Strong points (in order)

1. ARod. This kid is SPECIAL, and had a great game.
2. WRs/Finley. Apart from the late fumble, solid high-energy play throughout. As good as Rodgers played, you don't go 34/45 without some help.
3. Pass rush/CM3. Wow. Talk about disruption. When we sent more than 4, it was brutal.
4. Shields. Unless I missed something(s), hasn't he been solid all season long so far? I said before the season opener, this defense will be solid if Shields steps up.



Weak Points:

1. Penalties, lack of discipline. We were completely out of control at times, there's NO reason you should ever have 18 penalties and back to back to back false starts. Vast majority of this falls on the O Line. Woody had a BAD PI though.

2. Mike McCarthy/Coaching. Strikes 1 and 2: Being unable to get his team under control penalty-wise, your standard McCarthy second quarter. You will have a lot harder time winning if you continually let teams back into the game after a strong start.

Strike three is the big one. Complete lack of game awareness on the final drive. I can't say with absolute certainty that MM was 100% at fault for the bad challenge (and it may have looked like a good one from the right angle). But what completely put the nail in the coffin was to hold the bears to a FG. Instead of 1 TO and a minute left and putting all your faith in the offense, you are banking on either a missed FG, a fumble, a block, or a KR for a touchdown. Dom Capers and MM share fault here, I don't accept the "I let Dom run his own defense" shit. If you see a major mistake being made, you correct it.



Likely scapegoats/overreactions (That really don't deserve it)

1. Defensive PI on the last drive. While it was a bad decision by Burnett to engage like that when he had position and help over the top, there was absolutely a offensive PI there too, should have offset.

2. Defense as a whole. 3 sacks, pressure almost all day, a goalline stand, <300 yards of offense allowed against a much better than expected Cutler showing. Cutler didn't play great, but he stepped up when he needed to, and the defense held more than it broke.

Keep in mind the defense only allowed 13 points and several times were left with short field position to defend.



Final thoughts:

1. The Packers NEED to play better, and MM needs to figure something out or he's not going to be keeping his job forever. He's GONE if the Packers don't make the playoffs, and if the Packers don't play better than they did today that just may be possible.

2. Running game. The Packers don't need a RB when the passing game works like it did today. However, it's insurance for a sloppy passing day and we'll need someone better than we have now for the playoffs.

3. Thank god I was already planning on going home to my parents' place in La Crosse, WI this weekend. Don't need to be in Bears country after this.

Besides his penalty I thought Zombo looked to be fighting off blocks pretty good. I don't know how much that was due to the skill level of the player he was facing but he looked like a better pass rusher than Brad Jones has this year.

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To be fair, I think CM3 created a lot of that. He got no sacks, but spent ALL DAY in the backfield. What a monster. Although Zombo did have a decent enough game.

Great thread. +1

I'd like to add one thing to the Strong Points: depth.

Quite a few beat writers - Greg Bedard chief among them - have consistently stated that this team had no depth at CB, OLB, and S; should any of our starters at those positions get hurt we'd be screwed.

Zombo proved him wrong. Derrik Martin proved him wrong. Sam Shields has been proving him wrong the past three weeks.

They blasted Ted for creating a roster that only focused on the future despite Ted saying they built this roster to win and win now.

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I would have to think the same thing happened against the Bills, or even the Eagles for that matter but I didn't seem to hear much from Jones.

Without more detailed study, Zombo seemed to have more of a presence than Jones this season.

We need to trade for Lynch now.

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Dude, that is being WAY, WAY too reactionary.

Unless Marshawn Lynch can stop our Tackles from doing their best imitation of Betty White on the football field, stop the refs from calling Pass-Interference on the slightest wrong look at an offensive player by our defensive players, AND cure our special teams seeming allergy to punting and tackling properly ... then we do not need him on this team as of yet.

Again, even an Adrian Peterson type player would not have helped us win tonight because our struggles on Special Teams and with penalties cost us the game.

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I agree with everything, except for the MM stuff. As head coach, he is NOT responsible for having the team ready to play. And he is NOT responsible for what happens on the field.

What is he responsible for? Good question. But to blame him for this is a knee jerk hot headed reaction.

And yeah, he had a really bad challenge at the end of the game, but that wasn't his fault either. Yeah, you could argue that he has a history of really stupid challenges; and that would actually be a very valid argument; but rational discussion is NOT what we're looking for here.

To make a long story short, MM is the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. What does that mean? That means he is NOT to be held accountable for ANYTHING relating to the Packers. Ever. Period.

That seems to be dripping with sarcasm but the rest of your post didn't carry such a stench. Do I sense some Ted Thompson hate, or am I completely missing the point? That being, pad level?

Its all sarcasm. And no, I do not hate TT.