that said, two SB victories every 15 years or so reflects the inability of the GM to build a team around the two extraordinary talents we’ve had at QB.

          1. And you conveniently forget that someone had to acquire those awesome QBs. And who was that, pray tell?

    2. The consensus is that Sitton is a very good guard and that Lang is at least above average. EDS looks IMO to be around average. I think your post is over the top and perhaps done in the heat of the moment.

      We needed a back up center and a back up guard. Tackles need up grading. Our plan should be for Bakhtiara to be a back up next year. If he gets stronger and makes a jump, well and good. Bulaga’s return should help but GB is still short one starting caliber tackle. Maybe Sherrod is it, but GB should not bank on it. We should have resigned EDS after the 3rd game as I called for. You will be surprised what he gets in FA.

  15. offense isn’t the problem, other than back QB and maybe TE. O line gets Sherrod and Bulaga back next year… i think they will be good. real queation is what to do at ILB and Safety. Hawk and Jones aren’t anything more than average and we are stuck with Burnett which i don’t think is a terrible thing. Draft next year has to go Safety, TE, ILB and then maybe WR and a late round corner. every other position is set. TT can only get us the players tho, coaching has to build them up. I’ve been a Capers supporter for a long time but maybe its time to move on.

  16. As much as I hate to say it, a dose of bad always makes the good that much better. We’ve had a good run, & this stretch is bad, but its always temporary, Ted and mike haven’t let us down too much in the past. Bearmeat has it right, getting too involved in free agency is risky business. TT and MM have given us lots to get excited about. This year no different, only getting excited in the wrong direction! I throw around ideas of what TT or MM should do, but don’t know crap about what it takes to make a winning team. Gotta trust in the powers to be, have fun with it, and keep the fingers crossed. In Ted we trust, & the pack will be back.

  17. This is a bad team. And by “bad,” I don’t mean “mean” or “tough.” All of the commenters and bloggers on this site who are Thompson apologists will blame Dom Capers, who most likely will be the fall guy for this disastrous season. But the lack of Aaron Rodgers at QB displays the sad truth that this team simply doesn’t have the depth of talent to compete for a championship in the NFL. This bad team has been assembled by Ted Thompson. He should be fired at the end of the season if not sooner.

  18. As I posted in Jason’s and Al’s articles on Friday, you can’t just knee jerk and fire everyone over the last few games. Have you given any thought to who you would replace them with. See how it worked out for Saints while their coach was suspended. You worry about wasting Rodgers best years, well the best way to do it is replace all the coaches which means new systems all across the board that it will take the team 2-3 seasons to learn. What does that do for Rodgers. He and MM are tied at the hip just like Brady and Belichicken or Favre and Holmgren. No, the time to measure these coaches is now, assuming Rodgers is back. Can MM pull this team back together for the last 4 games. This is when leadership and coaching matters. This is when we will learn about MM. And I don’t just mean winning games. I mean attitude, especially on the defense. The defense needs a serious attitude adjustment. They cannot allow themselves to be pushed around every week, that is unacceptable, win or lose. For this reason, Capers may need to go. A new DC may be able to bring a new attitude to this defense. Also, someone needs to step up and become the on field leader of the defense. By this I mean, a player who can take over a game for a half or all 4 quarters, like Reggie White or Ray Nitschke and just wreck the opposing offense. That and attitude are missing here big time. Let’s see how this team responds to the bottom falling out. Their response will tell us more about them then their fall. Until then, I am in the same boat with Stroh, Marpag and Bearmeat. Thanks Since ’61

    1. Dom Capers MAY need to go? Ted Thompson gave Capers 25+ NEW DEFENSIVE PLAYERS in 2 1/2 seasons to FIX this defense–that’s enough players to COMPLETELY REMAKE the defense TWO TIMES OVER and they’re NOT any better. Give Belichik that many new defensive players and he’ll have a top defense or FIRE his DC for not getting the job done. The team is BEAT, it won’t be any better till Rodgers comes back, at this point Thompson may not want his franchise QB on the field with team playing this poorly.

  19. PEOPLE, people, just how much mediocrity are you willing to settle for? Wisconsin Attorney General should investigate McCarthy’s bank account to see how much money Lions and Ford family paid McCarthy to sabotage this game for Packers and Flynn. He had Flynn run no huddle offense last week with NO preparation vs. Vikings and gave Packers a win-short of ONE 3rd down stand by the defense. With 3 days to prepare, he never went with the no huddle to force Lions defenders to stay on field, tire them out and give run game some help. WHY? McCarthy’s team COULD NOT BEAT ANY OF THE TOP TEN COLLEGIATE TEAMS IN CURRENT RANKINGS, THAT’S HOW POORLY HIS TEAM IS PLAYING!! From the HC to Special teams coach to DC–total coaching failure showed up Thurs., no excuse for this team not being better prepared.

  20. I just get this bad feeling that once Rodgers went down the team threw in the towel. We never provided for an adequate backup like the Bears & Rams who kept winning with backups. The defense had to step up it’s game to compensate for the lack of points…didn’t happen. With 3 starting receivers out we were bound to lose a couple games we wouldn’t of & then when Rodgers went down the die was cast. Teams that were on our level beat us. If I had to build for next year I think I’d start with the defense. I can almost stomach not scoring under our circumstances , but letting the Lions score at will is unacceptable. Our castoff, Ross even looked pretty good on the Lions

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