The Four Agreements From Week 14 (BYE WEEK!)

Your bald and important host is back after a much-needed bye week, ready to lard your brain with more forced puns, ill-conceived pop culture references, and overwrought cliches.  And, Packers talk, too!

Several years back, I read a story about a Japanese soldier named Hiroo Onoda.  Mr. Onoda served as an intelligence officer for the Japanese army in the second World War.  This tale was of particular interest specifically because Onoda was never alerted that the war had ended, and continued to man his post until March of 1974, nearly three decades after the conflict had ceased.  For 30 years, Onoda kept gathering intel, sneaking through jungles, and sleeping in abandoned army lean-tos, fighting for a side that had surrendered decades earlier.  Finally, years after the final battle of World War 2 had been waged, Onoda's family found him hiding in a jungle, and, after weeks of discussion, Onoda finally accepted the fact that his war was over, and returned home to a civilian life that had long forgotten him.  Can you even imagine?  Fighting a war you cannot win?  More importantly, can you think of a more apt description for this 2022 Green Bay Packers season?

This week, in lieu of the bye, and, in part in service to the dearth of harvestable content spewing forth from 1265 Lombardi Avenue over the last two weeks, I thought we would scrap our regularly scheduled broadcast, and indulge in a little self-scouting, and see if we can't scrounge up four agreements to diagnose exactly what the hell happened to this promising Green Bay Packers team over the last four months, and try to convince them that their fight is finally over.

  • Agreement #1--Paying For Past Performance Is A Fool's Gamble

Look around the dance floor at the next wedding you attend, and pay special mind to the songs that get the most asses, no matter how flabby and unpresentable, shaking like Michael J. Fox after three shots of espresso.  You know these songs.  Party Rock Anthem.  Who Let The Dogs Out.  Old Town Road.  YMCA.  The freaking Macarena.  With over 100 years of recorded audio at our fingertips, and this is the best we can offer people to shimmy to after they have had three too many Bud Lights?  Quick--Who sings the Macarena?  Still thinking?  I will give you a second.  While you ponder that, maybe you can name me the artist responsible for Who Let The Dogs Out.  Bueller?  Bueller?  You don't know, do you?  Of course you don't.  NOBODY DOES.  

It's because these songs are one-hit wonders.  Fragments of the cultural zeitgeist stuck in our subconscious like stickers in your flip-flop in early August.  Blips of joy that exist only in the jetstream of sepia-toned memories.  Are these songs good?  Absolutely not.  Are they catchy?  Well, they once were.  Do you know every gall-danged word to them?  Unfortunately, yes.  

We have one-hit wonders in football, too.  Guys who enter our lives for but a fleeting moment, imprinting our memories with smile-inducing glimpses of past glories, forever coated in the amber-colored ejaculate left behind by Father Time.  Remember Rasul Douglas' interception against Arizona in Week Eight last year?  Close your eyes and picture it.  I bet you can remember where you were when you were watching that game.  What is that interception now, but the Green Bay Packer's version of Tubthumping?  And, who could forget the swell of pride felt when career journeyman DeVondre Campbell was voted to the All-Pro first team this past January?  Makes you a little misty, right?  Is that the New Radical's "You Get What You Give" playing in the background?  And, what about Robert Tonyan's orgasmic red zone dominance during that stupid covid season in 2020?  Somebody should make a superclip of all 11 of Bobby's touchdowns that season, and soundtrack it with Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy".

Brian Gutekunst has done a lot of things right in his time as the Packer's GM.  Scrawling out fat checks to vagabonds after an outlier season of top-shelf play--that's not one of them.  And the worst part is that he has done this time and time again.  You would think he would have learned his lesson by now.  If Gutekunst was a record producer in 1982, he would have been falling over himself to ink Men Without Hats to a multi-record contract.  DeVondre Campbell.  Rasul Douglas.  Robert Tonyan.  Darnell Savage.  It just wasn't that damn hard to see the regression coming for any of these players.  This isn't major league baseball in the late nineties--in the NFL, if a player comes out of nowhere to have a great season, it's usually for one reason, and one reason only--and it doesn't have anything to do with the cream and the clear.  Money.  Simple as that.  Money is a hell of a motivator.  

