The 2009 season is in the books and all I can say is…the Combine is in HOW many weeks?

Seriously, this has been, by far, the best year yet here at Cheesehead TV, between our association with Railbird Central and Brian Carriveau forming Cheesehead Nation to bring you Packers-centric coverage of the NFL Draft then beginning our live shows during OTAs and Mini Camp to covering every…single…training camp practice. From our weekly live shows during the season, to bringing Holly Phelps on board for the Other 31, right up to unveiling Packer-World.com for the Super Bowl yesterday, it has been a banner year here at Cheesehead TV.

I just wanted to acknowledge the growing community here at Cheesehead TV and thank each and every one of you for taking the time to check in every day, to let me know when I’m full of it (a daily occurrence) and for being as passionate about the Packers as we are. Without you, this is just a couple of guys and gals yellin’ into the wind. So thanks.

We’ve got lots in store for the upcoming season – Corey is working on both a CHTV redesign and a dedicated Cheesehead Nation site (think kind of like a Facebook for Packer fans. Seriously, it’s awesome.) I’m (hopefully) going to be at the Combine and will definitely be at the draft here in New York, with Mr. Carriveau hopefully joining me in Indy and definitely joining in from Green Bay for the draft. We’ll have the most comprehensive offseason coverage any Cheesehead could ask for, both of the Packers and the NFL. So be sure to check in early and often.

Thanks again. Go Pack Go.

Game starts at 6:00pm CDT. Check out our latest LIVE Blog animation page here.

Please keep in mind that this is a blog and not a chat. Not all comments will get through, especially those that only say something like “Hi” or “Wow.” Also not allowed are any derogatory, obscene or offbeat comments, nor is anything to the effect of “Packers suck.” We get literally sometimes get over 1,000 comments per event. It’s impossible to approve them all. If you are looking for links – please scroll up and you will find the latest.

Join Corey, Holly and I, along with our Cheesehead Nation partner Brian, for the Super Bowl this Sunday where we will be unveiling a brand new technology, developed by Corey and our good friend Wally Pingel, for our Super Bowl live blog and chat. I can’t give away too much, other than to say, having seen it, I can pretty much guarantee it will become the industry standard for covering events, even more so than Cover It Live is at the moment, once Corey and Wally put their finishing touches on it.

Seriously, it’s going to be great fun and will be unlike any other experience offered by any other outlet covering the Super Bowl this weekend. Hope you can join us for some if not all of the day on Sunday.

Setting aside the question of what should be done about Nick Collins’ contract (and yes, even I think the guy deserves a new contract at this point) the bigger question, to me anyway, is what should be done at the strong safety spot across from Collins?

Atari Bigby has been serviceable and has delivered some big-time shots on occasion. But that is hardly what you’re looking for back there. Collins has worked with a clown car-like parade of various levels of talent across the way from him, but what he’s never had is a solid, competent veteran that he can rely on. This is one of those rare instances where I would lobby Thompson to look at the available UFAs. Yes, the pickings are slim. The idea isn’t to bring in a playmaker. The idea is to bring in someone who is assignment sure and who Collins can trust to do their job while he flies around.

Packer fans remember what a difference Eugene Robinson made to LeRoy Butler when Ron Wolf signed him before the 1996 season. Robinson was an 11 year vet at the time who had been to two Pro Bowls a few years earlier but who many thought was on the downside of his career. Wolf saw an experienced player who could help stabilize the defensive backfield and give defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmer the freedom to use Butler any way he wanted to. Much the same thing could really help Capers and Collins.

Sure it would be nice if the Packers could find an in-the-box type of player to compliment Collins’ ballhawking skills. But really, a solid veteran presence would be a boon to a safety position that has seen a lot of bodies file through it without much quality play.

Greg Bedard has not been sitting around twiddling his thumbs down in Mobile.

His piece in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is stuffed with information regarding the Packers’ plan of attack when it comes to their mammoth free agent class. As was reported toward the end of the year, the Packers are talking contract extension with Ryan Pickett, which is, in my view, the absolute right thing to do. Pickett did much better than expected at the nose tackle position, and the fact that his backup, top draft pick B.J. Raji, was less than awe-inspiring when he filled in at the nose, makes getting Pickett back in the fold all the more important. The defense simply operated on a different level when Raji was allowed to rotate in at defensive end and nose. Add in that Pickett reportedly is a fantastic locker room guy, I love that he seems on track to be back, with Bedard writing he could be signed within a few weeks.

In a mild surprise, Bedard also reports that the Packers next move will be to resign Clifton with an eye to trade for or draft a tackle as well. They don’t view Clifton as ‘the answer’ obviously, but as a safeguard, which is fine.  Like I wrote a few weeks ago, you simply can’t count on the guy for a full season but the Packers would do well to protect themselves there.

