"One of the worst fourth and inches play calls to have ever graced the game of American football."

Have to agree Al. Short yardage demands a straight ahead play with a big back and your best O-linemen, preferably on a quick snap count. Running sideways when the other guy is sending everyone to penetrate and disrupt is the height of idiocy. LaFleur and Company have sometimes shown a unique ability to be spectacularly stupid.

All three of your plays are about moving the chains, something the Packers have not been good at. Simple plays that get you a few yards without great risk. I don't know if it is LaFleur or Rodgers or both that seem to make this offense too complicated, but you would think they would study opponent's film and see these useful, quick chain movers and copy them. Not every play has to be a downfield hero shot.

For an offensive guru coach and a HOF QB, these two seem to make it harder than it needs to be.

Physics. It takes mass to move mass. I never met a coach who didn't have a one yard play. That's the one you start working on the first day. In my case, it was the 24 blast, with the lead blocker going over the 4 hole, followed by my RB, and then my TE pulling around to push the pile. If you can't run one play for one yard, you probably aren't going to win very many games.

Chill Alaska: At least if they were going to run that play you would think they would have accounted for the linebacker, who seems to know what's coming before Rodgers even hands the ball off. There was a good article a few weeks ago about the Packers showing the same tape over....

The other two: Goff and his coaches know when to don their game manager caps and just get the job done. We don't have game manager hats; or if we do, they won't fit on Rodgers' head.

Al,

Thanks for these. This year, you've not shied away from the dysfunction that has been the GBP Org all year, as exemplified by dumbassery on Sundays.

I said before the season in the fan polls that "It's going to be very hard for me to root for this team, as I firmly believe it is not set up for success." I wrote a lot more, including that I was going to mostly be a lurker on the CHTV boards, as I didn't want to bring others down.

WELP. Turns out, I was right. Merging an old and expensive/powerful #12 with a young team WAS a bad idea. WHODATHUNK!!!

I ranted the following on NFCN Pub (Facebook group) yesterday. Thought it might be relevant here.
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First of all, congrats to the Lions. You kicked our asses. You were the better team all night.

That said, I'm not even mad GB lost. Ya'll know I expected this team to "top out" at 11 wins and lose in the playoffs. So they were a bit more dysfunctional (and the Vikings more lucky) in a slightly better than I imagined NFCN.

In general, I like to see justice done. I'm a Packers die-hard, but it is a fact that the Packers front office had nauseating hubris to think they could give so much money and power to an aging, self centered, D-Hole and expect him to help grow the young guys on the roster. ESPECIALLY when they had the QB they invested in the draft for, needing experience AND they would have had a HAUL of picks to deal the old guy! SHEER IDIOCY!!!

You can either rebuild, or go all in. Not both. And they paid the price.

The Packers, top to bottom, utterly deserved this shit-storm of a year. And they will be paying the price for the next few years. It might very well cause an entire house cleaning after a shitty 2023-2024 seasons. Good. They deserve it. Especially the two central characters: The QB and Mark Murphy.

As Always: Go Pack Go. Even when it means cheering that dumb decisions get held up for all to see. Moving on to 2023. Hopefully with a new QB when the current one retires.

As a Canadian I also watch quite a bit of CFL Football. What I find interesting is how some teams in the CFL use their back-up (often if they are a better running QB) QB on short yardage plays where a sneak may happen. Perhaps that is something this team should have considered as we have made it abundantly clear that Aaron is not sneaking the ball forward. To put in Love would have given the Defense another threat they now would have to be concerned about.

All that being said we get too cute. This game reminded me so much of the debacle against Seattle where we did everything in our power not to step on their throat when we had the chance. Settling for 3 and key mistakes gave a team a chance that could have been knocked out of contention. Credit to Detroit for playing with heart and making the smart decisions/plays when required.

“It's so simple the Packers would never think of it. Their approach in potential game-deciding moments is trying a low-percentage deep shot.”

Is it “the Packers”? We’ll never really know, because both McCarthy and LaFleur are too classy to throw Rodgers under the bus by publicly saying, “We called a simple move-the-chains play, but the man throwing the ball chose to go for a kill shot.” But that stupid tendency predates the LaFleur era, so I have a hard time believing two coaches are that dumb.

