lol. I thought Tampa was a guaranteed win. There aren't any of those.

Even if we make the playoffs, this team has too many holes that we're not going very far. I no longer have any optimism that our current coaching staff can sufficiently address the problems to turn what is now a very mediocre team into one of the best in the NFL.

We've gone through the easy part of our schedule (TB, Stl, Cle, Det with a combined record of 4-28). If we ended up 4-4 against the likes of these teams, are we going to do better than that the rest of our schedule (Pit, Ari, Dal, Bal, SF)? I don't think so. You can figure on 8-8 or worse, with worse being more likely.

Eternal optomist.
I prefer to not get my hopes up too high. That way, if they did surprise me and actually DO something it would be a surprise.
To look at how we have played the first half of the season and looking at our glaring holes in all areas, it's hard for me to keep an optomistic view.

The O-line is no where close to being fixed. It looks as bad as it did in week one. The running game has only done well against teams that are lousy against the run. Any team with a half decent D stops us at 2 yards a run. Our special teams suck all the way around. Any time we get a decent return, you can guarentee we get flagged for a block in the back or holding. Any kickoff is like a chinese fire drill. We would be better just kicking the damn ball out of bounds in every kickoff. I'm not kidding.......when AR ran in the TD for us, i said to myself out loud "I bet our kickoff will be run back and give the Bucs great field position" and i was 100% right. They got the ball on our 15.
On the punt, a guy runs right up the middle and NO ONE even touches the guy. What the hell do these guys practice in special team drills???
The opposing QB's have all day to find someone, while our O-line can't give AR time to find anyone open. Usually dependable Greg Jennings lets a pass go right through his hands, and it bounces off a defender into another defender's hands. Breakdowns on ALL fronts against the worst team in the league, starting a 21 year old QB, and they spank us.

Now you know why i no longer have dreams of the playoffs this year. The Cowboys can finish off any possible dreams next week. If we lose that, it's pretty much over. Then it will be playing for "pride".
Don't misunderstand......i still love "my" team, but hold no "green and gold" glasses to look through. I will still cheer them on, and be upset when they lose. You can shovel through the horse S**T, but i don't think there's a pony in the room.

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Thank you, RP, and anyone else striving to retain a sense of optimism after two godawfully tough losses. I can't share that optimism right now, but thank you for bringing it in a consistent basis.

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For me there's always something bracingly refreshing about a total fuck-up. It's like jumping into a pool of frigid water. You climb out and realize you survived.

In other words, I'm pissed as hell after the defeat ('cause I'm freezing cold), but then I think it surely can't get any worse (as I'm toweling myself off).

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Good post RP.

Thats what I was thinking.

The division thing is done IMO. Even if we go 8-0 and the Vikings go 5-3, we STILL lose on tiebreakers to Vikings. Isn't that crazy? That if the Vikings win like two more games, they will basically ahve clinched the division if Bears and Packers lose? (and they have Lions and Seahawks next).

But Wildcard is very possible because many teams in the NFC suck. IF we lose next week though, its over IMO. That would be another conference loss and to a team that we're battling with.

Are we a "playoff team" right now. NO. But a lot can happen in 8 games and we could find an identity (maybe get a new HC, etc, haha). So its not over at all, 4-4 in the NFC you are still in the picture.

But if we play the way we did today, its over. Are we alive? Yes. But do I have a lot of hope after losing to a 0-7 team, not really. But I will have faith as long as possible.

Btw - watching Dallas now, they are pretty good.

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It's been a really sad season. Playoffs hopes are dying quickly. If we lose next week we're done, probably not mathematically but in reality knowing this team we all know it's a long shot even from now.

The talent is there but it's not being utilized properly.

MM was brought here to groom AR, that's been completed his services will be no longer needed. Now bring a coach that can win games and not only groom a QB.

MM had a major roll in AR's play ... but nothing more to this team.

We also need an o-line coach. (Please Ted Thompson draft a RB in the first round a monster one).

Special teams wow ... Do I even need to brag about it?

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I feel if I denounce the season as over now, I will not enjoy watching the packers. I want to enjoy watching them and being optimistic that we will see improvement. Maybe this loss will spark some kind of crazy run, who knows. I really don 't want to see McCarthy or Ted fired, but if it has to happen, it has to. I really hope we pull it together and win win win, because When you have to clean house your team is in a major rebuilding stage, and that sucks.

I'd post more in this thread, but they don't have internet hookup at the "Blue Trucker Motel".

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Hey!!! A trucker just let me use his wireless!!!

I'm not giving up on "my" Packers. I won't until it's officially over.....even then I'll still cheer them on.
Yesterday didn't give me alot of hope, but hey, each week is a possibility that we can right this ship.
So bring on the Cowgirls.

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I'm not giving up on the Packers...heck, suffered through the 70s and 80s and didn't give up on them then. But in a lot of ways, this team is beginning to remind me of those teams. Good teams find ways to win games, bad teams find ways to lose games. Against the Bucs, we were a bad team.

I just can't get over how poorly we performed, coming off of the loss to the Vikings I expected our guys to come out with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove. And this is what we got: Tampa, with 11 sacks ALL SEASON got 6 sacks against us, having scored a grand total of 96 pts all season they score 38(!!!) against us, with 21 their season high pts coming into this game they scored 21 against us in an 11 minute span, when the game was on the line.

If our problems are correctable, as McCarthy keeps saying in his press conferences, then he should be fired for not correcting them. Correcting them is HIS job.