This season is a mess for a number of reasons, but one of the bigger factors has been the shaky (I am being charitable here) performance of these four individuals.  Guys who each inked large contracts in the last 12 months.  Guys who were absolutely destined to revert to the mean at some point.  I get the sticky situation Gutekunst found himself in last offseason--chasing a title with a team that was built on projection instead of performance, hope instead of reason.   Ignoring logic to lust after past performance is just Tainted Love.

  • Agreement #2--The Packers Culture Needs A Few More Coats of Lacquer

Did you know that Matt LaFleur and New York Jet's head coach (and fellow bald and important man) Robert Saleh are best friends?  It's true.  The two coaches met when they were both working as graduate assistants at Central Michigan Unviersity in 2004.  Matt served as Robert's best man at his wedding.  Saleh was the fellow responsible for getting Matt his first job in the NFL, with the Houston Texans in 2008.  They have described their relationship as "like brothers".  Hell, Saleh even has Matt's little brother, Mike, on his New York Jets staff.  These two talk about each other like Aaron Rodgers talks about ayahuasca.  Or, how I talk about Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  It's almost nauseating.  Which made Robert Saleh's press conference after the Packers-Jets game six weeks ago all the more jaw-dropping.

In the smoldering wreckage of a 27-10 beat down by Saleh's Jets, a team captained by human punching bag Zach Wilson, on the hallowed ground of Lambeau Field, no less, Robert Saleh took the the mic, and for 2 minutes and 6 seconds described, in gory detail, how soft the Green Bay Packers were.  Not just soft, though.  Saleh spent 2 minutes and 6 seconds alerting the football world to the fact that this Green Bay team had no backbone.  No fight.  In his words--"we knew if we punched them, they would back down".  He said this in front of cameras.  In front of media.  In front of God.  And, in front of Matt's own brother.  In roughly the same time it would take you to listen to The Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop", Robert Saleh essentially gave his best friend in the world a Stone Cold Stunner, and followed it up with two middle fingers for good measure.  The worst part--He wasn't wrong.

We have spoken about this week after week--this team IS soft..  I went back and watched a few games over the bye to remind myself how we got to this position we find ourselves in--you know what I found?  How remarkably similar these losses have been, especially to decent teams.  Get down by double digits early thanks to your leaky-ass defense.  Offense stalls a few times, usually off track thanks to some ill-conceived deep shots.  Get on track coming out of half-time.  Mount a mini comeback as the opposing team is half-asleep.  Not having the huevos to finish the comeback.  Give up a late back-breaking touchdown.  Rinse.  Repeat.  Washington.   Buffalo.  Tennessee.  Philadelphia.  And, the previously mentioned Jets debacle.  It's like a copy of a copy.  Week after week.  The Packers taking the gentlemen's reprieve, over and over being relegated to the Friend Zone by that fickle seductress known as winning.  

Aside from cap management and talent erosion, this is the largest issue facing this Packers organization moving forward.  Matt LaFleur is not well-versed in rough trade.  When the going gets tough, Matt is off getting his eyebrows sculpted.  His continual excuses for dipshits like Joe Barry, his inability to reign in his star QB, and his mounting hiring failures, belie a culture that might be worse than toxic--a culture spoiled by apathy.  Matt had a great record coming into 2022.  He also built that record on the efforts of a back-to-back MVP QB, the league's best wide receiver, two stud running backs, and a world-class offensive line.  Matt has proven his race car can run like a deer when he is leading the pack.  This year he hit some lap traffic, and he is handling it about as well as my mom handles driving in the snow.  

I have mentioned this before.  Many, many times before.  But, it doesn't make it any less true.  You don't see a lot of handsome MMA fighters.  Not a lot of potential movie stars running welding arcs.  Wrigging crane companies aren't losing operators left and right to the lucrative world of male modeling.  Handsome people exist for two reasons--to keep Instagram in business, and to mate with other great-looking people and create more ridiculous-looking people who are inherently soft.  Nobody is rushing to follow Andy Reid's Instagram account.  Nick Siriani isn't launching an Only Fans page anytime soon.  They also aren't planning vacations for the second week of January.  Sometimes it pays to be ugly.

