Midway through the day, between practice and the open locker room, midway through Los Angeles Chargers week puts us midway through 2023 for the Green Bay Packers. 3-6 at the peak of the schedule and it well could be a bumpy downhill ride the rest of the way.
Instead of issuing semester grades down the line, how about a collective grade for the entire football class inside 1265?
Would D, as in disaster suffice?
Forget about the term ‘rebuild’ for that’s an annual rite for every NFL team with draft, free agent roster turnover. But this is General Manager Brian Gutekunst’s ‘build’ for 2023. If only for the best laid plans.
He figured even with his hand picked quarterback, there was enough to remain competitive for the playoff appearances, division titles and Super Bowl or bust seasons folks are accustomed to and as he says, “the standard”.
It hasn’t been met because of the never ending tumbling of the foundation, beginning with Chicago when we saw the first and last of David Bakhtiari and the biting hamstring pull for Aaron Jones. Head Coach Matt LaFleur had a devil of time developing and getting his offense to execute game plans for a month. Christian Watson’s lack of an impact hasn’t helped. Still progress has been evident and despite the high pick count for Jordan Love, Gutekunst has witnessed several fine throws, energetic legs and command of his huddle.
The veterans Gutekunst was relying on to pull the rest of the youngsters along kept vanishing, De’Vondre Campbell, Elgton Jenkins went down for a spell, Darnell Savage and Jaire Alexander for a couple of ailments. That’s led to the young leading the young and while they have learned to make plays, they’ve haven’t yet cleared the last important hurdle, learn how to win.
Defensively, the hair pulling run defense is only part of the problem for a unit that has had rotating inside linebackers and had a revolving door in the secondary that spun Rasul Douglas all the way to Buffalo. At practice today, there was no Alexander, Rudy Ford, Darnell Savage or Douglas. That was to supposed to be the quartet, all year.
Even the special teams, for all the spunk Coordinator Rich Bisaccia has brought to that phase, has yielded a touch and allowed an unsightly block, utilizing two, yes, young legs.
There’s no turning back now. How this plays out could set the stage for uncomfortable times throughout 1265 Lombardi Avenue.
This is Gutekunst’s second kick at the cat. His first was swayed by the Aaron Rodgers final chapter as a Packer that only got the franchise close to a shot at a 14th title. The move was made and the die’s still being cast for the next run. The competitiveness of the squad through the daunting three weeks coming with a few other downcast teams awaiting at the end, will tell the GM a lot.
And if this doesn’t work?
Make no mistake, it will be at least through 2024 before we’ll really know if this group will grow toward a franchise standard bearing squad. If it becomes evident with roster development that goal may be unreached for a while, it could set off tremors below the Atrium’s top floor. Consider, President and CEO Mark Murphy will bring down his reign at emeritus age in a couple of years. His legacy will include Super Bowl XLV, Titletown and the 2025 NFL Draft. Money should never be an issue as long as there’s streaming cash for coverage. There can’t be much left to improve on Lambeau Field that would require even the thought of another stock sale. If the focus on the team for Murphy’s successor sees a franchise that hasn’t pulled out of the post Hall of Fame Quarterback days, the contract extensions recently signed by LaFeur and Gutekunst won’t have much time left to consider a new direction.
The four year wash and rinse cycle of coaches through the 1980’s just popped in my head.
While the product has been unsatisfactory so far, with a semester to go, the Packers will hopefully only bottom out in the mosh-pit of the NFL’s lower middle class until the 2024 build begins anew.
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