Hard for me to answer. I just know that we won the Super Bowl when we didn't have to play the Giants or 49ers in the playoffs.

Originally Posted by: DarkaneRules 

Yeah, the original question said "contend and win a title". We really were THAT good last season - if not for Matthews and so many others injured for the playoffs. I would hardly say losing to the Niners by 3 points under those circumstances equals getting our ass kicked. And when did we last lose to Seattle? Right, the game that got stolen from us.

So if we were THAT good with crap at Safety (I have a higher opinion than most of Burnett, but he was subpar last season for whatever reason), and if, like P2W said, as little fine tuning as getting Jairus Byrd would make us "dominant", then I think getting Matthews and Hayward back, a degree of good from Julius Peppers, having Neal, Perry, Burnett, Worthy, etc. healthier, getting Datone Jones and Daniels on the field more, did I leave anything out on D? Oh yeah, the draft hahahaha - Safety X 2 hopefully, ILB X 2 maybe, etc., how could we NOT be "dominant"? Does anybody here see us as worse than ....... anybody?

All that and San Fran and Seattle going at least a little bit in the wrong direction!

Originally Posted by: texaspackerbacker 

texas, I'll be the first to say I don't know. Maybe we pull something off with better play from Burnett and anyone who is better than MD Jennings. That would clearly be an improvement.

I just happen to think we need a truly significant upgrade in our Safety play at both FS and SS if we are to contend again. Without that, I just don't see how we can really dominate anyone.

Were we close to beating a team who has had our number for two solid years, four games over that two year span in last year's playoffs? Yes. And the team that beat us were handily dismantled by an even better team that went on to win the SB. That tells me we were quite a ways away at the end of last season.

I mentioned Byrd, an addition that didn't happen. But, had we added him, along with Peppers, yeah, then I think we enter into the "dominate" discussion. We didn't do that, and now we have to trust a rookie or rookies can carry the day. Maybe they can if Ted hits it right, and Mike and Dom insure they are well prepared.

Originally Posted by: play2win 

To the extent that past performance is relevant, only one of those four losses to the Niners was by any means convincing, and that was all about Kaepernick playing better against the Packers than he does against other teams. And yeah, Seattle beat them pretty bad, but I ask you, would you pick Seattle to beat even last year's injury-weakened Packers on any given Sunday? (other than when Aaron Rodgers was out, of course)

The main point is you seem to be intermingling two very different things - "contending" and being the "dominant" team. Hell, we contended last year anytime Aaron Rodgers was playing - with HIM, how could we not at least "contend"? Being the "dominant" team? That's a significantly higher standard, but one which your own words said we would be if we got no more than Jairus Byrd. Well, I agree with your words, and I go along with your more recent words that we should have a significant fix at Safety - one of the two anyway. I'm just saying, there's more than one way to skin a cat - drafting Clinton-Dix for example or maybe Pryor, or a huge step up by somebody else would equal the benefits of Byrd. Add to that all the other upgrades, and why would we not reach that level of dominance.

I can't even predict a record for the Packers next season because there simply is no team I could see the Packers losing to - we all know they will probably slip up and not go 16-0, but can you actually see ANY team as good enough to beat them?

Originally Posted by: texaspackerbacker