Maybe we should have Doug Petersen or Zimmer tutor MM on how to develop a backup quarterback. I fault MM for having 3-years to prep Hundley and having such an awful showing. What a waste of 3-years.

The biggest thing I've noticed on the Packers these last few seasons is the lack of depth they have at just about every position. Just watching the Eagles yesterday and the depth they have EVERYWHERE made the Packers lack of depth that much more apparent.

The Packers need a whole new right side to the OL, CB, speed WR, TE, and at least 2 pass rushers to make a run IMO. Depending what they do with the contracts of Nelson, Cobb, Bulaga, and perhaps Matthews, will determine how the Packers go about adding those pieces. IMO the Packers could address ALL of those needs in FA and the draft but they'd probably need Nelson, Bulaga, and Cobb all to restructure their contracts. If that happens then the Packers can be more aggressive in Free Agency, something they HAVE to do this year to get them in the position to go back to the SB.

Gutekunst needs to have a GREAT draft this April. The Packers have to be able to not only hit on the picks in the first 4 or 5 rounds, they need to get production from day one from them. As long as Rodgers stays healthy and upright the Packers won't be drafting this high for at least the next 4 or 5 years. THIS IS THE DRAFT which will determine if the Packers can get back to the SB

Side Note...After watching Cory Clements in these playoffs and even during the regular season at times does anyone else wonder WHY Thompson didn't draft him instead of Mays? ....SMH...

If this team could get to an NFC Championship with that defense two years ago and a QB with one leg two years before that, they can't be far away.

Eagles were 7-9 the previous year. No reason our 7-9 club can't get there. I'm a Pettine truther and his impact alone is going to mean a lot.

Philly got there and won with Nick Foles. Nick's defense did him no favors outside of the strip sack fumble and they still won the SB.

Doug Pederson did a heckuva job. That's the one area I'm not confident in. Mike McCarthy will have to be overcome if we're to get back there. He is coaching for his job so maybe that's enough to get us over the hump.

I watched a local Dallas sports anchor call out Jason Garrett last night saying the Eagles did this with their backup QB...there are no more excuses not to win the SB. Gotta believe a lot of teams are feeling that way.

I have doubts about the operation of the Packer front office under the 'restructuring'. Too many cooks and all that. Could I be wrong, yes (I hope I am) but early returns are not encouraging. I'm more worried about the Packer coaching staff and its 'restructuring'. It has become obvious that Mike McCarthy lost confidence and maybe control of his coaching staff this past season. Frankly, McCarthy is too smart and too good a professorial football coach not to see the problems and move to correct them. We need to see how the new setup works before coming to any conclusions. The players the Packers have are good enough to make a deep run in to the playoffs, and maybe with a little luck the Superbowl. It all depends on the structure and the egos of the men running this operation at 1265.

"How Close Are the Packers to a Super Bowl?"

Simply put-
With Rodgers, close.
Without Rodgers, not close.

Rodgers is the ultimate game changer. The difference he makes is huge. We saw it this year. Under Rodgers they were 4-1. And ended up finishing 7-9. Under Rodgers they beat a full strength Seahawks team. Also they beat a strong Cowboys team on the road.

IMO, they are very close with Rodgers. They need some help though.
Offensively they have the RB's, and the OL is good overall. Need to figure out RG and RT, but the left side is as good as anyone's if not better. They need to figure somethings out with their TE's and WR's. Honestly I think they would benefit more from changing their offensive scheme more then anything. Scheme WR's open more then to rely on them winning their one on ones.
Defensively I love the hiring of Pettine. 2 things that I love. 1 - He said the defense will be on the same page. No more confusion. 2- He will have a scheme in place but will adjust to fit the players he has, not who he doesn't have.
The defense has players. Its not a bare cupboard. Clark, Daniels, Mathews, Perry, Martinez, King, Randall, Clinton-Dix, Jones is a good nucleus. They need to add to it for sure. Get a couple of pass rushers and a more of a shutdown CB.

I think this team is really close, but Gutekunst needs to hit on a few Free agents and draft picks!

We are not that far off. Defense needs another shutdown corner, stud pass rusher and one more disruptive big body on the D-line. Offense needs a speed WR and maybe a RT (depending on injury). Add some veteran or quality backup throughout the roster and we should be talented enough.

Several things need to happen: The team needs to stay healthy enough as we get to December. The coaching needs to get these guys playing like a team. The miscommunications on defense can't happen. Play calling on offense needs to modernize so that teams don't know what we are doing. The new coaching staff is in place to make this happen.

