What We Found Out Tonight

The one thing the loss to the Steelers should tell Mike McCarthy, Ted Thompson and Mark Murphy is the Packers defense under the leadership of Dom Capers cannot be depended upon to make a stop when they absolutely, positively, must make a stop.

Ex-Packers Dropping Like Flies

With 6:57 remaining in the 1st quarter of the Minnesota Vikings game on October 15, 2017 the Green Bay Packers season ended. With the exception of the inept Da’ Bears the Packers lost to the Vikings, the Saints, the Lions, (thank god for Da’ Bears) and the Ravens to drop 3 games behind the Vikings, 1 game behind the Lions for the North title and 1 game behind the Lions, Seahawks and Falcons for the last wildcard spot with 6 games remaining. UPDATE: The Vikings beat the Lions on Thanksgiving.

So technically the Packers could right the ship by “running the table” to finish 11-5, but no one thinks that’s going to happen, so for the 1st time since 2008 the Packers will not be playing in the playoffs snapping a string of 8 straight seasons, which tied an NFL record, but that was because Rodgers was quarterback for all of 9 games out of 128 games. He missed 1 game with a concussion in 2010. He missed 1 game in 2011 because Mike McCarthy was afraid Ndomukong Suh was going to hurt him. He then missed 7 games in 2013 with a broken collarbone. He had started 55 straight games when the Vikings cut him down.

His highly qualified replacement Brett Hundley has gotten worse instead of better. Last week was probably the worse quarterback performance by a Packer since T.J. Rubley on November 5, 1995 against the Vikings. The shutout orchestrated by Hundley was also the 1st since Mike McCarthy’s first game ever as the Packers coach against Da’ Bears on September 10, 2006. The Packers had gone 184 games without being shutout until the man Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy stubbornly believe in and won’t bench because the only other quarterback on the roster they evidently don’t believe in at all did the honors. On any other team Hundley would have been benched 2 weeks ago, but not in Green Bay. Hundley must have naked pictures of Thompson or McCarthy or both or both together to keep his job because it can’t be his play on the field, but I digress.

However, since the unmasking of the Packers former Packers have lost their luster. Since October 15 eight former Packers have been cut in the 7 weeks since and one former No. 1 draft pick has been cut twice and 3 times since the beginning of the season

The Packers Have More Problems Than Dom Capers

I’ve been the Grand Poobah of the “Fire Dom Capers” movement since 2011 and there are a lot of us, despite the “I Trust In Ted” crowd FAKE NEWS campaign that all’s right with the Packers, but after what happened five weeks ago it’s obvious my second ‘day’ job of being Head Honcho of the “Fire Ted Thompson” campaign is the more pressing and important job of them all.

The “Tedders” have allowed Mr. Ego and his cautious approach to running the most prestigious franchise in the history of sports, the Montreal Canadians and Boston Celtics aside, to put the Packers on a course for a third era of “Wilderness Years” joining the 1948-58 era and the 1968-1991 era.

The Packers Have Packed It In

The play of designated quarterback tradee Brett Hundley has demonstrated three things. 1st, Ted Thompson doesn’t know a quarterback from his ass and for that matter a hole in the ground. 2nd. Mike McCarthy can’t teach a bad quarterback new tricks, but he can ride a great quarterback to the Super Bowl and developing a reputation as one of the great quarterback whisiperers and play callers the game has ever known. SAD.

3rd, when Rodgers went down Ted Thompson didn’t go out and get a veteran quarterback (Brian Hoyer), but compounded the misjudgments of himself and the incompetence of McCarthy and the result has been a 4 losses in 5 games (thank god for da Bears) that has virtually ended the one thing President and CEO Mark Murphy and Executive Vice President, General Manager and Director of Football Operations Ted Thompson cares about in the whole world the consecutive playoff appearance streak that had reached eight, which tied it for the longest current streak in the NFL along with the Patriots, who are going to make it nine and, just to rub it in, signed Hoyer.

FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS, PART BA MƯỢI MỖT

(31 in Vietnamese because Trump is there and I’m always topical)

SUBLIME

"Hardhat Frank" Enshrined at the Shrine

 I can’t find anything SUBLIME about the play of the Green Bay Packers on the field from the loss of Aaron Rodgers and Bryan Bulaga to the benching of 2-time Offensive Rookie of the Week Aaron Jones to the complete collapse of Dom Capers defense to the complete debacle of the signing of Martellus Bennett and his subsequent release to the 3 game losing streak to da Bears being a favorite in Sunday’s game. In fact I just can’t find anything SUBLIME concerning the Packers at all.

So I had to do something I find totally against all that is holy in the journalistic world and visited PACKERS.COM to look at some of Rhinelander Larry’s reports. Before I had to sink so low and contaminate myself I found something on the 2017 Packers FAN Hall of Fame inductee Frank Lamping.

FAKE NEWS – Thompson Style, Part Infinity

The Curious Case of Benjamin “Marty Bennett” Button

The marquis free agent signing by General Manager Ted Thompson, who for the first time since 2012 jumped into the free agent market was tight end Martellus Bennett even though the most pressing needs were on the defensive side. CURIOUS.

However, this great signing has turned into a nightmare of mythic proportions with the Packers claiming subterfuge by Bennett and Bennett is claiming his right to be injured, which has happened every week to the Packers with a vengeance this season, so why now turn this injury into a national incident. VERY CURIOUS INDEED.

