Yinz did alright!

[GoSlash27]

You Packer fans have nothing to be down about. It always sucks when your season ends without the Lombardi, but IMO any season where you make the playoffs is a good season. Once you're in, it's a crap shoot... but the key is to get in.
You won your division without your starting QB. You were strong this year and you look like you'll be strong next year too.
Here's hoping our 2 teams meet again in the big game in 2015!

 

[thisisnate]

I absolutely have to think that if this team were healthy, we'd have had a very real shot at another title. I'm floored that we did as well as we did with this revolving door of personnel. Definitely excited about the future with a healthy roster and good draft picks. I love that the bulk of the draft's 1st round ahead of us is going to be used on QB, WR, and OL, which are all positions we don't really need that badly. Should be able to draft some real defensive playmakers as one of the first teams to have a crack at them once the obvious ones (Clowney, Barr, etc) and all the QB, WR, OL picks are through ahead of us.

 

[PFanCan]

It must suck to be Chicago, Detroit, or Minny fans. Their teams cannot top GB, even when GB loses it's star QB and star defensive player for most of the season, along with a rash of other significant injuries to starters (LT, RT, TE, RB1, RB2, WR, LOLB, DT, etc.).

 

[VolvoD]

The NFC North as a whole this year started to look like the NFC East! NOT A GOOD THING. I think of the North as a tough devision, but they better start proving it. Don't get me wrong, i HATE the other teams in the North, but I also dont want them getting good draft picks Not that we have anything to worry about with the Vikings seeing as they love washed up players anyway.

 

[Forget Favre]

It must suck to be Chicago, Detroit, or Minny fans.

Oh yeah?
Good!

 

[NOMOFO]

It must suck to be Chicago, Detroit, or Minny fans. Their teams cannot top GB, even when GB loses it's star QB and star defensive player for most of the season, along with a rash of other significant injuries to starters (LT, RT, TE, RB1, RB2, WR, LOLB, DT, etc.).

Check out the Bears forums. It's very amusing. They're AHEM "happy" that they lost to us because now they are drafting earlier! LOL What a complete bunch of crap. I agree with you. Can you imagine the Lions where everyone was picking them? ...or the Vikes how they must feel knowing there's really little to be happy about or look forward to? I'm not just being a homer hear. I don't see the Bears beating us next season if Rodgers is playing.

 

[HardRightEdge]

Sorry. I cannot be persuaded that 8-7-1 isn't a disappointment. The division title was achieved by default.

 

[Forget Favre]

Sorry. I cannot be persuaded that 8-7-1 isn't a disappointment. The division title was achieved by default.

We cannot look back on it and say, "Well, at least we had a great season."
We had a terrible season.

 

[I_am_smoked_cheddar]

The 2013 Packer season was basically a fight for survival. The injury list by itself proves it, but for the many players who had to step up, it was also a season to be in the show. Their futures were on the line and they knew it. Some were better than others, yet all gave the last measure of themselves when called upon.
Many lessons should have been learned this season by both players and management. The NFC Northern Division Title was not really won, but was more of a case of good Karma. I hope that some of these lessons will stay in mind as free agency and the NFL Draft occupy their thoughts. What is in the best interest of the Team and not the Accounting Dept. should be the goal.

 

[AmishMafia]

Sorry. I cannot be persuaded that 8-7-1 isn't a disappointment. The division title was achieved by default.

Nobody is satisfied with our record. Only satisfaction is a SB victory. But that doesn't mean you can't look back and take the whole of the matter in, and decide that there are things to appreciate and be optimistic for this team.

1. We made the playoffs despite greater adversity than any other team faced.
2. We had some of the greatest wins in Packer history.
2a) Coming from behind and beating the Cowboys. ABSOLUTE classic!
2b) Beating our hated rivals the Bears last game of the season in spectacular fashion with everything on the line.
3. Rookies were very impressive - Bahk and Hyde would place in the top 10 most impressive Packer rookies of the last 10 years. AND neither was most impressive rookie . . .
4. Amazing new rookie, Lacy, was a treat to watch.
5. Veterans began to emerge in Q and Boykins.
6. What are the odds we ever face as many injuries again? If not - we have a lot of talent returning from the infirmary to the field next season. That will be a huge boost too our team.

In short - the Packer future is very bright. We should be a strong contender for the Lombardi for some time.

 

[HardRightEdge]

Nobody is satisfied with our record. Only satisfaction is a SB victory. But that doesn't mean you can't look back and take the whole of the matter in, and decide that there are things to appreciate and be optimistic for this team.

