With the Super Bowl this weekend, this will be my final Hello Wisconsin column of the season. I’ll be moving on to my offseason series (the 50 greatest games of the Favre/Rodgers eras) beginning next week, but for today, it’s time for a bit of reflection and a quick look at this weekend’s championship bout.

Now that the season is a couple weeks in the rearview mirror, it’s a little easier to get a holistic view of everything that transpired this season. 

So before we wrap the season officially, here’s my quick look at what the Green Bay Packers have accomplished this year and where they’re heading next.

It’s hard to see this season as anything other than a success. Coming into the season, I think this team probably had a few realistic goals:

• Determine if Jordan Love is/can be the guy moving forward
• Show positive progress on offense with young players
• Set themselves up for a real run in the near future when they have more experience and salary cap flexibility

Check, check, and check.

As you may remember from my annual fan expectations survey, expectations were lower this year than they’ve ever been in the six-year history of my poll. They were also more spread out than they’ve ever been. Many more people than in previous years predicting win totals in the six or seven range. 

Optimists had the Packers perhaps making the playoffs, which they did. I personally had them winning nine games, making the playoffs, but not winning. So I was pretty darn close.

What I did not predict, however, was the path the season would take. The Packers came out guns blazing in week one against Chicago and made it look easy. It was hard not to get excited after that first game.

But from there, everything got more difficult for a while, before the season began to bottom out in October. The Packers lost multiple easily winnable games. Injuries were piling up. Jordan Love showed promise with his arm talent but simply was not elevating his level of play, and while I never got to the point where I questioned whether he was the Packers’ guy, it certainly wasn’t the obvious “yes” that it became by the end of the year.

Sometime around early November in that Rams/Chargers/Steelers run, everything suddenly started to pick up. It felt like the young receivers finally started to gel with Love and understand their role in the offense. In turn, the game slowed down for Love and he was able to trust his receivers and the plays his coach was calling.

From there, things took off in a hurry. The Packers and Jordan Love fully arrived in front of a national audience on Thanksgiving Day against the Detroit Lions, spanking the would-be division champs in their house in their annual showcase game. In another nationally televised game the following week in what felt like a playoff atmosphere, the Packers thoroughly outplayed the defending champion (and eventual AFC champion) Kansas City Chiefs.

The defense had big swings of play in the last month or two of the season, but for the most part, after the team figured it out in November, Love never really lapsed. He had a tough game in New York and in the fourth quarter against San Francisco, but even including those games/moments he was statistically one of the best quarterbacks, if not the best quarterback, in the game through November, December, and January.

Never could I have ever predicted something like that would happen this year. I felt reasonably confident Love would show signs of being a long-term starter for the team, but absolutely did not expect him to string together weekly MVP performances. 

So where do we go from here?

Really, the sky is the limit. Jordan Love has shown that not only can he be the guy, but he can be a premier player in the league if he continues to be on his current trajectory. In fact, he could have some decent MVP odds heading into 2024.  To know that already after year one is, frankly, insane, and better than what we thought the best case scenario was likely to be with him for this season.

We know also that the young skill players on offense are only going to get better. Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks, Christian Watson, Luke Musgrave, Tucker Kraft, Bo Melton… that’s a hell of a stable of pass catchers to move forward with. If the Packers can hold on to Aaron Jones, this could be the league’s finest offense next year.

Finally, the removal of Joe Barry from the coaching staff opened up a world of possibility for the defense. Simply put, the results Barry got out of his unit were atrocious and indefensible. I have no idea what to expect out of Jeff Hafley, but he and Matt LaFleur sure seem to be assembling a strong staff. It’s just good to see them trying something new and not hamstringing the team’s potential. Any defense led by Barry is essentially guaranteed to be a bottom-tier unit, regardless of talent level.

So if we’re investigating the state of the Packers, I think fans have to be feeling pretty good. Next year we’re back to having real expectations out of this team already. They’re going to be fully capable of contending for a champion. They will have some flexibility to make some moves in free agency. They’ve got a strong complement of draft picks. 

2023 ended up being a whole lot of fun, despite the numerous frustrations along the way. And with the first drama-free offseason in years (knocking on all the wood here) approaching, there’s nothing between now and the 2024 season except a whole lot of anticipation.

Thanks for a great year–and here’s to the next one!

Wisconsin Beer of the Week

I went out to my first fish fry of 2024 this past week, and even with it being before Lent, there was already a big wait for tables at one of our favorite local joints. My family and I braved the wait and I got to enjoy a delicious baked french onion soup followed by a fish fry featuring beer battered cod, potato pancakes, rye, and cole slaw.

And of course, I washed the whole thing down with a tasty local beer.

I was feeling like something malty, so in browsing that part of the menu I came across this one called Comfy Brewhouse by Company Brewing here in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood.

I haven’t had a whole ton of beers by Company. I’ve been to their taphouse once and enjoyed it, and have generally enjoyed the beers I’ve tried from there, but it’s certainly not one in my regular circuit. I’m always eager to try new stuff from local breweries, and this one paired perfectly with the fish fry atmosphere.

There are notes of coffee and caramel within it–it’s a pleasant, lighter, malty beer with just a hint of sweetness that makes it a perfect complement to a fish fry.

We’re almost getting to bock season, which I’m quite excited for. But until then, this is certainly a beer I’d recommend to pair with a fish fry, burger, or other pub style dinner. 

Super Bowl Outlook

So it’s come down to this. One final game of the 2023 NFL season, and it features the teams we probably should have had in this game a season ago. 

I do think this is about the most even matchup we could have gotten out of the final four teams. I don’t see any reason to believe the Ravens wouldn’t have waxed the Niners again, and I don’t like the Lions’ chances against either the Ravens or Chiefs (toss week one out the window, really). 

There’s no doubt that the 49ers are the most talented team in the league. They’re stacked at many key positions, which make them a threat in every single game they play, despite the (incredibly weird) underdog narrative their fans and the team itself have been pushing throughout the postseason.

But in these games, sometimes it’s as few as one or two small advantages that can propel a team over the edge. And in this one, the Chiefs have three.

Quarterback. Coach. Defense. The Chiefs have a significant edge in all three of those areas, and when you can definitively say you’re better in those three areas, I like your chances.

Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce in particular are playing like the Hall of Famers they are this postseason; their connection has been otherworldly. The Chiefs have also had the best second-half defense in the league this year, and especially over the last two months. If the 49ers flail early like they did against Green Bay and Detroit, they’re going to have a much harder time of catching back up.

So despite all of San Francisco’s talent, I’m taking the known commodity with championship experience and several key advantages. 

Give me Kansas City, 27-20.

Last week: 1-1

Season total: 172-111 (60.7%... ehhh, not my greatest season of picks)