  • Agreement #3--Football, like life, is all about timing.

​​​​​​​As a child of the 90's, I grew up with two obsessions--hip-hop and basketball sneakers.  I was raised in a particularly doughy loaf of white bread about 15 minutes due north of Salt Lake City.  Rap music and the NBA were a portal to a world I had only experienced in movies that I had to record off HBO while my parents were sleeping.  Most teenagers have an edge to them, a prickliness at the core--I was about as edgy as a cue ball.  Hip-hop gave me a sense of jaggedness.

This love affair with hip-hop and sneakers carried forth with me over the ensuing two decades.  And, if you were a lover of hip hop and sneakers in the early aughts, that meant one thing--you were a Kanye West fan.  And, for most of the last 20 years, Kanye West was my David Koresh.  

As all sneaker fans know, and most other people may be aware, Kanye West left Nike for Adidas in 2013 and created a billion-dollar empire called Yeezy Supply solely built on the collective dual obsessions of millions of other doughy dudes from similarly doughy white bread loaves all across  the country, just like me.  Chasing down his Adidas sneakers in the mid 2010's was about as fruitful as Ponce de Leon's search for the fountain of youth.  Beyond infuriating.  

After years of searching, I finally got my hands on a pair of ridiculously expensive and exceedingly rare Yeezy sneakers in January of 2020.  I don't have to tell you the rest of the story, but, the world shut down, the world reopened, Kanye changed his name to Ye and started making Mike Tyson in the late 90's look rational and well-tempered.  I never got much use out of my Yeezys, and, in March of this year, sold them.  At a loss.

After years of searching for the final offensive puzzle piece to put this Packers offense over the top, and place Green Bay at the front of the line for a shiny new Lombardi Trophy, the Packers front office finally struck gold in this past April's draft.  Hell, they didn't just hit gold--they hit a Jed Clampett-amount of Texas Tea.  Christian Watson--the prince who was promised.  The chosen one.  The answer to the question, "what would happen if a cheetah mated with a skyscraper".  And, he came to town exactly one month after Davante Adams U-Haul turned right on I-41.  

Close your eyes, Packer fans, and just picture this offense with Davante Adams and Christian Watson.  It's true, Aaron Rodgers has been dealing with a hand injury all year--it has been a constant source of frustration, no doubt.  The injury has certainly affected his velocity, as well as his world-famous accuracy.  With Adams and Watson, Rodgers could have his hand chewed off by a rabid ocelot and would still easily be leading the NFL in TD'S and QB rating playing left-handed.  It staggers the imagination.  

This isn't the first time this has happened to the Packers, either.  This situation is eerily similar to the one our former Hall Of Fame quarterback Bernie Madoff--I mean, Brett Favre went through in 2007.

If you had locked the 1000 smartest football minds in a room for 365 straight days, with the sole intent of crafting the perfect wide receiver for Brett Favre's specific talents (talking football talents, not stealing money from poor people talents), they couldn't have designed someone as tailor-fitted for the job than Jordy Nelson.  And, Nelson got drafted two months after Favre took his football and his camera phone and headed to New Jersey.

In the NFL, as in life, sometimes success or failure boils down to something as simple as timing and luck.  The girl of your dreams hopping off a bus just as you are stepping on.  Getting stuck in traffic on the way to a job interview that could change your entire life's trajectory.  Or finally scoring a badass pair of Yeezy shoes a week before the world shuts down.  Sliding doors.  Cosmic jokes.  

  • Agreement #4--Math is Boring

​​​​​​​I spent a good chunk of this bye week watching football and chuckling.  Why was I chuckling, you ask?  Well, every time the broadcasts I happened to be tuning in to would show a Playoff Scenarios graphic, these images would have Green Bay listed as "IN THE HUNT".  Sure, Green Bay is in this playoff hunt like  I am in the hunt for a date with Sydney Sweeney.  Get foghorning real.  Yes, the Packers are still mathematically eligible for the playoffs.  The word "mathematically" is doing a HELL of a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.  

