These are very strange times for the Green Bay Packers and their fans.
In a span of several weeks, the team has gone from riding high on a four game winning streak and sitting on top of the NFC North to losing two games at Lambeau Field in six days, falling out of first place, and reeling from injuries.
Aaron Rodgers, the face of the franchise, and his broken collarbone are only a part of what is wrong with the team right now.
Clay Matthews returned to action (club and all) and was essentially invisible against the Eagles.
Mason Crosby returned to his 2012 form missing 2 of his 4 field goal opportunities.
The defense as a whole has been humiliated over the past two weeks. Their once vaunted rush defense falling from third in the league to twelfth, their pass defense suffering from a seemingly lack of anyone capable of playing safety at the NFL level.
Aside from a few flash plays, the pass rush has disappeared.
Takeaways, once the key to the success of the defense, are non existent. (3 for the entire season)
And to make matters worse, Johnny Jolly, Don Barclay, Nick Perry, Evan Dietrich Smith and Casey Hayward are all dealing with new injuries which might affect them going forward.
The Packers season is on the brink of going free fall into the abyss, something not seen since 2008, and we want to know how you would handle it.
In this scenario we are going to hand the keys to 1265 Lombardi over to all of you, and put you in charge of the Packers for the rest of the season.
This is your team. Anything goes. Hire anyone you want. Fire anyone you want. Sign players. Release players. You are in charge, and we want to know how you will steer the direction of the team for the rest of the season.
In the comment section below, leave the changes (if any) you would make as the leader of the Pack. Everyone has an opinion about what they would do, and we want to hear from you!
Here are the keys to 1265 Lombardi Ave.
It’s your team now. What are you going to do now that you are in charge?
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John Rehor is a writer at PackersTalk.com.
He can also be heard as one of the Co-Hosts of Cheesehead Radio. ---------------------
4 responses to “Here Are the Keys To 1265 Lombardi Ave”
I would fire Capers. I have defended him for years it seems, but giving up 9 minute drives to end consecutive games is too far. I would give a look at San Francisco’s positional coaches or Romeo Crennel–keeping the 3-4 front that we finally have the personnel for. Safety is an obvious need. Clinton-Dix could be in our draft range depending on how the season finishes. Its too early to give up on the playoffs, but I can foresee a few scenarios where we land in the middle of the draft. All in all, this team is injury ridden right now to the point that it is hard to judge positional needs and depth. I trust Ted and Mike (on offense) but the defense needs a boost schematically.
McCarthy must go! he allows issues to fester until they become a crisis, then goes into full-out “clean-up” mode. How about rwactinga little quicker and not being so loyal to under-performing players?
I’m not sure there is much that can be done to save the season if the Packers lose 2 of the next 3 games with Tolzien at QB.
The first thing I would do is sign Kerry Rhodes. The Packers are in desperate need of safety help, and Rhodes would be a huge upgrade. I would hope the Packers as an organization, and their fans would be able to get past any of the rumors surrounding Rhodes sexual orientation.
I don’t think I would make any changes to the coaching staff this year, but I would have to consider changes to the secondary coaching staff and possibly firing Capers next year, if this defense does not get turned around.
I would also use a couple of high/mid round picks on another outside linebacker(s). That position is such a key to a 3-4 defense, and in 5 years since switching to a 3-4, besides Matthews and Perry, Thompson has used nothing but late round picks and undrafted free agents at the position.
I would trust in the process that has been put in place and has made this one of the best teams in the NFL in the past 1/2 decade. Overreacting to short term issues is one of the surest ways to make long term mistakes.
I trust that if changes need to be made they will be made, but given the injury situation I’m not sure any level of change will actually solve this season. It may well just be that this is a lost year, and those happen from time to time for every single team out there.
If this is a lost year, then I have all the faith in the world that they’ll make the proper adjustments and change personnel where needed to have success again in 2014. There are still many talented players on this team and I’m sure they’ll be right back in it again next year. This is a really well run organization and I don’t see any need to panic.