The Complete Collapse of the Murphy/Thompson/McCarthy/Capers Era

I remember when…..The Packers won the Super Bowl, the Packers had the No. 1 quarterback in all of football (a Collinsworthism) and the Packers were ranked No. 1 in the NFL.

It’s Not Aaron Rodgers or Brett Hundley’s Fault

The Monday Night Football game before a national audience and the faithful at Lambeau Field against the sad-sack Detroit Lions losers of 3 straight games let everyone know, except Packers President Mark Murphy, Packers General Manager Ted Thompson, Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy and the “In Ted We Trust” crowd that the 2017 Packers are not very good and that fact has nothing to do with Aaron Rodgers being on the sidelines and Brett Hundley in the huddle.

For the past 6 years and 5 games Aaron Rodgers made Mike McCarthy look like a play calling genius and papered over the incompetence of Ted Thompson of putting a team around him worthy of his talent or even a roster better than the Detroit Lions, who by the way have ex-Packers T.J. Lang, Jared Abbrederis and Khyri Thornton playing for them.

There Are Legacies And Then There Are Legacies

There are the New York Yankees in MLB with 27 titles, the Montreal Canadians in the NHL with 24 titles, the Boston Celtics in the NBA with 17 titles, including 8 in a row and Brazil with 5 World Cups championships, but the most storied team in the history of sports is the 13-time World Champion Green Bay Packers from the smallest town (105,139 population) to field a major sports team and the only sports franchise to be owned by stockholders and not by a deep pocket owner.

2012 Dancing With The Stars Champion Donald Driver

The Packers story is the story of the NFL itself. The immortal Curly Lambeau founded the team in 1919 and joined the fledgling NFL 2 years later. It was by shear will and personality that Lambeau kept the team alive as general manager and as coach he built a team that along with NFL founder George “Papa Bear” Halas ruled the league during his official 29 years at the helm (1921-1949).

Lambeau’s Packers won 6 championships (1929, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1939, 1944) becoming the first and only team to win 3 championships in a row until the Packers under Vince Lombardi did it again in 1965, 1966, 1967. In comparison Halas won 6 championships (1921, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1963) over his 48 years as coach of the Bears (1920-67).

Thompson’s Tight End Obsession

(Obsession is a sign of Alzheimer’s)

With all the problems with the Packers defense coming into the season you would think Packers General Manager Ted Thompson would have spent the offseason focusing like a laser to provide the Aaron Rodgers led offense with the last piece of the puzzle – a competent defense – to finally leap that last hurdle to seriously make a run for the Super Bowl and not just the playoffs.

FAKE NEWS – Thompson Style

The reports coming out of 1265 Lombardi Avenue are that Packers General Manager Ted Thompson and/or his personnel department tried to sign Brian Hoyer, but somehow the rascally Bill Belichik and the New England Patriots beat him to the punch and signed him to replace Jimmy Garappolo as the backup to Tom Brady. I don't believe a word of it.

But let's say it did happen then I can see just 1 reason or maybe 2 Hoyer might choose the Patriots over the Packers. The first could be Thompson only offered him a 1-year incentive laded contract instead of the 3-year contract he received from Belichik. The second could be he wanted to win and the Packers are going nowhere.

I can see the first happening, but the second doesn’t fit with Hoyer’s past. He wants to play and he would have taken over for Brett Hundley next week if given a chance and had a chance to work with the great receiver corps of the Packers and possible Offensive Rookie of the Year Aaron Jones for the next 7 games to show he still has a future as a starting quarterback.

It is also possible McCarthy informed him that Brett Hundley is the man and he would only be a hedge against him being injured. However, that didn’t happen because McCarthy said after not confirming the report by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network that the Packers tried to sign Hoyer, "From the time Aaron's been injured I've never once been involved in a conversation about bringing in a veteran quarterback. From the Minnesota to here today, the direction that we're going with the quarterbacks is Brett Hundley and the guys we have here."

I would tend to believe McCarthy on this because he is completely contradicting what the back channels told Rapoport. So I think the back channels (directed by the puppet master TT) were self-serving to get the pressure off Ted Thompson for not bringing in a veteran quarterback because no General Manager worth his salt would make a trade or a signing without discussing it with his head coach.

Thompson Fiddles While The Packers Are Burning

My suggestion to Packers General Manager Ted Thompson to sign quarterback Brian Hoyer fell upon predictably deaf ears. Thompson is an arrogant man, who only follows his own advice and even, in my opinion, turns down any advice he gets from the Packers fans across the nation just because he didn’t think of it and he feels the “Great Unwashed” are ignorant at best and are against him at worst.

So instead of solidifying the quarterback position after the Packers went from having the best quarterback in the league to one of the worst quarterback rooms in the NFL with half a season left he kept the status quo reaffirming his own genius.

Bill Belichik, who has been head coach and basically the general manager of the New England Patriots since 2000 has been to 7 Super Bowls during that span and won 5 making the Patriots a bonafied dynasty.

On the other hand, Ted Thompson has been general manager of the Packers since 2005 and has led the team from Title Town, USA to 1 Super Bowl making the Packers a bonafied disappointment and a team that never lived up to its potential led by 2 of the best quarterbacks in the history of the league.

Speaking of Belichik he took my advice and signed Hoyer. Anyone surprised at that? I’m not. The cream rises to the top and the turds (I mean curds) sink to the bottom.