Sure, if the Washington Whatever The Hell They Are Calling Themselves, the New York Giants, and the Seattle Seahawks lose all their remaining games, and the Packers head down the Yellow Brick Road and convince The Great and Powerful Oz to give them a backbone (and maybe another pass rusher), and they somehow miraculously tear through the rest of their remaining schedule like me tearing through a box of Little Debbie Christmas Cakes, and, at the same time a spotted raven with one green eye and one blue eye lands on the 50-yard line of Lambeau Field at exactly midnight on New Year's Eve, the Packers could earn their way into the playoffs.  

Take the tinfoil hats off, Packers Playoff Truthers.  The playoffs aren't happening.  I get that Christmas is a time for miracles and a season for perpetual hope, but let's be honest with ourselves--the Packers eliminated themselves when they lost to that half-shitty Tennessee Titans team three Thursdays ago.  This team is, in no way, shape, or form, a playoff team.  Let's say that most unlikely of all scenarios comes to fruition and the Packers do make the playoffs, what do they get for their efforts?  Another Justin Jefferson enema?  Nah, I'm good. 

Call me a realist, if you must.  I just think the Packers cannot double down on this piss-poor season by wasting more quality minutes chasing unicorns and flirting with mermaids.  The Packer's priorities for the next month should go as follows.

1. Continue developing Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs.

2. See what you have in Jordan Love, for good and all.  See what type of chemistry he can develop with Doubs and Watson.  Put actual tape together to determine if, indeed, Love has a future with the Packers.  

3. Give Joe Barry a Charms Blow Pop and Rubik's Cube to keep him occupied until you can fire him the minute after the final whistle blows against Detroit on January 8th.  Then, see if you can track down a bunch of those neuralizers from Men in Black and mail one out to every Packers fan worldwide so that we can collectively forget ever having watched a minute of this Joe Barry defense.

4. Trade your third round pick for a box of hair.  Or an old tire.  Or, sell the pick and invest the money you gained from the sell into FTX stock.  

That's it.  This isn't complicated.  This team is not good enough to make the playoffs.  They aren't coached well enough to make the playoffs.  They have too many weird injuries.  Too much baggage.  Let the embers from this season from hell burn out unremarkably, refocus your efforts, and turn the page.  A lot of questions to answer on this team heading into the offseason--no time to waste sitting around thinking about what-ifs.

  • Catching Strays

​​​​​​​Was it just me, or did that Bears-Packers game feel like a insult rap battle between Ned Flanders and Mr. Rogers?

Kirk Herbstreit is the Jeb Bush of NFL commentators

If Bambi's mom was as fast as Christian Watson, she would still be with us today.

Every time something bad happens to me, I have a little mantra that I repeat that turns my frown upside down--"It could be worse--You could be a Bears fan!"

Merry Christmas and GO PACK GO!!!

Tim Preece lives in Utah because he makes poor life decisions.

10 points
 

Comments (43)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
dobber's picture

December 14, 2022 at 06:46 pm

"These two talk about each other like Aaron Rodgers talks about ayahuasca. "

You mean they help each other cope with their fear of death?

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MooPack's picture

December 14, 2022 at 06:53 pm

Unfortunately, all that is going to fall on too many deaf ears.

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PackyCheese500's picture

December 14, 2022 at 07:00 pm

Excellent article, Tim! You write excellent opinions in a most humorous way. From playing Love to firing Joe Barry (and hopefully hiring Jim Leonhard) to the apathetic culture of the MLF Packers to trading the 3rd round pick (probably for a higher draft pick, though), I agree with all your opinions.

Personally, I like Brian Gutekunst, but the signings of Campbell and Douglas were rather short-sighted. However, there were many free agency busts this year that were WAY worse than Douglas and Campbell, who have at least been streaky (J.C. Jackson, Chase Edmonds, Allen Robinson, C.J. Uzomah, Randy Gregory).

"Kirk Herbstreit is the Jeb Bush of NFL commentators" - LOL

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TarynsEyes's picture

December 14, 2022 at 07:14 pm

Agreed.

The desire, of some, to wantonly lose so much for a few more useless victories is astonishing.

