Both sides of the ball were bad but the D was just embarrassing. Like the kind of bad in a single game that can get a coach fired. D was given alot of tools to succeed and really failed when it matters this season.

Pettine deserves one more season IMO but I think he is on the hot seat, especially if the Pack manage to get a decent ILB and they still manage to screw up in big games.

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I’m not sure if coaching was the issue, or just a total lack of talent at the DL and ILB positions. Embarrassing.

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We need to steal an athletic ILB from someone. I like Blake Martinez a lot, but he's not going to cut it in this new NFL. Without a Patrick Willis or a Bobby Wagner type linebacker, this defense will never reach its potential.

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They were given some tools, but they lacked a tons of them before hand... and still lacked a ton of them them this season.

The defense this year did a freaking great job at maximizing the little talent they did have, and they played great! They literally won a couple of games as they offense did nothing and then then kept the team in the game when the offense did very little.

Pettine and Z. Smith were the MVPs of the entire team this year, followed by Adams and Jones.... and yet we're talking about getting rid of Pettine for one game....

Pettine helped covered up the fact that outside of Alexander and Martinez we got absolutely no one at CB and ILB.... King is up and down like crazy... but this team sucked in man coverage..... and Pettine created a system where Smith, Smith and Clark took over games to cover up for everyone else.

But Alexander struggled more and Martinez is a limited athlete.... so basically all we had to work with was defensive front and Safeties. And he created a system for it.

And Daniels ended up on the IR, so he probably wouldn't of helped, but we never replaced him after letting him go.... which I'm hoping isn't another Nelson situation, where Nelson still mI got be the #2 WR if he was here, as no one has really consistent stepped up.

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Our inside LBs need more speed. And we need Gary to step up in 2020

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I think it will take more then one player stepping up to make this offensive defense any good.
The fact that they had NO answer to stop the run shows they are far from even half decent.
The Niners were smart. Why even try to throw the ball, when the run is gaining so many yards.
Pro athletes should, at this level, be able to tackle.

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Running and stopping the run is completely about who wants it more. That should scare all of us.

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It DOES.
And it’s obvious the Niners wanted it more.
Our guys looked like statues out there, with RBs running all around them.

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I guess there’s always two ways to look at everything. One way is to say that we managed to have a decent defense with mediocre tools. The other way is to say that our coaching staff should’ve made the tools better.
As Dulak pointed out in another thread, it’s won and lost in the trenches. I don’t care what defense of coordinator you have, if your interior lineman suck, you’re going to suck against the run.
You could have Vince Lombardi coaching these guys, and we would still suck against the run. Sometimes you have to judge the meal by the chef and sometimes you have to judge it by the groceries, and we simply need to upgrade the meat and potatoes IMO

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Except the coaching staff CLEARLY did make the tools better all year long! This team basically had no ILBers (outside of maybe Martinez) and outside Alexander they had no CB that could hold up in man to man single coverage.... Pettine had to win with zone to protect King, which tied his hands with blitzing a bit, and he still helped create great pass rushes...

The Packers defense held teams to less than 20 points per game ! 9th best in points per game, Pettine did a great job, for most of the year, maximizing the limited tools he had

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