How do the Packers compare to the rest of the conference/league, and how they perform in January is all that matters.
Originally Posted by: musccy
I kind of disagree with this statement and think it's an oversimplification. Most NFL teams, players, and coaches take things one game, if not one day, at a time. It's a linear progression. One of the first goals of the season is to win the division, obtain a bye week, and ideally, secure home field advantage throughout. The next step is obviously to win the divisional round game. The next step is to win the conference, and then obviously the Super Bowl.
I see it as a progression, and winning the division (or at least making the playoffs) is a very important part of that process. The ultimate goal of every season is to win the Super Bowl, but I think most organizations are programmed to break the season up into smaller and more achievable goals, as they should be.
I may have an ultimate goal of being President of the company I work for, but I have to move through at least some of the ranks before that's even a reasonable option. Being President isn't the only thing that matters. The intermediate steps are important, too. Being President would be the summation of a series of meaning successes. It's all about stacking successes, as they say.
I suppose ultimately it's all about semantics and perspective. But I'm pretty sure most NFL organizations are similar to what I described above, and I personally don't view winning the divisions as meaningless. There are certainly more important factors, but there's more to it than that. I thought it was incredibly entertaining to beat the Bears in week 17 last season to take the division crown. That wasn't meaningless to me, and brought me a good bit of enjoyment, which is all the NFL is for anyway. It's just entertainment. If I can't enjoy the top level of entertainment every year, I'd at least like to enjoy as much as possible. Plus it's fun to rub it in the Vikings, Bears, and Lions fans faces, if you will.