Favre has missed the boat in Green Bay for a Super Bowl

[porky88]

A reporter pointed out this weekend that the Bears rebuilt(like New England does) by relying on free agency as much as the draft. Ted loves cheap bodies, but the question remains open whether he will "net" enough top level players to put them over the top.

Marquand Manuel anyone? Is this Ted Thompson's Joe Johnson?

If they don't, he can blame McCarthy, which would be too bad. Mike's a decent guy trying to do a good job.

Lovie Smith took over and promptly said his goal was to defeat the Packers as division champs. Now the field is reversed, and can the Packers beat the Bears as division champs? This off-season will be critical for the team. He needs to find some offensive weapons and hope Favre returns.

The core of your team comes through the Draft. The Bears and Patriots are know exception. Brian Urlacher, Tommie Harris, Rex Grossman. Olin Kreutz, Lance Briggs, Nathan Vasher, Mike Brown, Ian Scott, Charles Tillman, Tank Johnson. Alex Brown, add Mark Anderson and Daniel Manning from this year. Benard Berrien as well. Cedrick Benson.

New England has Tom Brady, Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren, Ben Watson, Daniel Graham, Asante Samuel, Logan Mankins, Matt Light, Teddy Bruschi, Dan Koppen, Ellis Hobbs, and Troy Brown. Maroney looks promising this year as well.

Most if not all the guys I named are starters on their football teams and I didn't go through all of them so there could be more. Teams get their core through the draft. A lot of times teams use free agency to put themselves over the top. New England though hasn’t really spent big bucks in free agency in a while. They went out and got Rodney Harrison a few years ago but most of their signings are really low marquee guys. Reche Caldwell was not on anyone’s radar last year and he lead the team in receiving. Gaffney I believe was signed during the season.

It's not as if Ted Thompson doesn't use free agency. He's gone out and signed Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett. He brought in Ben Taylor for depth. He's kept some key guys around.

Manuel was a bust of a signing but his contract was no where near the size of Joe Johnson‘s. Johnson signed a 6 year deal worth 31 million with bonuses between 6 and 7 million. The deal initially was a 3 year deal worth over 15 million dollars as GB could cut him after the 3rd year which they did but they never brought him back for obvious reasons.

Manuel signed a 5 year deal worth 10 million dollars with 2 million in signing bonuses. Had Woodson bombed I think he would have been a more valid comparison to Joe Johnson in terms of his contract and the hit the Packers would take. Manuel’s deal while is a lot of money is not a great deal of money in today’s NFL.

Manuel was a bad signing but when was the last time the Packers had free agents come in and give us as big as an impact as Woodson and Pickett did this year? It's been a long time.

I think everyone agrees he needs to get Favre more weapons especially in tight ends but he's been here for 2 years. You can't say last off season wasn't a successful one. We improved by 4 games and got numerous new starters out of it. Let's see what he does this off season and what the Packers do next year before we proclaim him as the reign of terror. I do agree that the biggest factor will be whether Favre comes back or not. If he does I think we can contend for the playoffs again.

 

[P@ck66]

Porky,

TT whiffed quite a bit in the draft and FA in '05...thereby putting the Pack even further behind the 8-ball....

When TT has New Englands track record of not missing on picks, then I would agree with your philosophy...

But until then...he better be looking closely at the FA's out there this year..!

 

[warhawk]

You make some very good points. I think you agree that TT can't get the job done before Favre retires. When Favre retires there is a big hole at QB which throws a wrench into the works.

Can Ted get it done before Brett retires? Hmm very good question. When will Brett retire? That has to be the first question answered before you can really begin to answer it.

I said during Ted's second off season that we'd be medicore in 06 and a playoff contender in 07. I'm gonna stick to that, especially since we went 8 - 8 like I thought

How far can we get in the playoffs? I think it really depends on how healthy the team is and how well Brett is playing. Although if we get in the playoffs I can't imagine Brett letting the Packers down. He'd have to know this could be his final song.