Two years (max) to get back to the dance.

With a healthy Rodgers, better defense and home field during the playoffs the Packers have as good a chance as any NFC team. Last night's game was win by Nick Foles, not the Eagles defense. And it's pretty safe to say that Rodgers is better than Foles. If the Packers can get a pass rush and another starting CB and get home field they can get to the SB. Thanks, Since '61

We definitely need to steal Burton away now. I mean a new tight end and backup qb ...seems like a win win lol. Oh ...and happy 33rd bday to me :).

With Rodgers every year is possible. But what I saw last night was a very well called game for the Eagles. Well designed plays, excellent play calling. Collingsworth made note of a run or pass option play. Normal tendencies were to have slant routes. And that is what New England defended. Philly ran fade routes. Completed the pass.

The Pack plays and calling have been stale the past few years. Too vanilla. Perhaps Philbin will make improve this. But we need better play calling and more help on defense.

Remember, this is a losing team without Rodgers. The last few Rodgers statements to me is a challenge to the coaches and to the ownership to really make a run year in year out. With TT, that will never happen.

They need one blue and two red players on defense and a couple reds on offense. Assuming that AR is back to 100% next year.

The Eagles won their Super Bowl because of their coach.

The Packers have won their Super Bowl, and may again, in spite of their coach.

It's not a slam on MM, but just a reflection of his nature. He's not an adventurous, daring character. He's a plodder who values conformity more than creativity. Matching him up against upper echelon coaches just isn't a fair fight, and why the Packers have consistently fared so poorly when they've happened.

Where Pederson and Reich dream up and then have the guts to call The Philly Special on 4th and goal from the 1, MM would either take the FG attempt or call a hand-off to Aaron Ripkowski into the pile for no gain and turnover on downs.

Hiring Joe Philbin just might be the right antidote to MM's inner self.

It's always easy to compare teams and lament on how bad or lack of freaking talent (LOFT) the Packers have, but in reality...they are just a few good players away. On offense they need a TE that can seperate and move down the field. They need a RT and probably a RG to make sure they have depth and starting positions covered. I think RG is on the roster, but not sure about the RT and know their are no more TEs on the roster.

Defense needs another pass rusher/Dlineman that can stop the run and put pressure on the QB. The Packers also need another starting CB. I don't think either of those guys are on the team. So in total....4 guys need to show up on the roster to fill those positions.

The other positions are discussion points and while Green Bay doesn't have the best or fastest RBs or WRs...they are very functional in their scheme.

If we were to use a telescope it may seem miles away. If we were to use a micrometer it may seem a speck away. But in reality, there are too many reasons and occurrences to have a definitive reason/answer.

Many seem to have pinpointed a location to start...the FO. Others believe it to be injuries, depth, caliber of starters ability, scheme, in game adjustment, play calling by MM or the changing by Rodgers or the very obvious waste of time...Hundley. Or did he simply make the others more visible and undeniable and should be thanked for sacrificing his chances going forward however blindly by him.

No matter which, this many disconnects makes for an unsuccessful season and we have been 'unsuccessful' far too long for whatever reason one opts to check the box(s) to why.

Yes, playoffs is not a successful season. Billy Beane said in MoneyBall...if you don't ' WIN ' the last game of the season...Who Gives a Sh#t!......you got to start all over again, you don't start where you lost your last game.....playoffs or not.

Interesting how defense is the part of the team important to win championship!

Those 2 D yesterday allowed together more than 1100 yards and Tom Brady had 505 yards just through air...

Who knows where Eagles would be without their stout and excellent defense...

If you do not notice, Eagles wins because Nick Foles was better receiver than Tom Brady...

OK, now I expect from you, experts, lot of downvotes...

But, whatever you say, this SB showed that no matter how good D is, if you have enough potent O, you'll win all...

Takeaways from yesterday's game, I have a few. First off wish we had Pederson. Amazing what a coach who plays less to lose and more to win and is aggressive at the right times can do. Doubt very much MM calls that play at the end of the 1st half.

As for the second half I don't know if it was that New England was a machine or the Eagles have a sieve of a defense, but they stepped up at the right time. All things that we've seen from our team, unfortunately the latter, the most important thing, rarely.

With all the changes in the front office and coaching staff, add on the improvements needed on that roster and the draft in April, it is too early to predict how close GB is to a SB.

Give Rodgers a top 15 defense , protect him and he will do the rest.

