Perhaps by the end of the week, coach Mike McCarthy will decide whether to dump Bob Sanders or give him another shot to coordinate the Green Bay Packers defense next season.
But on Sunday, two members of the starting defense made public pleas, not for or against Sanders, but rather for General Manager Ted Thompson to use free agency to bolster a defense that will finish in the bottom third of the NFL and had as much to do with the Packers 6-10 record as anything else.
Sure, the defense made critical fourth-quarter stops to help secure Sundays 31-21 victory over the winless Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field.
But anything that happened on the field other than the victory itself can be discounted as virtually meaningless because it happened against a Lions outfit that became the first NFL team to lose all 16 regular-season games.
In my opinion, we have to get some veteran guys on the team, some guys that have weathered some storms in their careers and know what its all about, Packers cornerback Charles Woodson said. I dont know what will be done, but I know there will be some things done.
I think we need a couple of more (veterans on defense). A couple more and I think well be OK.
Fellow starting cornerback Al Harris agreed.
We are a young team, but thats no excuse, Harris said. Theres going to be some guys out there that may (be able to) help us.
Making a large splash in free agency isnt Thompsons mantra. He long has preferred to build through the draft, but he has gone the free-agent route in the past. After the Packers 4-12 season of 2005, Thompson signed Woodson, defensive tackle Ryan Pickett and safety Marquand Manuel to lucrative free-agent contracts. Woodson and Pickett worked out; Manuel did not.
For his part, Woodson said while hes at the Pro Bowl in February, he would lobby any potential free agents to consider the Packers.
Though the Packers starting cornerbacks were vocal about their desire to see Thompson add veteran players to the roster, neither was willing to say much about Sanders, whose job security appears shaky after a season in which the defense failed to hold multiple fourth-quarter leads.
Asked whether he would bring Sanders back, Woodson said: I wont answer that.
Harris, when asked the same question, said: However it works out, it works out.
Several other defensive players, including linebacker A.J. Hawk and Pickett, defended Sanders, saying the problems on defense were more about execution and injuries to key players like Nick Barnett, Atari Bigby and Cullen Jenkins than about the scheme.
The schemes been working for us the last couple of years, Pickett said. It wasnt the scheme.
Sanders refused to address his future on Sunday, saying his sole focus was on beating the Lions. His defense gave up 316 yards and three touchdowns but came up with two turnovers.
Our guys played hard, for the most part, Sanders said. I think the effort was good, and the mental aspect of what we were trying to get done was good. The efforts been good. Our guys come to play. Mike does a great job with that as far as getting our guys ready to go and getting the team mentally in position to fight every week. When we evaluate (the season), thatll be one thing well see is that the guys fought hard every week, and thats a credit to Mike and his leadership.
McCarthy didnt address any potential staff changes in his postgame news conference other than to say he planned to spend today and Tuesday conducting exit interviews with the players, and then from there, Ill move on to the coaches, he said.
McCarthy is scheduled to conduct his season-ending media conference at 9 a.m. Wednesday.