This more than anything else is why I believe Rodgers will (mostly likely) retire with only one ring. Every tragic hero in classical literature is brought down by his fatal flaw, and for most of them, it’s hubris: pride, combined with arrogance and overconfidence.

Well, the secondary just sits there watching the QB while the intended receiver catches the ball and asks the Packers if they need salt for their popcorn.

Al, great as usual. The most telling issue with this team is "The Dagger" clip. Right at the start you see the Head Cheerleader at his best - arms flapping. For the past 2 years, I've tired to figure this guy out, unable to I called upon a higher power. WWLD - What Would Lombardi Do? I know Vincent T. Lombardi would have been coaching, not flapping his wings. Changes need to be made immediately. GPG!

Chill Alaska should've been called Major Fuckup.

Al, thank you for your 3 play choices. It maybe made you go hmmmmm, but I was looking in that 4 & 1 Packers play and couldn't believe what play was chosen.

My first doubt on hire MLF came when I heard that he accepted request from Mark Murphy to keep Pettine for another year. OK, he accepted. But when you are coming to new organization and need to install your culture, way of playing (working), and get the respect of the team as HC, you should insist on your coaching team. Basically, he accepted to come as addition, not as one who should be at helm. It is not that he must change every coach on the team, but at least talk to them before you decide to keep them and not to bring your prefered coaches.

Second, when I thought he showed he is HC was when he sent Mason Crosby to field FG 6 minutes before the end of NFCCG 2021. ACR reacted furiously on that decision and got MLF to explain why he did that and, what is out of my mind, appologize ACR for that decision. Through postseason ACR ridiculous that decision at every possible situation, even on Jeopardy. I'm convinced MLF came with logical decision to cut the lead to 5 points taking in consideration 2 things - 1. how good was Packers D through the whole 2nd half, expecting to take the possession back on time and 2. after 3 futile try from Aaron Rodgers in the end zone (targeting only DA) give another chance to win the game purely with TD (no need to convert 2 points to equal the game).

After that MLF lost all respect from the locker room. He went into complete submissive position to ACR.

All those 4 years convinced me that MLF is not material for HC, maybe for OC when he has true HC over him. For me, with exception of Rich Bisaccia all Packers coaching staff are at least one step above their capabilities. By Peter's principle everybody promote till he/she reach the level of incompetency. And unfortunately, Packers are in that position that complete coaching staff are at that level of incompetency, plus they are abused by ACR who got the right to have the last word on lot of things that no dobt lead to undermine HC authority.

I'm affraid that Packers will not be able to find HC of Campbell caliber, because I'm sure those kind of coaches will not accept the job under the circumstances where they have not the last word in their field of work.

Until Packers change the existing structure build by Mark Murphy, they will got low level HC and coaching staff. Also, what I learned about Jim Leonhard more I think he refuse the Packers offer, because it would be in collision with his authority on team.

Chill Alaska, run the slowest WR on the play, not Watson. I am still shaking my head at both choice of play and player chosen!

Chill Alaska is a microcosm of the offensive wizardry we’ve been treated to all season. A season where rookies showing promise never see the field or not for long stretches as 3 rd or 4th options. A recipe to ensure lack of rhythm, confidence or growth. A season revolving around a design heavily reliant on Cobb, Lazard and Watson plus the odd deep shot to Watson. Lack of speed kills. Lack of speed in others gets Watson killed. Those three seldom got open and rarely made a threat play, almost all that they did make were by Lazard, who is a 3/4 at best.

There was little use of TEs and almost no change in the ambition it design all year, a year in which we saw Dillon running out of the shotgun Continuously and presumably tricking opponents by not using his power north and south. That’s when we got the run game going in the second half of the season (an innovation to be sure). When we didn’t get the run game going, we lost mostly.

If this is the product of an offensive genius I will pass. No, it’s not all on Rodgers, LaFleur calls the plays and thus routes and sends out personnel. LaFleur needs to go before we have a good offense, let alone a good team culture. How much more does it take to open eyes to the depth and breath of his flailing and failing. Yes, he’s keeping Barry. Of course he is. And we will keep him because Murphy is no better.