I think realistically speaking, 08 would be the best chance and unfortunately I think Brett will retire after 07 so ... I'd be agreeing with the statement that Ted won't be able to get it done before Brett calls it a career.

It really depends on this free agency period and draft though.

TT was not hired with a demand by the Front Office to get GB back to the SB while Favre was still here.

First of all Brett could have decided to call it quits before TT ever got his nameplate on the door.

Secondly, it would have taken a completely opposite Cap position to even try to do that (which TT has managed very well by the way).

The position TT has us in right now is probably the best we could have hoped for to give Brett that final chance.

That he chose some long term plan to rebuild is hogwash. Why is it that when a GM goes back to drafting as smart as possible and maximizing the draft he's considered "rebuilding"?

The signing of Kampman, Green, and Woodson were three of the biggest FA signings on the list of those available at the time.

For whatever reason because he didn't cut into what little depth we had and drop some salaries to weezle the funds and somehow sign Wahle that first year it was some "sign" he wanted to rebuild.

I would say we are as far along as possible as fast as realistically possible.

When TT got here we didn't have the first guy to back up anybody at any position and yet some here say we were but a few players from playoff contention. The closest adequate backup might have been Nall at QB. That's scary but that's how bad it had gotten. This is aside from the fact we were several starters away from playoff quality. We had two guys, Barnett and Harris, that were legitimate starters behind the line on "D". That was it. TWO.

That we have a legitimate shot, if Brett stays, is describing a hell of a job well done under the circumstances if you ask me.

A job that "longterm rebuilding" doesn't match up well with at all either.

 

[all about da packers]

Did anyone think the saints would be in the NFC championship game. i guess cliff did. Truth is, every single team in the NFL is on the brink. They ALL have NFL caliber players. thats how they got here, they are good enough to play in the NFL it comes down to coaching, gelling together, executing under pressure and a whole lot of freakin luck. Cheesey is right, there are no PLAYMAKERS (whatever the hell that means anyway) on the chicago bears. Devin hester ran back a few kicks. DONT KICK TO HIM... and hes done. favre > grossman. cant hardly name the recievers for the bears. its all about the right system and combination of players at the right time.

I believe you are being too ignorant due to your dislike of the Bears. However let's start with the term "playmakers", which can, for simplistic purposes, be defined as players who are able to make something happen out of nothing (IE get a first down, 40 yard play, etc. when the O or D are executing to near perfection, making it next to impossible for the other team to function).

In fact, Ted Thompson himself has acknowledged the need for the Packers to have more playmakers, and talked about the difficulty of actually finding a playmaker. The fact that you do not know what the term playmaker means is reflective of your lack of football knowledge, and not because there is actually no term known as 'playmakers'. Every beat writer, GMs, and individuals employed to write articles for NFL have acknowledged the existence of playmakers in the league.

The Bears have a few playmakers, most obvious of which is Urlacher. He is strong, intimidating, and one of the best, if not the best, MLB in the NFL. He tackles you with force, power, and is able to run sideline to sideline. There is also Lance Briggs, who can do the same as Urlacher but isn't quite as physically dominating in terms of appearance when compared to Urlacher.

There is also a shutdown corner in Nathan Vasher. Not to mention a DT who can run block AND provide consistent pass rushing in Tommie Harris. Also a rookie who had 12 sacks AS A RESERVE, demonstrating special pass rush skills even though he would have been double teamed at some points.

On the O side, Cedric Benson has the playmaking potential, but he hasn't delivered constantly (don't mistake this with the fact that Benson has displayed playmaking ability here and there). There is also a steady rock like Moose, and a great upcoming talent like Berrian that has the speed and size to create all sorts of problems.

You also mentioned Devisn Hester, and let me assure you returning kicks for TDs isn't that easy, because if it was than every team would be doing it all the time.

You throw in the right mix of guys on this team and we, just like any other mediocre team last year, can be deep in the playoffs. its not impossible. and anyone who says it is, JUST WANTS TO BE MISERABLE.

