HarveysWBs

I actually wouldn’t tear down the roster. We don’t have a first round pick of our own next year anyway, and we’ve got an enviable foundation with Parsons and Love, with a bunch of very nice surrounding skill players to boot. But they need a new voice at the helm of each phase, and they have to quickly shore up the trenches and the CB room and also find a kicker. Since Gutekunst has shown a lack of either the ability or concern or both regarding addressing any of those positional failures for the last several seasons, I lean towards him getting the axe too. But I kind of suspect he stays, and if you held my feet to the fire I’d admit he’s the one I’m least upset about among all the brass. I’m not feeling too charitable, however.

I agree with this, and even if they wanted to part ways with Love, that’s hardly feasible anyway so it’s a silly academic argument at best and obnoxious bar chatter at worst. I don’t think Love himself is the issue, but I also have a hard time fully exonerating him. Yes, he was sensational for most of this one and outplayed Williams consistently. But when you’re the guy making the bag and you have an opponent with an average at best defense on the ropes and it’s do or die time and you let them breathe, that’s not championship caliber. Love did enough to win tonight, sure, but what we’ve seen repeatedly is that Love and LaFleur together have no killer instinct and too often can’t close. I think they have to hope a different regime takes him to the next level in games like this.

You can parse this any way you want, or grind whatever axe is closest at hand. Special teams is the easiest call, and no one is going to shed tears for Bisaccia or McManus getting shown the door. But they say success has many fathers and failure is an orphan. That can’t be allowed to pass anymore. Every level of this organization had its fingerprints all over this thing. Both lines were bad, and they’ve been a problem all year, and they were unacceptably shallow all year. And the entire world knew CB was a glaring weakness. Wouldn’t you know it, those things still hurt the Packers tonight. That’s on Gutekunst. Hafley sounds great at the mic, but his defense just gave up a historic comeback to a QB that routinely can’t hit the broadside of a barn and for whom they had no answers. Nothing he dialed up worked late and while you can say the third quarter offense did his group no favors, I’m not going to defend 25 late points given up when the offense didn’t turn the ball over. That doesn’t fly. And the offense. The magic is gone on the o-line. Steno and Butkus are out of leash. They made their bones on getting maximum production out of some B-grade investment there, but they’re running on reputation and it hasn’t been reality for a while. That second half screamed for ball control and churning some ground yards and they got stuffed in a locker by a Bears front that doesn’t intimidate anyone. But when the chips are down, and everything else is falling down around their ears, the one thing that has to be a constant in Green Bay is the QB and playcaller. At the very least, they have to know how to move the sticks, play situationally sound football, and bleed out a trailing opponent, especially an inferior one (though at this rate, it’ll be nearly impossible to say the Bears should be dogs in next year’s matchups). LaFleur and Love have accomplished much that can be praised, and they were always going to look diminished after Rodgers left. But even accounting for that, they choked again in the second half of a playoff game. They come up small in the biggest moments. But the point is, the whole team comes up small. Running it back is unthinkable, but once you start firing one person, I can’t fathom how you’d defend any of the others when it’s been this bad. The whole team needs a new identity. I can’t see any other way forward.

The failure and rot is at all levels. Lack of investment in secondary and D-line meant the defense collapsed. Supposed offensive-minded coach and excellent QB go dormant when they’re needed most. Soundbite D coordinator is overrated. And that doesn’t even get to special teams. There must be a reckoning.

I’m not sure this org can claim any semblance of seriousness and just run this back. What else does anybody need to see?

Drop drop drop

Ugh

🫠

Would just one guy follow the receiver?! Come on secondary.

Fire all the special teams into the bloody sun! For the love of all that is good, they are a plague…

Rookie got a TD!!!

Now that it’s under one possession, all kinds of interesting choke possibilities open up. Anything can do it. Crucial injury. Pick 6. Snap over Love’s head. Special teams on literally any play…

I’d say it’s unbelievable, but what’s the opposite of that?

Just a FG in that quarter would have been huge. We barely managed a first down. What does anyone expect anymore?

And there’s more special teams. Our script has been written for decades

Wilson is not a good pass blocker. Yeesh

Doubs is a bloody hero.

Johnson is really overthinking this thing. Thankfully.

It really is this organization’s MO. I don’t know what would fix it. They could hire the most no-nonsense staff in the world and I’d still think they’d just go brain dead in the clutch.

There’s the Nixon penalty

In routes open all night.

Love not using his feet there is puzzling

Suffice it to say, LaFleur could make himself a little coin here in this half.

What would Valentine say he does here?

Well that’s not ideal