The surprise comes in the form of the Packers plans in regards to Mark Tauscher. According to Bedard:

…the Packers may make an offer, but it’s almost certain to be on the low side.Thompson said Breno Giacomini, a fifth-round pick in ‘08 who was active for three games his first two seasons, will be expected to compete for the job.

Jesus weepin’ on the Cross, here we go again.

Not content to screw up the 2009 season with Alan Barbre, Thompson seriously intends to trot out Giacomini? The guy is a complete stiff who can’t bend, can’t set the edge and has a first step in pass pro that makes Barbre look like Michael Roos. I mean, it’s just absurd. This reeks of Thompson trying to justify keeping Giacomini around all year, even though with the offensive line falling apart early in the year the coaching staff wouldn’t make him active on game day on a dare.

I’m all for letting guys develop, and we’ve seen guys struggle early before only to watch as they blossomed into quality players. But that’s the thing – we watched them. They were in games. Guys like Mike Whale and Mike Flanagan at least had the natural abilities to get on the field. Giacomini is so obviously not ready for prime time it’s scary.

Lots more in Greg’s piece that you should check out, from the plans for Colledge (see ya Daryn) and Bigby (a true disappointment) to Thompson’s thoughts on Kampman coming back to the Pack (they’ll offer him a contract – I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t sign with a 4-3 team)

Make sure you read it all. Great stuff.

Before the Favre post below devolves into another hundred comments about a completely different subject, I thought I’d give the subject in question its own post:

Who is the greatest quarterback to ever play the game?

For me, the argument begins and ends with Johnny Unitas.

As I said below, he, and all the guys who played before the NFL greatly liberalized the passing rules, operated in a much more difficult offensive environment than his modern counterparts. Unitas called his own plays and was Brett Favre-tough before there was the ESPN-ification of sports to pump up his toughness into some mythical talisman that sears itself into our collective consciousness.

Yes, there are plenty of great ‘modern’ quarterbacks. Montana tops my list there followed closely by Peyton Manning. Of course there are the usual suspects like Elway and Marino. But I also loved watching guys like Dan Fouts and Warren Moon, guys who never get mentioned in these types of conversations, though they should be.

So how ’bout it Cheeshead Nation? What the hell, it’s the offseason. We can go off topic a bit, right? Tell us who your pick is for the Greatest Quarterback Ever and why in the comment section below.

And please note: Anyone answering “Brett Favre” will have their commenting privileges revoked for a year.

Obviously, the part of me that hates Brad Childress felt like a kid on Christmas last night. The Packer fan in me that hates the Vikings was over-the-moon with joy. But as a fan that respects the game of football and the way Brett Favre plays it, I felt, and still feel, a bit numb.

Oh sure, I can dish out the snark. But watching Favre get the crap kicked out of him yesterday reminded me what made me love watching him play in the first place. Say what you want (and of course everyone has and will) – but the guy’s ability to take a beating and get back up is just otherworldly.

Then there was…the pass.

I hate to admit it, but I cheered. I cheered like a girl in the 60’s seeing the Beatles get off the plane. My wife and I high-fived and hugged and hollered to the neighbors. (Most of whom were still in mourning over the Jets game…) And then, not five minutes later, I felt terrible. I felt small and petty. The man deserves more than petty jealousy and childish derision. Sure, Packer fans will point to Favre’s own childish, almost petulant behavior at times over the course of the last 3  or 4 years and say all is fair.

I just don’t feel it.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m thrilled the Vikings aren’t going to the Super Bowl. And I’m appreciative that Vikings fans will have to deal with what we went through at the end of ‘07. And I hope this sends their franchise into a decades long tailspin.

But I also have trouble reveling in the fact that last nights game, and Favre’s final, horrific pass, will, or should, damn Favre in the eyes of NFL history. I mean, you can’t make that pass. You just Can. Not. Yet there he was, zeroing in on his favorite target, Sidney Rice, just as he had done two years earlier when he zeroed in on Donald Driver in the NFC Championship game in Lambeau, despite plenty of other options being available.

But, when it came time to win the game and send his team to the Super Bowl, Favre was Favre.

That decision will no doubt haunt him the rest of his days, joining Lambeau in ‘07 and Philly in ‘03 as three of the dumbest passes ever to be thrown by a one-time league MVP. I mean, you have to call a spade a spade.

Favre choked.

And he’s been choking ever since that final pass to Mark Chumura fell incomplete in Super BowlXXXII. That was 12 years ago. 12 years of nothing but choke jobs. He is who he is and no amount of sugar-coating by the national media, with it’s “He’s just having fun out there” platitudes and “He’s just a warrior” dismissals can change that.

Brett Favre is a great quarterback who should have and could have been so much better.

If it just wasn’t for Brett Favre.

Check out my picks over on The Other 31.