The LaFleur Era Has Begun or Has It Really?

It took 1 year, but the refurbishing of the Green Bay Packers is finally taking place. Like I said before the Packers move like a glacier under the leadership (or lack there of) of Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No. Evil CEO Mark Murphy and in the case of Head Honcho Ted Thompson and Head Coach Mike McCarthy, it took over seven years for him to recognize the deliberate deterioration of the Packers budding 3rd Dynasty.

The Packers Have Hired a New Coach…..Really You Packers.com Readers

Those Packer Backers who get their news from anywhere else than Packers.com (it is 12:41 a.m. January 8, 2019 when I write this and the word came down from the real world about the hire about 8 hours ago on January 7) know the Packers have hired a new head coach. The new man is Matt LaFleur the offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans. I have no trouble with this hire because the powers that be took my advice and hired a young hot-shot assistant instead of an old retread or that well known flake Josh McDaniels, which was one of the others the Packers interviewed. UPDATE: It is now 3:34 p.m. on January 8th and still no announcement on Packers.com. 

The Glacier Known as the Packers Hasn’t Moved Yet

The Packers made no moves last night after the worst loss at Lambeau Field in many, many, many years, but the other disappointing teams not run by Ted Thompson have made their moves and if I was Mark Murphy I would jump on two coaches immediately to fill the coordinator jobs. I still hope a hot shot young assistant coach at the pro level (not Josh McDaniels) or a hot shot college head coach would be the best hire for the head coach position.

First, I would hire Adam Gase as Offensive Coordinator. Anybody who could make Jay Cutler look good is a miracle worker and certainly could solve whatever ills or bad habits Aaron Rodgers has or has gotten into.

Second, I would hire Gregg Williams as Defensive Coordinator. Putting Bounty Gate aside Williams is a defensive genius in the mold of Phil Bengston, Hawg Hanner and Fritz Shumur. Also he spells his first name with 2 g’s like Forrest Gregg and that is a good sign he belongs in Green Bay.

Some More Things We Now Know

After last season when the basically season-ending injury to Aaron Rodgers showed some stark realities to the local kiss ass media and the lovers of Ted Thompson or the “Tedders” as I call them that except for Rodgers the Packers 52 + 10 rest of the roster was not championship quality. So a meeting of the minds in 1265 Lombardi Avenue resulted in the “big spring of change” during the offseason and the Packers were now new and improved and totally energized to make a serious run for the Super Bowl.

However after seven weeks of games the Packers sitting in second place in the North Division behind da Bears of all teams at 1-1-1. In this short time we have learned that the “big spring of change” was just smoke blown up our collective skirts by the local kiss ass media and the brain trust of the Packers.

Sunday Night Is Football Night at Lambeau Field

The team that takes the field Sunday night against the Bears is a team we haven’t seen since ever. The offensive skill starters hardly played in the preseason, which is no surprise because Coach Mike McCarthy does that every year since Jordy Nelson was hurt in the second preseason game three years ago and pretty much before that, but it's worse now.

The Packers are notorious slow starters at the beginning of the season and I think that is a direct cause of this practice. So come Sunday night Aaron Rodgers will be under center Corey Linsley. Justin McCray is the new right guard replacing Jahri Evans. Lane Taylor missed most of the preseason and returns at left guard. David Bakhtiari is back at left tackle and Bryan Bulaga returns at right tackle after missing the last eight games of the season on injured reserve for the third time in his 8-year career and second because of knee surgery. The first was a hip fracture.

Déjà vu and Other Observations

The 2018 new look Green Bay Packers opened the season with a 31-17 win over the Tennessee Titans at LAMMMMMMbeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I watched the entire game except for 8 minutes in the second quarter when my stream froze up. But to me the new look Packers looked a whole lot like the old look Packers.

I was anxious to see how the Packers looked because all the press reports from the local kiss ass media was so positive I was almost in diabetic shock from the sweetness. But I have to admit a couple of the things the LDAM has been saying turned out to be true, but only a few.

My FIRST IMPRESSION was the Packers were playing like it was 2017. The Packers kick off and it seemed they were sleepwalking on the kickoff coverage team letting the Titans return the kickoff for over 30 yards. Then the Mike Pettrine super aggressive defense and not the old Dom Capers no pass rush, let them complete 3rd down passes down the middle and let them score so the Packers are behind, but I didn’t see that. What I saw was Déjà vu all over again when the Titans marched down the field and scored.