There were a few hand wringer comments about all the needs of GB and the great Eagle Roster, but money is king in the NFL and a lot of that Eagle roster will be in flux next year, they are over the cap and many players will want to be paid. I said all year the Patriot D was poor and it showed last night.

The Eagle pass defense was almost as bad as GB in 2016. The lesson I hope Gute takes from this is he needs a home run in this years draft and judicious use of FA to get the Packers back to the big game.

Something else I do not take anything away from Gang Green, their style of defense (wide 9) makes them susceptible to strong inside running teams but last night they did extremely well and the one thing they hit every ball carrier HARD and allowed no explosive runs. Of course it looked like I was playing CB out there but hats off to the offense last night. I would have loved to have seen the 2016 Packers O against that Patriots crew. Rodgers might have thrown for 750.

I want to see what the Packers have on their practice squad before they go to FA or the draft. Are DeAngelo Yancy or Kofi Amichia worth keeping? Are they being developed? Other players on the practice squad need to be evaluated, too. Let's look that we already have, in house, to see if depth can be found there. I am all for going out into FA to grab proven players. Let's see who we have now, that might contribute to the team.

Anyone who thinks this team is just a healthy Rodgers and a couple players away from contending...

...is insane.

This team faced more athletic rosters nearly every week in 2017. Even Cleveland and Tampa were better, but for those teams' propensity to implode.

Just adding Rodgers and calling this mess competitive is a sure way to get Rodgers injured again while he tries to do too much. It's laughable.

2018 should be a rebuilding year, not a reloading year. Release every expensive player who has no 2019 role, turning a pitiful $21 million cap space with Rodgers looming extension, into a formidable $50-60 milllion cap space for extending Rodgers and all ascending players. Then, draft athleticism everywhere.

Kidding ourselves with this roster is a sure way to get Rodgers injured and waste his final years with inadequate cap space. 2018 is for fast surgery, not dim-witted reloading.

1. A-Rod is not Brady. Brady had No Fear in him at All! Very impressive! Had the offensive line not caved in, and Brady Fumbled. (Well I think the PATs would have won.) Packers: I think the first thing is the RT/RG must be fixed. We have the depth here , but the RT must be more of a stand out. Bulaga must be replaced. Next A-Rod is our QB. Forget the depth here. Sign a veteran here. TE if possible too. The Packers DL is not good enough! I understand we have Clarke and Daniels. But the depth must be improved here. Philly's DL was tired at times. And Brady took advantage of it. When the pass rushers came in, they ran the ball. The lack of depth showed there, and that will show on are packers. If the packers don't draft another DT their stupid. You have to rotate and win the trenches. I think Perry and Mathews are still good. But draft the fastest LB possible. Again the depth stinks here. Finally 1 more DB/ S. Again Speed here. So that leaves RT,DT, LB, S, as your 1st picks. How can we get 4 picks in the first round? We can't! But we could get 2. DB/S and DT. ( If you wait on DT, You won't get an All-Pro.) There are many OL in this draft. And if we rotate properly, this position can wait. Leaving LB. I can't believe we take a LB at #14. But to me the edge rusher later has a better chance than LB. And with most of this group having Question Marks. To me the 2009 draft must be followed after last nights game. Were that close.

The Packers are as close to the SB as any team IMHO!!! We’re spending too much time, again in my opinion, looking at last year’s team and positions where we need to improve. If last year showed us anything at all relevant to team personnel, that we didn’t already know, was just how bad of a QB Brett Hundley is or hopefully (past tense!!!) was!!! Had we been able to field a semi productive QB after AROD went down, we probably wouldn’t even be having this discussion. If our injured players can come back at 100% this year, the SB is very reachable!!! With natural selection and time taken into consideration, we are in the same position as any other team that has a winning record year after year. The thing that really stands out as the only detriment to a successful season is the legacy of TT and the appalling teams he put together after the initial 25 players!!! After that ~ 25, there’s just nothing there worth keeping!!! Just sayin’....

We are a lot closer to the promised land with Philbin. He and Rodgers will be on the same page IMO and MM will say, man these are some nice plays to run. Pettine will get this defense turned around and make the plays that need to be made. Our chances are as good as anyones.

in my opinion they have a much longer way to go,both lines need much improvement (what i mean is they need bigger bodies on both sides of the ball ) it may take a year or two but it will be up to who they draft and who they bring in as a fa

Vegas gives Packers 4th best odds to win super bowl 53. We are always close with a healthy Rodgers. However, until the defense can occationally get off the field on 3rd downs, it's unlikely.