Yep. This article pretty much nails it. Either MM keeps his job as the Packers will roll into the playoffs as a dangerous team and make some noise in January... or... (more likely), the Packers continue to appear listless en route to something like a 7-8-1 record, and MM gets fired and we finish hitting the reset button in the 2018 offseason.

I will always root for my team to win, I can't help it. Even when I'm angry with them, I will cheer when they do something good - perhaps sarcastically, I will admit.

But if I'm being unbiased, Green Bay is most definitely not a good team right now, and doesn't look like it will figure it out either.

I think its time for a whole bunch of changes as well, and certainly hope it is the end of the Mccarthy area. But unlike a lot of teams that need to gut and rebuild, it doesn't necessarily have to take us a couple years. This team could look great next year. We're going to go into the season 40 million under the cap. We can add 3.5 million more and get rid of Perry. Out of Cobb, Bulaga, Matthews and HaHa I feel like only one returns. No one is due for an extension. There are finally a couple players from the draft who might contribute and be difference makers. And we're probably going to have 3 picks in the top 50. By cutting Biegel, gutekunst has shown a willingness to move on from mistakes quickly, hopefully he continues to flush the rest of the dead weight next year. I believe Green Bay will be a top 2 destination for a coach next year, we'll basically have our pick.

I predict that AR will go on a tear and the Packers will either sneak into the playoffs or barely miss them. Mikey will then get an extension, go to the Waffle House and celebrate, and fire Philbin or Zook as the annual sacrificial lamb. He will then spend the off-season talking about accountability, cleaning things up, and pad level. Welcome to the 2019 Green Bay Packers, everyone!

I haven’t heard any contract talk regarding McCarthy. Perhaps we won’t until it either happens or doesn’t.

I'd give MM a contract extension right now. Ends all the arm chair snubs. It's all about the stats. As long as A-rod has them going up. As long as the defense ranks top 10. MMs job is SAFE. This team isn't a power house. It's a team trying to see where they fit in. Many have said were rebuilding. The ups and down of every player happens. I feel positive about the direction and coaching of the Packers. The confusion is the Boo Birds that expect more of MM, then the players have given. MM and Gute are on the same page. Losing one's marbles as so many write. Only makes MM look like a genius. The packers have been their own worst enemy. The issues are this. $$$$$. ( Extensions). Can they play! Show time.

Sorry 4 the double post!

I guess I'm in the minority because what I see is a team that has yet find it's rhythm on offense or it's groove on defense. Yet there they sit at number 4 in total offense and number 7 in total defense. What feels different to me is not that they're struggling somewhat early in the season because we have all seen that over the past seven seasons, it's nothing new. What's different to me is that they're struggling but the defense isn't ranked 31st or 32nd like usual and the offense isn't 16-20 like they usually are when struggling. I see a team that has potential to be very good in December and January and in need of some fine tuning for now. They'll be fine!

I thought the article was well written. Good job. How about a twist, just food for thought, something to chew on.
I say Mike stays. Reason. The higher ups are playing cheap ball and have been for years. This org covets large numbers of late round and undrafteds. Cheap players. This org never goes out and acquires one or two top quality free agents. Just guys looking for one more check. This org will not draft or acquire DE's, they cost too much.
With all this, they won't punish Mike knowing he had to work with what they gave him. Plus they can tell him, hey you had Favre and Rodgers in your career so don't complain about a handful of so so players.
Last the org wants the playoffs for the fans. They aren't building for the sb. This is not a sb bound team.
It's all about the money.

While I believe it's the beginning of the end of the Mike McCarthy era in Green Bay, if he does get fired, then who do we hire?

McCarthy wasn't exactly a hotshot offensive coordinator in 2005. Despite having a better record than the 2–14 Texans and 3–13 Saints, Football Outsiders calculated that the 49ers were actually, play-for-play, not only the worst team in the NFL in 2005, but the worst team they've ever tracked. Ouch.

San Francisco's 1,898 team passing yards in 2005 were the lowest such total in the decade of the 2000s. Obviously, the Packers did their homework and made a great decision to hire Mike.