The odds of this team doing anything in the playoffs, if they miraculously get in, are worse than Lloyd Christmas' in Dumb and Dumber.

Be a great fan, and cheer and hope the Packers don't screw up the rest of the season. Let's go all in for the o-4 or 1-3 ending.

Play the game, just don't play the game.

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MainePackFan's picture

December 14, 2022 at 07:42 pm

"The desire, of some, to wantonly lose so much for a few more useless victories is astonishing."

Yes. We should all be "Great Fans" and cheer like hell that our team loses for the betterment of our future. You make the assumption that the strategy you promote somehow translates into the outcome you desire. Unfortunately I don't share your optimism.

Go Pack Go!!!

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TarynsEyes's picture

December 14, 2022 at 08:53 pm

I did not say the path I see will be successful, I am saying it will be better than the one they are on now. This is a fork in the road, and one has already been travelled. You would choose to travel the same dead end road than venture the other?

Albert of definition The insanity Einstein by

It's as easy to understand the choice as it should be to make sense of the above.

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MainePackFan's picture

December 15, 2022 at 06:14 am

"I did not say the path I see will be successful, I am saying it will be better than the one they are on now. "

Better in what way? A better team/organization? A better cap situation? A better draft pick? There are no guarantees that either path will be successful.

I trust the FO will do what's best for the overall health of the Packers organization. Time will tell which path they choose. In the meantime, Go Pack Go!!

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BirdDogUni's picture

December 15, 2022 at 12:32 pm

"I trust the FO will do what's best for the overall health of the Packers organization."

They've already screwed that pooch. The overall health of the Packers is Cap Hell...

The organization has little to no choices if AR comes back. We might as well put the FO on a leave of absence, because they won't be making any decision. (AR will though.)

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KnockTheSnotOutOfYou's picture

December 15, 2022 at 10:16 am

I grew up in Old Orchard Beach & Van Buren.

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MainePackFan's picture

December 15, 2022 at 12:05 pm

I live in the Central Maine. Small world :)

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MainePackFan's picture

December 15, 2022 at 12:09 pm

Looks like you had the state covered ; )

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KnockTheSnotOutOfYou's picture

December 15, 2022 at 02:23 pm

LOL.....just one year (8th grade) in Van Buren. Then 10th - 11th & 12th grade in Old Orchard Beach. Dad in military and moved around world quite a bit. Great memories back in Maine and lots of wonderful people.

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MainePackFan's picture

December 15, 2022 at 02:33 pm

High School years at OOB....nice :)

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A New Era's picture

December 15, 2022 at 12:49 am

It goes against every fiber of my being to not root for the Packers to win a game. As an earlier CHTV article suggested, it's a culture thing.

You are correct that it may be more beneficial in the long run for the Packers to tank, but I'd rather cling to the remote playoff hope. Once that is gone (as it almost certainly will be), I still want them to play to win. I don't want the Packers to breed a losing culture.

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KnockTheSnotOutOfYou's picture

December 15, 2022 at 10:23 am

Another,
I can personally say I never want the Packers to intentionally tank/lose. Why are some thinking by playing young talented professionals to give them game experience and to see what we have in them means we want the team to tank? There are often times teams discover the young player out performs the older & sometimes injured veteran. Simply put I believe the Packers can both play younger inexperienced players and still try to win.

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KnockTheSnotOutOfYou's picture

December 15, 2022 at 10:07 am

TE,
Very well expressed.

Tim...loved your writing....very good! Would have been even better without the Kanye West and Yeezy's info though.

Agreement #1 about paying for past performance is a fools errand resonates. I have continuously talked about this to several AR apologists particularly this year. Thus team needs to start focusing on the future as this team is going no where. What do they have in young talent and where should they focus their attention in the draft since they will not be able to use FA?

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Packerpasty's picture

December 14, 2022 at 07:20 pm

DC the lions head coach...watch him, his players love him and fight hard for him..MLF demands little respect from the guys, its obvious...and they are soft, watching other teams fly around and play hard,i'm jealous...

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Hematite's picture

December 15, 2022 at 02:23 pm

I agree.
I live in the U.P. of Michigan in the midst of a lot of Lions fans and those people can't get the smiles off their faces.
I gotta agree with them, it looks like they finally have a good coach.

