HarveysWBs

No doubt. Bears looked very competent today, albeit against a Falcons squad that looked like it had no interest in suffering through the elements. Gotta show up next week, and looks like we’ll be short-handed on the o-line, to boot.

Would have liked one more TD pass to salt this thing away, but I’m fairly comfortable with this lead.

I don’t know the rule, but I know offensive linemen do that on every play…

Crummy ball spots on those two runs

Not saying, just saying…

We’ve got bad Love so far. Nice, nice

Yeah, I’m sick of the New Year’s Eve schtick already

In news that matters only to me, if Love and Doubs combine to outscore Justin Jefferson by 17 points or more, I win my fantasy league. The fate of my fantasy season is in Joe Barry’s hands. Needless to say, I’ve made a terrible mistake.

I know this is a difficult concept for other fanbases to wrap their heads around, but: 1) There are many ways to create a corporation. The cutthroat, profit-driven, shareholder value over everything model typical to most well-known corporations is not the only way. The Packers are quite open and honest about exactly what their stock is. The lack of appreciating value, limited voting rights, and possibility of stock buy-backs are all clearly stated and not a scam in any way. 2) Nevertheless, the stock is quite real and legally binding (hence, not “memorabilia”) in several important respects, not least of which being that it necessitates financial disclosures that no other franchise in the NFL is subject to. This transparency is of huge value to the fans, as it offers unique insights into how money is accumulated, shared, and utilized, with both direct application to Green Bay, but also the league as a whole by extrapolation. You can bet your bottom dollar that the league would pay unholy sums of money to make the Packers organizational structure go away and never replicated anywhere else in the league so they could maintain far more secrecy in the way finances are utilized. (By maintaining the oft-repeated misconception that the stock is meaningless, you are in fact participating in the NFL’s greedy propaganda campaign—billionaires everywhere thank you). 3) Even if the above points were untrue, the stock sales would be valuable for making it less necessary for the franchise to go to the taxpayers with hat in hand. The Packers have leveraged public financing far less often than their league peers for this reason, and this fact should be championed by any advocate of responsible government. 4) Finally, by tying themselves corporately to a fan base, the organization is not at the whim of a billionaire owner or group, and thus must act in the interests of the community and long-term stability of the organization to a larger degree than any other franchise, certainly in the NFL, and possibly more than any other team in professional sports. No, it does not eliminate greed and craven decision making entirely, but it does, for instance, make it all but unthinkable to uproot the team from Green Bay, and that alone is worth the sticker price to me. Enjoy Arlington.

I have no strong interest in college football. I attended a D-III school, and grew up with the closest major schools being Iowa, Illinois, and Iowa State being roughly equally far away—all programs with practically no appeal to anyone who didn’t attend them. This is to say that I am the definition of a casual fan. What about this whole situation in college football is supposed to appeal to a fan like me? These games used to be a showcase for the best of the best playing in unusual and intriguing matchups. Instead, we are subjected to unwatchable trash. If the players don’t even care, why should I? How is the NCAA going to grow its brand? Heck, forget casuals like me, and tell me how is the NCAA going to even keep its own fan base from disengaging? How discouraging for fans of Florida State or Ohio State to see their season end like this. It just reiterates the sense that there’s really only two or three teams that matter, and there’s everybody else just trying to grab as much fast money as they possibly can. Go team…

NCAA football has a problem. The number 5 team in the country essentially decides to punt the Orange Bowl and loses by 60? This just can’t happen. It’s a horrible look, it is a way bigger issue than just this game, and I’m not sure a 12-team playoff field is the only fix required here.

Nixon…

And this with Stokes and Jaire starting? Ridiculous.

I almost went with “thoroughly whelming,” but cromulent is both more succinct and decidedly more fun.

I was in the camp (and remain there, if but barely) that LaFleur is fine. He has been able to make something out of Love that is certainly cromulent, with the potential for better, and that’s great, considering how much we’re paying 12 and 69 to not contribute. He has a historically young offensive unit, that has gotten exactly one good game all year from its most experienced playmaker, and yet the young guys are growing—that’s all this year was about…for the offense. But LaFleur isn’t an offensive coordinator, he’s head coach. And his biggest issue has been managing his staff. Pettine, Drayton, and Barry have all been retained at least a year too long, and arguably more—or never should have been in the org to begin with. To his credit, he makes a point of doing right by his people. He doesn’t often trash anyone in public, or make impulsive personnel decisions. And I think this has been part of his success in building a solid culture in the locker room and staff room overall, at least from an outsider’s vantage point. But competency has to count here. He can lose credibility in the locker room by not holding Barry responsible for what is going on out there, and he has to be really careful now in how he handles this. I trust that he would have a more definite read on the team temperature than I, but if I was a defensive player, I’d have a lot of questions right now, and not just about how I was performing.

You could do worse than Tomlin, I think—and we do so routinely. I’m kinda hoping Rodgers just retires now and New York cleans house so we can sweep up Saleh on the rebound. It ain’t happening, for about thirty-five different reasons, but either of those things would be a nice break.

Better draft position, but we have to fire Barry

Oh I don’t know. They could hire Brandon Staley…

Nice throw and catch on a scramble drill. Good stuff

Can we take the money we’re paying Bisaccia to not improve our Special Teams and throw it at Leonhard? Carte blanche, whatever he wants.

This defense sucks. It’s an infuriating watch.

I know this can’t literally be his evaluation process, but I do wonder what he actually is looking at for defensive success. I mean, Robert Saleh is his best friend—he knows what good defense looks like.

And historically, quarterbacks tend to hit their stride in a LaFleur offense in year two, so I think there is considerable reason to hope for just this kind of a jump. A healthy Watson (I heard on the Journal-Sentinel podcast that he is spending large sums of money consulting medical experts about his hamstrings, and is developing a revamped offseason workout program to strengthen his back, which is apparently the root of the problem) and a reinforced offensive line would certainly help. I have more hope for offensive growth than I do for a change in defensive coordinator next year. I wish we had a new DC this year implementing a better system that would in turn be ready to start running at its peak next year with the improving offense, but as they say, the second-best time to plant a tree is today...

But I’m still feeling pretty good about running the table. After sleeping on this last game, I’m encouraged by Love’s improvement as the game progressed. He continues to hang tough and not just spiral into a puddle of absolute failure when things get weird, as even Rodgers tended to do. He’s not great, but he’s still got talent and a very good head on his shoulders. In the end, this team is stuck on the threshold of two realities. It would be better for their current players’ growth to keep winning, but better for their future rosters if they lose. A title is all but out of the question, and seems ridiculous even typing it out. Ultimately, at the end of the next four games, I think I want these things, in order of importance: 1) To feel good about Love’s trajectory as a franchise QB 2) Hope for new DC and a new left tackle 3) No major injuries, new or current 4)To feel good about LaFleur as a playcaller

The way the last few weeks have gone, I’m not sure beating the Lions and Chiefs means anything significant. I’m kind of at the point where I’m not sure anyone in the NFL is really a great team. 49ers are the exception, and they’re led by Cinderella at QB and Kyle “I choke one round later than LaFleur” Shanahan. I bet Dallas wins it this year.