My point: the next Packers head coach may come from an equally dismal team as McCarthy did. Let's just hope the front office gets it right like they did in 2006.

Foreboding eh?…

"This is a team that has struggled form any semblance of an identity so far in 2018 in any phase of the game. Its only hallmark has been inconsistency."

Aaron Rodgers and the offense, IMO, has been the identity for years…it's no different this season. Yes, he's been inconsistent…but he's also been remarkable in the two come from behind wins. AR12's minor flaw is he's typically greedy…i.e., he looks for the TD first, then 1st down, then check-down in his progression…and some time it's back-fires when he foregoes a wide open player on the shorter route while looking for the big play.

"The defense has at times shown strong improvement over its 2017 campaign, but at other times has looked nigh on hopeless. The poor safety play has been discussed ad nauseum on this site, as has the relative decline of Clay Matthews, who has been better after a disastrous week one but still nowhere near the game-changing presence he once was."

I disagree regarding the defense "at other times has looked nigh on hopeless." The CB play by King, Alexander, and Jackson has me very hopeful from a pass defense perspective. Pettine has shown, at least to me, that he can scheme pressure without frequently sending the house (six or more).

The poor safety play is mainly Brice.

CM3, regardless of any perceptions relating to his decline, is still one of their best front six players because he's versatile enough to play in-space or attack the QB. Yeah, he lost his jock strap vs the 9ers…but I'd rather have him on the field over Gilbert or Fackerell. He had a game changing/saving play vs the Vikings but…shit happens…

However, your point about a lack of pass rushers that are primary front six (i.e., DL, Edge/OLB, or ILB) is correct. That ship has basically sailed unless Gute can swing a trade before the deadline. Who knows, maybe Houston will fuck-up like Oakland did…but that's obviously a pipe-dream on my part. However, it's going to be very hard for them to fit a mega deal for Jadeveon Clowney and also refinance J.J. Watt into a market value contract…(he will want to get paid but his current deal doesn't expire until after 2021). Deshaun Watson's rookie deal expires after 2020. Whitney Mercilus' contract expires after 2019. Oh well, enough of my fantasy GM desires…

"Rarely in 2018 has this offense looked like an elite unit. Whether it's due to bad play design, bad execution or a combination of both, the experience of watching this offense can only be described as "laborious," which is impossible to conceive of with an offense run by Aaron Rodgers."

"Laborious" eh?...I would say frustrating but it's all about word choice/semantics here…but I digress. I get your point. I still say it comes down to making plays…not play calls.

Wow, you captured and used a Nagler tweet in your blog…what a suck-up (j.k.)

I think it's too early to compare this team to any previously season team with AR12 under center.

"I have had a hard time justifying the idea of firing McCarthy at any time before this year. But this year has a very different feel to it.
There's a new General Manager. New coordinators. A superstar quarterback that isn't playing up to his typical standard. Sloppier play and more mental mistakes than is typical of the McCarthy and Rodgers-era Packers." 

So…are you saying that you are now able to justify firing McCarthy at this time (during bye week) or wait until after the season?...(you don't have to respond)

Regarding AR12's play…it's on AR12, not McCarty. Regarding sloppy play and mental mistakes, most of it has been by young players…not an excuse, just a fact.

This season has been a bit of an odd start. I will admit that.

First game of the year Rodgers gets hurt early in the game. With the help of the backup QB (pick 6) the Bears get a 17 point lead. Rodgers comes back and leads them to victory.

The next week, the Packers build a 13 point lead going into the 4th quarter and the Vikings blow up scoring 22 points in the 4th quarter. Now 8 of those 22 points came after the Packers had the game basically won with an interception.

2 of the next weeks the Packers lose which honestly, was more of them shooting themselves in their feet then getting beat by the other team.

In the Washington game I think they had like 60 dropped passes. At least it felt like it.
Against Detroit Crosby has his worst game of his career.

The Bills game and 49ers games while they won they still weren't running on all cylinders.

Now some things we can take from these games.