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MainePackFan's picture

December 14, 2022 at 07:24 pm

Thank you Tim for writing an article. This one was quite long. I know It must take a lot of time to write such an in depth perspective, and you should be commended for your effort. Hopefully you were paid accordingly .

6 points
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jclombardi's picture

December 14, 2022 at 07:47 pm

Tim well done. Yet, Cowherd et al said it all months ago, adding Love boat is a bust. We shall see, but Rodgers will back for another year. Moot. Besides, lunacy is afoot with a management who depended on rookies and old farts to carry the offensive into another playoff year. Old inept conservative pattern who got lucky in this draft, but previous drafts was crucial stinkers. Heading into the distance looking in rear view mirror of fading NFL season and Lambeau field, I add, "Tim you gotta work on those life choices."

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PackyCheese500's picture

December 15, 2022 at 07:16 am

Cowherd is clueless when it comes to the Love situation. James Jones even said they should keep Love.

Rodgers coming back is not a sure thing; it is contractually possible for him to be traded to a team with enough cap space (Jets) and he does not possess a no-trade clause. Gutekunst said it would be an off-season decision in his press conference.

In addition, Rodgers has said that there would have to be mutual interest for him to return to GB. Don’t you think a comment like that would at least suggest some uncertainty about his future? I also read that Rodgers’ contract was intended to be a year-to-year deal to accommodate his uncertain future, hence all the option bonuses.

If we have two QBs, and we have to choose between one, don’t you think it would make the most sense to go with the cheaper, younger, ascending QB rather than the older, declining QB who won’t be around for much longer? I know we don’t have enough of a sample size (which is why we need to see Love play more!) but Love has a better passer rating than Rodgers this season, 119 to 92, approximately.

I actually like what Gutey has done as our GM for the most part. He is the only member of the Packers FO I trust to be reasonable. I wouldn’t call Jaire Alexander, MVS, Rashan Gary, Elgton Jenkins, Jon Runyan, AJ Dillon, Josiah Deguara, or Eric Stokes (yet) busts. He has done better than most GMs in the league. The one decision I really didn’t like was when he chose Josh Myers over Creed Humphrey in 2021

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KnockTheSnotOutOfYou's picture

December 15, 2022 at 10:26 am

Good job Packy!

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Leatherhead's picture

December 14, 2022 at 08:25 pm

I can be at the Alamo in about 20 minutes. Aficianados of the place have their own opinion about fighting a battle you cannot win, and they kind of feel like it's a good thing to fight well even when you're going to lose.

There's a lot of hysteria right now. Packers are going to be fine, we've just had a bad year and we could still finish 9-8 or 8-9.....A few improvements and we'll be right back where we belong. I always think you have to start by winning your division, and we have two losses in the division where we scored 7 and 9 points. Fix that one thing and we're 7-6 right now.

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LeotisHarris's picture

December 14, 2022 at 08:57 pm

John Wayne swore until the day he died that he caught Richard Widmark stealing stuff from the basement of the Alamo when they filmed the movie. Widmark denied it, but both Denver Pyle and Ken Curtis stood with Wayne.

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PackyCheese500's picture

December 15, 2022 at 07:18 am

Yes, but winning in the regular season is a fix that comes easier than winning in the postseason. We still need to fix the latter.

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LeotisHarris's picture

December 14, 2022 at 09:05 pm

I dunno, Tim. I'm no Freudian psychologist, but it seems with the number of below-the-belt/sexual references in these Four Agreements you might benefit from some, ahem, companionship? That said, I'm just gonna slide into this well-oiled tunnel before the Men Without Hat fans darken the door to deliver the bare-bottom spanking you deserve.

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KnockTheSnotOutOfYou's picture

December 15, 2022 at 10:28 am

Leotis....always enjoy your humor! 😊

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fair_weather's picture

December 14, 2022 at 09:06 pm

Agreement #5. Dude needs an editor.

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dcoop's picture

December 14, 2022 at 09:08 pm

Great job Tim. Like many of us on various Packer websites we all read a ton of articles. It is great to read something a little different that incorporates some humor but is still able to address many of the issues associated with the franchise. Keep it up. Enjoy the change of pace.

4 points
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GregC's picture

December 14, 2022 at 09:40 pm

Well, I happen to have a soft spot for Men Without Hats. Not just "Safety Dance," but also "Pop Goes The World." And I think the Packers should keep trying to win until they are mathematically eliminated, because that's what professional football teams do. When they are eliminated, I'll feel more relieved than disappointed, but if I was them, I'd be trying to win, win, win.

I don't think signing players who have had one good season is the problem. Almost everybody on this team is underperforming, including players like Kenny Clark and Adrian Amos, who were money in the bank year after year. The list goes on and on. I blame most of it on bad coaching and bad luck.

The story about the Kanye West sneakers is rough. You might want to see a therapist about that one. I hope it helped in some small way for you to be able to tell all of us about it. Maybe at least that's a start. And it's a good illustration of bad timing, so you got something out of it.

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freddisch's picture

December 14, 2022 at 09:44 pm

Great article.

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A New Era's picture

December 14, 2022 at 11:01 pm

The cheesehead was introduced in 1987 when the Packers had been sucking for decades and became a symbol of the wry and even self-effacing sense of humor of our fan base. We've forgotten that vibe during our glory years since. Thank you Tim for restoring some of that wit and perspective that makes Packer fans so unique and special.

I love your column!!

5 points
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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

December 15, 2022 at 02:49 am

Nice article.

Rasul Douglas is a quality starting perimeter cornerback. He is the 32nd highest paid CB, and isn't overpaid. OTC estimates his 2022 value at $10.5M, and he got $7M AAV with $9M in cash.

Devondre Campbell had a rough start, but overall he also is a quality starting ILB. He is the 10th highest paid ILB in the NFL, but falls to 17th for guaranteed money. That isn't a bad contract. Having shit for a DL in Lowry (bad), Reed (flashes but is less than average) and Clark in front of him as a Mike LB doesn't help.

Robert Tonyan is the 29th highest paid TE. Yeah, that isn't a great deal. Somehow, OTC places Tonyan's 2022 value at $5.1M. He isn't that bad, and $3.75M is not so much money that it moves the needle too far.

The most overpaid players on the team: Kenny Clark, David Bakhtiari (who is still really good when he plays), Adrian Amos, and Dean Lowry. Savage looks like a candidate for most overpaid in 2023, but he has a chance to right the ship, I guess.

7 points
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0
croatpackfan's picture

December 15, 2022 at 03:45 am

TGR, you forget to add ACR to the list of most overpaid players.

6 points
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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

December 15, 2022 at 07:52 am

Touche. He'd have to be a landslide MVP to earn that deal. I don't know what they were thinking.

5 points
5
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croatpackfan's picture

December 15, 2022 at 03:42 am

Nice agreements Tim, especially this one:

"Agreement #1--Paying For Past Performance Is A Fool's Gamble"

Did you intentionally circumvent the Mammoth in the room. There were not bigger mistake than to pay old, washed, injury prone QB all that amount of money, and guaranteed! Does Packers planning future 10 years with ACR? Is ACR real Packers future? Even ACR apologists here claims that he deserved that money for PAST performance. If he did deserve that money for past performance, why there is double standards? You can not pay Douglas, Campbell, Tonyan etc., but you can pay for past arrogant, self-turned person who has no respect for anyone, acting like he invented football and knows everything about football.

Or, you maybe avoid that payment for the past performances just to bypass negative sounds from some/many fans here or what. I would like to know can you remember one franchise that paid that money to one, aged QB and did not sink to the bottom of the league. And do not come back with Denver - they did not pay that much (relatively nor absolutely) to Payton Manning when they won the SB title. After that they are irrelevant team in todays NFL. And stays like that after made similar to Packers, paid ransom money and lot of picks and good players for Wilson. Where are they today?

We agreed about title. Not agreed about content under the title. The largest problem Packers has at the moment - you avoid it with mentioning few more or less irrelevant players in grand scale of things.

You have 3 agreements with me this week, but that 1st one was miss. A huge one...

