It didn’t have to be this way for the Packers. It really, really didn’t. The experience of being a football fan is appreciating the cyclical nature of the game. One year you’ll be on top, if you’re lucky that will open up to a window, and the hope is that the organization can maximize this window while it exists — before eventually crashing back down and starting the process again.
These windows aren’t supposed to stay open for two straight decades. It just doesn’t happen unless you have someone like Tom Brady, or you’re lucky enough to be the Packers who got to bridge from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers and sustain success. While it’s obviously important to strike while the iron is hot and make an impact, it’s even more critical to know when the formula isn’t working and pull the rip cord. It’s here where Brian Gutekunst failed Green Bay, and it’s a decision that will haunt this franchise for years to come.
This isn’t about losing to the Lions. It’s not about Rodgers throwing three picks, or being more interested in his extra-curricular activities than football. In many ways it’s not even about Rodgers calling out his teammates in hilarious fashion, saying they should be benched for lack of performance while he’s playing like total dog shit. Acrimony between Rodgers and the Packers had been brewing for years, even through the success — and Gutekunst refused to believe the ivory tower was crashing down, even while watching the foundation crumble under him.
Alternate timelines are often based on these complex theoretical Rube Goldberg machines of moves, and countermoves designed to reach a conclusion. For Green Bay it’s comically simple. The Broncos wanted Aaron Rodgers, he was their first choice. The Packers could have easily been led to the same 3-6 record with Jordan Love at the helm, with a boatload of cap space in their pockets and a war chest of draft picks to jump start their rebuild in 2023. They could have had one long look at Love to see if he could become the guy, while be prepped to either support him with talent, or go in another direction entering a QB-rich draft.
"Sir, the Packers have lost Lil Wayne" https://t.co/4LCGS6TQKQ pic.twitter.com/tBhw72ULdt
— SB Nation (@SBNation) November 6, 2022
In the end the front office refused to pull the trigger that Ted Thompson had the guts to when he grew tired of Brett Favre’s bullshit in 2007, turning the team over Rodgers.
The amount of re-written history over that decision is quite weird. It wasn’t nearly as cut and dry as it’s made out to be now. Saying goodbye to Favre wasn’t predicated on concrete evidence Rodgers was the guy, and entirely a leap of faith (paired with some great football knowledge). At the time No. 12 had barely 300 career passing yards to his name, just one touchdown, a single interception as well — there was functionally no in-game evidence he’d become a Hall of Fame player, but Thompson knew what was best for the Packers. Fans were sick of Favre’s retirement floundering, but he was still the guy in Green Bay, and moving on from No. 4 was not easy, especially following a 4,155 yard passing season that ended in a 13-3 record and an overtime loss in the NFC Championship.
The point of going back and looking at shifting from Favre to Rodgers is that everyone saw the same tea leaves swirling this time around — except for Brian Gutekunst. The problem is that it’s difficult to see a good way out of this. Rodgers holds all the power in a way Favre really didn’t, making the team moving on in the short term absolutely impossible. There’s too much money left on the contract, too much time, and this is all being coupled with a lot of failure.
It’s the worst recipe for a Green Bay rebuild, and it falls at the feet of people unwilling to accept the Packers couldn’t hang in the NFC this season with no receivers. The Packers are losers this week, and unfortunately, for the future until this all blows over.
Winner: Joe Mixon, who went John Wick on the Panthers
Did the Carolina Panthers kill Mixon’s dog or something? I’m not even sure that’s a joke question, because from the first snap the Bengals RB played like he wanted to tear that team limb-from-limb.
Sure, the Panthers are a bad football team — but their defense isn’t, at least normally. For four quarters he made Carolina look like a JV team, running for 153 yards and FOUR touchdowns, becoming a nexus of misery in the process.
Carolina had no answer to the point they tried to put back in Baker Mayfield to add a spark. Do you know how broken you need to be to put in Baker to be your spark?
Loser: These “contenders” getting narrow victories over terrible teams
I’m specifically pointing at the Chargers and Vikings here. I cannot believe we just finished Week 9 and I honestly can’t tell you if either of these teams are good or not, especially the Vikings. The Chargers are 5-3, and shown plenty of weakness this season in coaching — so it’s not quite as pronounced.
Meanwhile it took a fourth quarter comeback fueled by hubristic Commanders fans chanting “You like that!” at Kirk Cousins to push the Vikings to a 20-17 win. I understand that Washington isn’t a terrible team, but if you’re honestly positioning yourself as a Super Bowl team (as one does at 7-1) then you have to show so much more.
This has been Minnesota’s M.O. from Week 1. A whole lot of really unconvincing victories against largely trash teams, and complete failure in the only game that saw them face a real challenger — the 24-7 loss to Philadelphia. Next week against Buffalo should tell us a lot, but they just lost to the Jets!
The NFL is drunk.
Winner: Justin Fields, who is becoming a phenom before our eyes
Let’s not be reductive about this. Yes, the Bears lost to the Dolphins because they are a really bad football team across the 53, who just traded their two best defensive players at the deadline to retool for the future.
A future that Justin Fields is already living in.
We are quickly seeing the talent emerge that made Fields such a highly rated prospect, who at one point was in the discussion for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. The Bears paid a hefty price to move up and draft him, and now that payment is being repaid with interest.
Fields is showing the same ability to take over a game by himself in a way the truly great NFL quarterbacks do. On Sunday Fields threw for a tidy 123 yards with three touchdowns, while running for an NFL regular-season quarterback record of 178 yards and another score. Those 301 combined yards represented 81.7% of the Bears ENTIRE OFFENSE ON SUNDAY. Fields literally did it all.
The scary part for the rest of the league is that the cast isn’t even in place yet. Chicago has no offensive line, and its receiving corps remains one of the worst in the NFL even after the trade for Chase Claypool — but if the Bears can put this together... it’s going to be something else.
Loser: The Cardinals who resemble the car out of The Flintstones at this point
That’s intended to be a goof on the wheels falling off. Okay, it was labored, I know. Anyway, Arizona sucks.
This was supposed to be some new, revitalization of Kyler Murray and Co. with DeAndre Hopkins returning to the fold, but it just isn’t happening. Arizona almost got doubled up on yardage by the Seahawks, and that’s supposed to be the team’s calling card.
This was the second loss to Seattle of the year. The Cardinals are now last in the NFC West, and playoff dreams are gone. This is a disastrous year, and Kliff Kingsbury might not be long for this world.
Winner: Trenton Irwin, Bay Bay
that's Adam Cole. pic.twitter.com/UnyOuNx6R3
— Hector Diaz (@iamHectorDiaz) November 6, 2022
Going to tell my kids this is Bullet Club.
Winner: Robert Saleh and the Jets
Obviously we can’t ignore the Jets, who continue to have one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent memory. Credit here belongs to Robert Saleh, whose defensive principles have coupled perfectly with the team’s personnel to make life a nightmare for opposing QBs.
The Jets sucked Josh Allen’s soul from his body and left him unable to move the ball through the air at all. Any time you get an NFL MVP-caliber player to say something like this, you know you’re doing something right:
I’d add here that Allen didn’t play like shit. The Jets made him play like shit. Sauce Gardner and Co. are damn-near perfect in coverage, and it’s really starting to feel like enough of a differentiator that this team can disrupt in the playoffs and ruin some seasons.
Saleh was a great hire when the Jets brought him in, and it’s looking better with each passing day.
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