1. We made the playoffs despite greater adversity than any other team faced.
2. We had some of the greatest wins in Packer history.
2a) Coming from behind and beating the Cowboys. ABSOLUTE classic!
2b) Beating our hated rivals the Bears last game of the season in spectacular fashion with everything on the line.
3. Rookies were very impressive - Bahk and Hyde would place in the top 10 most impressive Packer rookies of the last 10 years. AND neither was most impressive rookie . . .
4. Amazing new rookie, Lacy, was a treat to watch.
5. Veterans began to emerge in Q and Boykins.
6. What are the odds we ever face as many injuries again? If not - we have a lot of talent returning from the infirmary to the field next season. That will be a huge boost too our team.

In short - the Packer future is very bright. We should be a strong contender for the Lombardi for some time.

You forgot to include Flynn (if we manage to keep him) and Daniels on the plus side. I'm already on the record for having less enthusiasm for Bahktiari than most and it's yet to be demonstrated that Hyde/Heyward is not a redundancy, though a safety may emerge from the pair...preseason may disappoint us on that score.

But can you honestly put those positives up against the potential losses from where we started the 2013 season (Finley, Shields, Jolly, James Jones, Pickett) plus the disappointments (Raji, Neal, Perry, Datone Jones, Sherrod, Brad Jones) together with the season long injuries where full recovery is a breath-holding exercise (Bulaga, Heyward) along with players apparently regressing or at best topped out below expectations (Burnett, House, Jennings, McMillan).

MM likes to talk about 2nd. year players making the leap. When you have a young team like this, rebuilding on the fly as it were, that's not some bonus or side bet, it's a necessity. Take a look at the 2012 draft. There's Daniels and....

 

[DevilDon]

You forgot to include Flynn (if we manage to keep him) and Daniels on the plus side. I'm already on the record for having less enthusiasm for Bahktiari than most and it's yet to be demonstrated that Hyde/Heyward is not a redundancy, though a safety may emerge from the pair...preseason may disappoint us on that score.

Flynn AND Tolzien (nice developmental QB). I get your enthusiasm for Bahk is tempered with a "wait and see" attitude but he's done remarkably well at the most difficult position on the line against superior defensive talent as a rookie. It's really hard for me to not be optimistic. Hyde/Hayward a redundancy? There's a saying in the NFL: you can never have too many capable CBs. Agreed also that Hayward and/or maybe House can be moved to safety.

But can you honestly put those positives up against the potential losses from where we started the 2013 season (Finley, Shields, Jolly, James Jones, Pickett) plus the disappointments (Raji, Neal, Perry, Datone Jones, Sherrod, Brad Jones) together with the season long injuries where full recovery is a breath-holding exercise (Bulaga, Heyward) along with players apparently regressing or at best topped out below expectations (Burnett, House, Jennings, McMillan).

Those potential losses are unavoidable HRE and every team experiences it. The nice thing is that their possible replacements got a lot of playing time (Q, Hyde, Boyd, Boykin).
I am not at all disappointed with Neal, Perry, DatOne, Sherrod or Brad Jones. They've all shown improvement and we likely would have seen more with better health.
Agree that the others might be topped out but that's not all that bad. Not every developmental player is going to be better than average. Even the best teams in history had average role-players on the squad. I think Burnett and House are average. Not impressed at all with Jennings or McMillian. I do like the development of Richardson against the run though.
All in all I'm pleased with the season considering all that happened on the injury front. The future looks promising indeed.

 

[AmishMafia]

You forgot to include Flynn (if we manage to keep him) and Daniels on the plus side. I'm already on the record for having less enthusiasm for Bahktiari than most and it's yet to be demonstrated that Hyde/Heyward is not a redundancy, though a safety may emerge from the pair...preseason may disappoint us on that score.

But can you honestly put those positives up against the potential losses from where we started the 2013 season (Finley, Shields, Jolly, James Jones, Pickett) plus the disappointments (Raji, Neal, Perry, Datone Jones, Sherrod, Brad Jones) together with the season long injuries where full recovery is a breath-holding exercise (Bulaga, Heyward) along with players apparently regressing or at best topped out below expectations (Burnett, House, Jennings, McMillan).

MM likes to talk about 2nd. year players making the leap. When you have a young team like this, rebuilding on the fly as it were, that's not some bonus or side bet, it's a necessity. Take a look at the 2012 draft. There's Daniels and....

I don't get it.

All the players you mentioned: Finley, Shields, Jolly, James Jones, and Pickett all performed worse than Datone Jones did in his first season. Yet you are concerned about losing them and calling Datone a disappointment.

There are only a few fans who expect rookies to come in a have an impact.

2012 - there is Daniels, . . . Perry, Heyward and Worthy. Heyward looks like a shutdown corner, Perry has made a few plays and is improving, Worthy is . . . well, I haven't seen much from him. But that doesn't mean we won't. Worthy is the spitting image of Cullen Jenkins. Jenkins, as you may recall, was cut by the Packers 2 years in a row before he finally caught on and developed into a pretty good player. Will Worthy get there? I'm not sure. But I know there is still a chance he will develop.