Rodgers has been playing hurt. I believe there then just his knee that is ailing. We have seen he has missed a number of throws that he never missed in the past.
But honestly his decision making hasn't been great. He hasn't pulled the trigger a number of times on guys that were open. My opinion, Rodgers gets that corrected and the offense will start rolling sooner then later.

Jimmy Graham has been playing with a knee injury. But the more he plays with Rodgers the more they will get on the same page.

Cobb and Allison have missed the last 3&2 games respectively. During that time Rodgers has had to play with a couple of rookies who don't know every aspect of the offense like both of those players do. That being said, during that time those rookies have gained valuable playing time. During this stretch they have proved that they can add something to the offense. Rodgers can trust them.
In this last game there are 2 throws that proves that. Rodgers was rolling to the right and no WR was clearly open. MVS was running up the right sideline and Rodgers throws it. MVS comes back around the DB to make a great catch. If Rodgers doesn't trust him he doesn't make that throw.
And on the final drive Rodgers throws it to EQ down the right side line in a spot only EQ could get. He had to contort his body around and made a fantastic catch on that play. His only catch in the game.

Now coming off the bye week both Allison and Cobb figure to be back. Now They have a legit 5 WR group that Rodgers can trust. I would not be surprised to see them run out with more 4 & 5 WR looks, and just let Rodgers pick them apart.

The offense I do believe will have it figured out and will become a force most teams won't like.

On Defense, they haven't been great but they can say they have figured things out in 2nd half of games. They have given up this amount of points in the 2nd half of games. Week 1 - 6,Week 2 - 22, Week 3 - 3, Week 4 - 0, Week 5 - 7, Week 6 - 6.
Outside of the Vikings game they have given up no more then 7 points in the 2nd half of any game. Even with the Vikings game they have averaged 7.3 points in the 2nd half of games.

Now they will be getting back one of their top players and a guy who seems to have had others playing better around him in Jaire Alexander. They also will be getting their newest addition going with Breeland.
The other thing I like is that Kevin King is back also. Meaning they will have their secondary at full strength.

I'm excited to watch the remaining games. This next stretch will be tough, no question. 4 of the next 5 games on the road, and all will be hard places to play. If they can even split those 2-2 in those 4 road games, I think they can finish the season strong.

I'm ready!

This year's Packers have been a team playing with a number of young/inexperienced players, an injured QB while trying to implement new a new defensive system.

All of this makes the case for inconsistent play. Add in poor officiating and injuries to a number of starters and here we are.

For me the biggest disappointment has been the poor play of some of our veteran players, including CM3, Perry (again), Mike Daniels, HHCD, Brice, and injuries to Bulaga, Cobb and Rogers (although he has been playing through it with rookie WRs). At this level fractions of inches and fractions of seconds make all the difference and injured and inexperienced players are just off enough to make the difference.

As for MM his fate will ultimately be determined by the Packers won/lost record. Quite frankly if he gets this team to the playoffs again with the current status of his roster it will be a very good job. This team needs better players at OLB, ILB (except for Martinez), Safety and OL depth. On the flip side MM needs to get Aaron Jones, MVS and the TEs more involved with the offense. Jones and MVS can be game breakers and can create match up problems for opposing DCs, and open up more opportunities for Adams and Graham. That is on MM, Philbin and Rodgers.

On defense we need to get more snaps for Oren Burks, play Alexander, King and Jackson at CBs with T. Williams and HHCD at safety. I'm not sure what we can do about the pass rush at this point but Pettine needs to make it happen. We are probably looking at another defensive draft in the early rounds again.

If we make the playoffs I'm for keeping MM and getting him good players with the available cap space by chucking our dead weight. Let's not forget that MM could decide to move on without being fired. For now let's see how the rest. of the season goes and particularly the next 2 road games against the Rams and Pats. If we are competitive we'll be OK this season, if not it may mean that the end of the MM era is upon us. Thanks, Since '61

Aaron Nagler: The QB on that 1999 team threw more interceptions than TDs, had a passer rating of 74.8 (19th), a 1000 yard rusher and a defense that was no worse than average despite being repeatedly put on a short field following an interception.

I know the urge to find ways to praise Favre by denigrating the rest of the team is powerful, but try a little harder to resist.