Brats & Beer

December 2, 2008
posted under: Packers

Green & Gold punch is a powerful concoction — it must be to have kept Lambeau Field sold out through the 1970s and 80s — but for this season, at least, that elixir’s spell has worn off for me. The loss last Sunday to the Panthers was a little too much and there’s a little too little of the season remaining, so it’s time to be realistic about our Packers team. The playoffs are a long shot at best and a deep post-season run even more so for such an inconsistent squad.

Aaron at Cheesehead TV speaks truth to power on this and makes some good points about what went wrong this year. But I would add that the lack of team identity may have doomed this season from the start. Surely the messy divorce with Brett Favre interrupted that process during the offseason, but even that could have — should have — fostered a sense of “us against the world” in Green Bay, serving as a basis for some kind of personality to emerge. Each week, though, a different team seemed to take the field, sometimes confident like against the Colts but more often timid and unorganized like we’ve seen the past couple weeks. Perhaps Derrick Frost wasn’t the only one who failed to transfer things from the practice field to game day.

But just because I’m being realistic about the Packers chances to make the playoffs doesn’t mean I won’t still root them on the last four games. They have a chance to gain some confidence and start building for next year, not to mention a sweep of the Bears would do the soul some good this holiday season. And just because this year wasn’t as successful as last doesn’t mean we should clean house or make any wholesale changes: I still believe in Ted Thompson’s philosophy of building through the draft and I think Mike McCarthy can coach a winner. They just need to get better at what they’re doing.

Hopefully the failures of this season resonate through the halls at 1265 Lombardi Ave. during the winter and spring and 2009 puts Green Bay back in the winner’s circle.