The Saints are the exception, not the norm. They got the best prospect (arguable) in the history of the draft to fall to them, and they alredy had a RB with a history of playmaking in McCallister, and they also got Colston. More importantly, they had a QB who could find these guys, one who is relatively young and able to read the D schemes quite well and make appropriate decisions accordingly. Brees is a special talent at QB that, along with the names above, led Sean Payton to having the ability to take this team to the playoffs.

IF the Pack can get talent like Bush and Colston this offseason, then yes they'll be contenders next year. However, that happens once in a blue moon, and you shouldn't be counting on it.

 

[porky88]

Porky,

TT whiffed quite a bit in the draft and FA in '05...thereby putting the Pack even further behind the 8-ball....

When TT has New Englands track record of not missing on picks, then I would agree with your philosophy...

But until then...he better be looking closely at the FA's out there this year..!

He's 1 for 2 from the foul line. I've said that much. However so many people are writing him off before we see what he does next year. That's ridiculous. The Super Bowl hasn't even been played yet.

People also dislike the way he builds a team when in reality most successful teams find the core of their players through the Draft and use free agency to put themselves over the top. I believe that's what he's trying to do. It’s to early to tell whether he’s successful or not.

 

[Packnic]

are you freakin serious aadp. real class no one said running kicks back was easy.
devin hester isnt a playmaker if you dont kick to him genius. you kick away from him, he cant touch the ball. all he does is run kicks back. dont kick to him hes rendered moot.

cedric benson... you just said yourself... he doesnt consistently perform.

your kiddin yourself, if you think there is ONE player on that chicago offense that is a playmaker, that can consistenly be your go to go. it sure aint rex and it sure aint any one of the RBs. but im not taking anything away from the bears... they are in the super bowl. they are a good team. it just furthers my point. Right people in the right system with lots of luck and your a playoff team. if you think the bears are chock full of play makers on offense you havent been paying attention to the media the last 2 days. you play your part in the orchestra and it sounds great. the packers need to get to that point.






the saints are the exception!? this happens every year.... every year.

teams at the bottom make runs to the top. its how the NFL is set up. i dont know how the CFL works but the NFL is built on free agency now. players come and go, teams get and lose talent.

The packers were 4-12, now 8-8, next year...

 

[tromadz]

:sucks:

 

[Zero2Cool]

Porky,

TT whiffed quite a bit in the draft and FA in '05...thereby putting the Pack even further behind the 8-ball....

When TT has New Englands track record of not missing on picks, then I would agree with your philosophy...

But until then...he better be looking closely at the FA's out there this year..!

He's 1 for 2 from the foul line. I've said that much. However so many people are writing him off before we see what he does next year. That's ridiculous. The Super Bowl hasn't even been played yet.

People also dislike the way he builds a team when in reality most successful teams find the core of their players through the Draft and use free agency to put themselves over the top. I believe that's what he's trying to do. It’s to early to tell whether he’s successful or not.

Starters
S/CB Nick Collins
LB Brady Poppinga


Depth
S Marviel Underwood - potential starter
DE Mike Montgomery
C/G Junius Coston



Unknown
QB Aaron Rodgers



Injured
WR/KR Terrence Murphy



Wasted
CB Mike Hawkins
WR Craig Bragg
LB Kurt Campbell
G Will Whitticker









Yeah, he totally missed on that draft. Could have four starters in 07 from this draft class.

 

[Philtration]

A reporter pointed out this weekend that the Bears rebuilt(like New England does) by relying on free agency as much as the draft.

That is not even close to being true.
Every team has signed a handful of free agents and like every other team most of the Bears players were drafted by the Bears.

That is just another "expert" running at the mouth.

 

[packerfan4ever]

i dont know sherman picked so many people and only a few remain t.t. on the other hand picked a few good ones who made progress last year 4-12 what a bad year now this year wasnt the greatest but m.m did pretty good for us with alot of rookies sherman had a lot of vetrans and barely made the playoffs he wanted both jobs and if it was to much wich it was t.t. on came aboard i think we had a good end of season year wich will be better next year so now i forget what cliff is crabbing about fftopic: or is it :soapbox: