Yes, it's all about trajectory. I'd say it's a good start given key injuries, a new DC, adding a decent kicker and bump up at backup QB, a revamped S and LB corp. Where will the S and LB rooms be 2/3 of the way through the season? What if three Safeties becomes a go to? The LB development and a reshuffle that honors Cooper's play seems key. What will happen when the other new LB's start to get more playing time? Will the pass rush resurface? And what about Naomi?

Some times the best articles are short and to the point. This is one of them. Great article. The next 4 weeks will certainly show us what kind of team we want to be come playoff time. The worrying fact is we could potentially miss the playoffs, even with 11 wins if Minnesota and Detroit both win 12 or more games (certainly possible) and another NFC team rises up to take that final wild car spot.

I think this weekend is going to be a very good test for the Packers. The Texans are young like us, and they are talented, like us. They have a very good defense and a top 10 QB with a solid OL.

Thanks, Ken, but I'm gonna need to lean on my friend TK to help me with all them maths. He should be along soon to use his winnowing to cipher out all the goes-in-tos. I'm afraid all the suh-tiss-ticks in sports these days make my slender brain ache. Then, I get angry and want to give Billy Beane a wedgie. I guess I feel like an assistant special teams quality control coordinator without a Microsoft Surface. .

Always appreciate the columns Ken.
Lies, damn lies and statistics... but I'm optomistic about the team too.
1/3 of the way through the season and some real surprises to me:

Positive ones: Xavier has been unbelievably good. Second best rushing team in the league? Wow, more of that please. Tucker Kraft, maybe new favorite player. Myers and Ryan doing better than expected. Back up QB-far exceeded expectations. Leading the league in turnover diff. Best division in football?? Who would have thought that.

Negative ones: Gary really underperforming his contract, most of the time I don't even know he's on the field. Quay, what is he doing out there. Pretty disappointing. Kicker(s), OK, maybe not a surprise but the GM really screwed this one up. (balances out with back up QB).

I think the turnovers may be masking the defense's weaknesses, but I'll take it.
Also, statistically Love isn't living up to his contract. 31st in the league in completion % and middle of the pack in QB rating(s). Those need to improve. Watching him play I would have thought he was doing better compared to the other QBs. Lotta season left and I wouldn't trade him for any other QB in our division.
Go Pack Go!

We've already lost one home game this year and it's really hard to make the playoffs if you can't win on your homefield. IMO, we probably have to win the rest of our home games....Houston, Detroit, Chicago, 49ers, Saints, and Dolphins....if we want to make the playoffs. The road has Detroit, Minnesota, and Chicago and we'll have to win at least one of those, as well as the Jags and the Seahawks, where we could maybe pick up one.

I agree this is going to be a real test this weekend. If we could win, and go to 5-2, and then get a road win against Jacksonville, we'd be 6-2 when we host Detroit. A win there puts us at 7-2, a bye week, and then a date with the Bears. That's a real good position to be in halfway through.

xxx

I did a quick check at the scores of last week's games, and the winning team had 36, 35, 34, 41, 51, 47, 38, 32, and 30. Some games were won by teams scoring less than 30, but you just can't go through the season expecting to hold everybody to 20 or less. These are juggernaut offenses and when they're 'on', it's really hard to hold them under 30. Last week, every team that scored at least 30 was a winner. In the playoffs last year, in 12 out of 13 games, the winning score was at least 24. You've got to be able to execute in the clutch in order to win, and so every game, I'm looking for us to roll on offense. I think/hope we'll be good enough on defense if this team can roll up 30+

Hanner was the first official defensive coordinator (and was really bad at it). I was thinking Phil Bengtson was DC under Lombardi, but he wasn't officially the DC. " Though Hanner is essentially the first in Packers history identified as "defensive coordinator," Bengtson was the clear leader of the defense during the Vince Lombardi..."

Nice article. 11 games left and a lot of unknowns and surprises looming ahead.

Nice thought provoking article. You already mention that the winning record was acquire in part by playing subpar teams.....but then go on to mention that this team is scary good based on some individual (and impressive) stats against those sub par teams. So....it doesn't strengthen the claim that GB is scary or could be scary good yet.
All them stats are not likely to be sustained for two reasons; they were subpar teams we played against, and the fickleness of statistics is a reverting to the mean....like having a 100year level flood in two back to back years doesn't tell you the climate has changed. Not being political. Just an ANN-alergy.
So as you say...next couple opponents give us some truth'n to reckon with.

The Packers are 4-2 with 11 left to play. 7-5 the rest of the way is almost certainly in the playoffs.

Most of us would consider a 7-5 run to be a borderline disaster. Seriously under-performing.

I am not too worried about making the playoffs.

As with every week, I want to see them play better than last week. The Texans will be a serious test. They look like a good team on both sides of the ball. And to me Stoud and Love look pretty similar in terms of skill, control of the offense, composure, and movement. I think GB will have to play a good, complete game to win.

I'm looking at the is game as a VERY important game. Minnesota is 5-0 with a game in hand on the Packers. The Lions are 4-1, already had their bye, but the Lions are a really good team (wow does that feel weird to say). Just like Ken mentioned, the Packers haven't beaten anyone, not really. Beating the Texans says something.

The Texans may be without several starters on Defense as well as Nico Collins on offense. If there was a time to play them I guess this is it. Hopefully it's another dominant performance, just like last week.

Go Pack Go!

It's too early to assess how good this Packers team is for this season. As correctly pointed out the next 4 games will tell us plenty about the Packers and how good they actually are. Consistentcy is still the question mark for this team. If they can maintain the level of play they delivered against the Rams versus the next 4 opponents then I think we can claim that the Packers have found their consistency.

The bottom line is that none of the upcoming opponents can be taken lightly and the Packers can only play one game at a time. Beat the Texans and go from there. If the OL plays solidly the offense will score 28 points or more. The defense needs to find their pass rush. The level of opposing QBs improves against the next 4 opponents. The Packers need to.make those QBs uncomfortable to keep the games from becoming shootouts. Mitigate penalties and turnovers and we should be OK. Go Pack go! Thanks, Since '61

Conquer precise jumps and create your own record! https://geometrydash-game.io - where you test your own speed limit!

yes. all true. Still my point, we can't conclude this is a scary team neither by the record, nor by individual stats considering the quality of opponent.

You have to beat the good teams, especially at home, or else you're a pretender not a contender.

If Houston gets its way when they have the ball it will be long day. The Packers defense has to play its best game of the season.

Ordinarily this would be a real battle of offenses vs defenses.

Packers will have a full inventory of weapons for Love to attack a depleted Texans D.

If the Pack Attack D can break out on the front 7, the day could well be "Houston, we have a problem."

If not, it could become stampede of points on both sides because Love won't be stopped and Stroud is a scary good gunslinger.

Based upon what I have seen on TV it seems the Packers have a strong team chemistry and cohesiveness. The way they rallied around Romo Doubs after his reinstatement and welcomed him back I believe helped to put him at ease and perform at an optimum level. I see no "Divas" on this team and no "me, me, me" which is wonderful for an NFL team to have. A situation where we may consider that the "whole" is greater than the individual parts.