The good news Al your going to have consistency next year because LeFluer is bring Joe Barry back so your consistently going to see crap plays like this all season long. Why would our guys just stand there and watch the receiver go in between them. They never moved. they just fn stood there and watched it happen. Lazy bastards is what they are.
This is not and never was an aggressive in the receivers face defense.
Next year is already fucked and I dont care who you draft.

At only about 5-feet-10-inches in height and with truly limited athletic ability, I barely made the basketball team as a senior in high school (1979-1980) and barely played -- scoring 44 points the whole season, about half in garbage time, the rest in meaningful minutes.
In my intermittent moments on the court, I was so scared in my few free throw attempts of shooting an air ball -- to my adolescent shame -- that I had to keep things really simple based on repetitive practice.
It wasn't like in the driveway, or even at practice, but in front of family and friends and faculty in the confines of a cozy gymnasium.
When taking a foul shot, at ordinary practice as in the pressure of games, I didn't bounce the ball at all beforehand lest I fumble it in nervousness. I tried to place my feet at the exact same spot on the foul line every time, with the exact same shooting motion kept compact to limit variations in form during the excitement of the moment.
I only had about a half-dozen free throws the whole season, but I made just about all of them -- to my relief, most of all. I had a very modest (but enthusiastic) run in school sports, which was near to coming to an end at age 17, and I wanted to seize any tiny opportunities to make good.
***
When college football coach Mike Leach died sadly young a month or so ago, he had a reputation wherever he went as an innovator of a high-flying offense; yet, I think I also read that he didn't have all that many different plays, but emphasized running a somewhat limited list very well.
Vince Lombardi, as I understand it, was also like that with the Packers, albeit with less flash -- not a plenitude of plays but a select few practiced to almost perfection (perhaps with variations on any particular play).
That way, when a team is in tense situations in huge games, exhausted, and amidst the commotion of a roaring stadium before a national television audience, everyone knows what to do through simplicity and repetition, eleven players in honed coordination.
***
Also, with Lombardi and Bart Starr, the head coach and quarterback, there was almost complete harmony and perfect synch, a symbiosis that resounded throughout the whole team.
So it is that in the final drive of the Ice Bowl, on the last day of 1967, in the final season of Lombardi, with the Packers older and creakier and more vulnerable to the upstart Cowboys, they also had the benefit of nine seasons of camaraderie and cohesion.
With some four minutes and 68 yards to go in almost unbearable frigidity on a literally frozen tundra -- and with the offense having been dominated to minus-9 yards and no points thus far in the second half -- it looked incredibly bleak.
Then, with less than 20 seconds to go and a yard from the end zone, before the play that would win or lose the great game, Starr went to the sidelines on a timeout to confer with Lombardi.
The quarterback said it seemed too treacherously slippery for a third handoff at the goal line to power it in for a touchdown, but he thought he could shuffle his feet on a sneak to maneuver his way across and in for the triumphant score.
The head coach -- after years of collaboration with his quarterback, confident in his competency and competitiveness, totally trusting that he wouldn't try to go above or around him to undermine or overrule him -- responded with agreeing words to the effect, "Then let's do it and get the hell out of here."
It was precision teamwork under a masterful coach amongst mindful players who respect and care about each other. It was the culmination of the Lombardi Dynasty, the greatest of teams in NFL history in the greatest game in NFL history.
That's how winning teams are made, with legendary players born to lasting glory.
***
Scoff if you will, but this is what has been missing from the past three season-ending, heartbreaking losses on the home turf of Lambeau Field.
Scorn and ridicule me as lingering with senile foolishness in a bygone age, but "virtue" (derived from the Latin word for "manly") never goes out of style -- that is, for any successful organization, even a thriving nation.
All things merely human tend to dust and destruction. Only divine love channeled through our mortal frailty covers a multitude of sins for enduring accomplishment.
Vince Lombardi, as the epitome of toughness in a coach, actually described the dynamic of sacrificial teamwork in his Packers teams with the word "love."
***
It's the team forged in the still, sweltering heat of July and August that comes out on top in the wintry and suspenseful conditions of January and February.
To put it more lightly, as sung by ABBA, "The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself." We can't duplicate history, but we can strive to adapt and emulate the best of the past so as to bring it into the present.
It may be sneered at as corny and old-fashioned, irrelevant for today, but these are the key lessons unlearned that are the undoing of our modern Packers, to the angst of us as fans.