-2 points
2
4
ThunderFromDownunder's picture

December 19, 2022 at 03:22 am

What about the rams and Stafford ,they won the SB ?

0 points
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nygary's picture

December 15, 2022 at 05:45 am

Great article.

2 points
2
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Boneman's picture

December 15, 2022 at 08:40 am

Hey Tim, great article! I find myself looking forward to your unique style of delivering your Packer perspectives. It's amazing how fickle we are as fans, start losing and we release our inner demons like Sigourney Weavers Alien popping out of her belly. Then again, we barely hold back our angst if the Packers win ugly, don't score enough points, give up too many rush yards, throw deep incomplete passes or pick the wrong dude in the draft. It's what we do. Having been unfortunate enough to have spent the majority of my career in Corporate Management I can see the symptoms of misguided leadership in the way the Packers have succumbed to No. 12's threats and ultimatums. Too often the 'big brass' desires and wishes turn into losing direction and sycophancy. The Packers under Gute have lost their way and it shows up in the performance of the entire organization. For Rogers it was about the money, all the way. When the Packers knuckled under that became the core of what the team is. Like in business, winning in football takes more than playing for a paycheck. To get the best out of people they need to believe in more than money, even if it's a thin veneer. Unfortunately that bubble has burst and will need to be rebuilt and the only true way to do that is through changes at the top. Rogers was right when he said it's "about the people" and the Packers need to get back to treating people fairly with a set of easily defined principals and values. Trying to 'buy' the talent never works.

5 points
5
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T7Steve's picture

December 15, 2022 at 09:01 am

Tim, I liked the article after the first part. I loved the history and I love the Packers. I can't allow that the Packers or their fans rooting for them, can compare to fighting a losing battle in war. That's very disrespectful even to our old enemies. I know it was all in fun, but nothing compares to the people that have to fight in a war (win or lose). God bless them and thank them all.

I forgive you (if I even matter in this case) and put it down to a younger generation. I hope all the veterans feel the same forgiveness.

-1 points
1
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SicSemperTyrannis's picture

December 15, 2022 at 09:04 am

Here's some ideas: MLF hasn't adjusted when nothing they try works. The adjustment to the O line should have been made week 1 by halftime at the latest instead of midseason. 3rd and short is not time to call for a 30 yard pass in a season like this. Yes, I know #9 got a TD like that. Once. Yes, it was exciting to watch. How many drives were ended like that?
Packers have two O lineman that are 6'9" who haven't played a single snap. Bring them in at guard on 3rd and short, give the ball to Quadzilla, and PUSH. Keep doing that then before it stops working make it look like you'll do the same thing but give them the easiest pass protection assignment possible with a 5 yard route to Aaron Jones. Even if you can't keep them on the field for the whole series and march it in for a TD you at least have them on tape and start developing them. The rest of the league combined has what, 2 guys at 6'9" and one of them is Vita Vea?
Coaching has more to do with defensive woes than players too. Agreed DC has to go. AR12's contract means the organization can't afford to dump him but they should still play JL10, although 12 has been effective for the first 2 possessions a few times. Nothing wrong with pulling him after a non-scoring drive then putting him back in if 10 isn't cutting it. Gotta find out.
Couldn't afford to dump Amari Rogers for no value right after the trade deadline expired. We knew he wasn't a returner last year but they just gave up on him as a WR. Gotta develop the depth.

-2 points
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coolhand's picture

December 15, 2022 at 10:33 am

I will give McCarthy credit for not putting up with Favre's nonsense. MLF doesn't have the balls to do that with Rodgers, and it shows. Saleh is right, this team is soft and reflects it's coaching leadership.

And Tim, I'm so sorry you grew up listening to hip hop, uugghhh!

0 points
1
1
Rarescope's picture

December 15, 2022 at 11:26 am

"Remember Rasul Douglas' interception against Arizona in Week Eight last year? Close your eyes and picture it. I bet you can remember where you were when you were watching that game."

I was thinking I should order his jersey - and I did and got one for my Dad too! Now I kinda wish that one of us had gotten a Watson jersey but we both love an underdog story.

4 points
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