If it was announced before the (Chill Alaska) play that the Packers were ranked 28th in 4th down conversions with a rating of 38.7% - then it would have been better understood that the play had more chance of failure than success.

Conversely, and equally egregious, was the critical 4th and short down completion by Detroit - because Alexander was playing 5 yards off his man. I can't decide which call was worse - LaFleur's or Barry's.

Chill Alaska did contain Ice Worms.
They're about 1 cm, if you never chilled your drink with glacier ice.
Seeing one in your drink could make anyone Vomit.
Which is about how sick this play made many of us.
But lets face it. The Power sweeps are a thing of the past.
And why we keep trying to turn Wrs into RBs, has me thinking WTF.
First Montgomery and Now Lazard.
The Fumble by Jones, surely had longer effects than we realized.
I know if TT was still the GM. He would never have put up with fumbles.
But this play reeks of an offense too difficult, and confidence in the wrong personal.

My 3 plays
The 4th and inches…you run Dillon… nothing cute

Masons 53 yard doink…you punt the fkng ball and pin em back deep and make them go the distance, instead by missing you give em the ball at midfield.

The 2 above are just strictly coaching…there’s no way around that.

And finally…red zone, all year it’s been an issue and yet it wasn’t emphasized

The Chill Alaska and the 2 defensive plays are perfect examples of why the Packers cannot win with the current coaching staff.

Regardless of who the QB is that Chill Alaska call by MLF, now MLC (Matt LaChooch) is just a stupid call. 1st call QB sneak. Second call hand off to Dillon led by Deguara. (Wy did we draft those 2 guys except for times like that. Third call play action play similar to the play that the Lions ended the game with. If MLC is an offensive genius then I'm a NASA astronaut who will be captain of the manned trip to Mars.

On the 4th and 1 play completed by the Lions why is Alexander 5 yards off the LOS??? Barry any answers. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Game ending play by the Lions. Nothing fancy, just a basic curl to a vacated space. No Chill Alaska or some other stupid play. Of course if Walker had not been stupid enough to get himself ejected maybe he could have made a play. And why aren't DLs coached to get their hands up. Coaching??? Fundamentals anyone.

Yet here is MLC claiming after the game that he wants Rodgers back for 2023 which means to me that he is fine with the way Rodgers runs the offense. OK more Chill Alaska for 2023. Great! Then he says that he wants Barry back as DC in 2023!?!?!? To me that is the ultimate WTF!!! I'm sure that our defensive players were thrilled to hear that. They have another season. of stupidity to look forward to with no sense urgency again.

At the least MLC should say "We're going to review everything and make the necessary decisions to improve the team and return to the playoffs. But to commit to Rodgers and Barry !!! Madness, madness!!! So much for accountability.

I've supported Rodgers through thick and thin but I hope that he decides to retire. First it is time, second for his physical health and third for own mental welfare. Why would he want to put up with the alleged offensive genius HC who can't even draw up a 4th down play. Let's not forget that the Packers should have punted in the first place and not give an easy 3 points to the Lions. Then the brilliant kick a brick 53 yard FG in sub freezing weather. Either go for it with either a run play or quick pass and hope the ball carrier makes a play or again punt the ball and pin the Lions deep. NO!!! Let's kick the brick and give the Lions great field position again. Any legitimate reason why Matt LaChooch still has his job today??? Ah yes, we don't hold anyone accountable for anything in Green Bay. We're good, no problem. Let's draft more defense in April. Our offense is good as it is since we're going to bring back Rodgers and expect him to carry the team one more time.

We're getting the band back together for 2023. Anyone see a problem with that??? Thanks, Since '61

Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic

Problems on offense. Problems on defense. Problems on special teams.

Obviously, not just the QB.

Anxious to get the the future. Watch the Bears. That's likely our immediate future after next season... at least for a season or two... hopefully not more.