How about a timely "King's Gambit?"

I'd love a Bucs style defense, but there are no Devin Whites at pick 29. We are the victim of our own success.

Yep agree that the Super Bowl was a downer (and what was up with that half time show? Strange season it was) Brady winning another Super Bowl, whatever.....

Joe Barry hire: after Jim Leonhard turned down the offer there wasn't a whole lot of DC's to be excited about. But MLF has earned the right to pick his own guy. 26 & 6 regular season record, 2 NFC North Titles and 2 Championship game appearances in 2 years.
Yeah, he's earned that right.

Aaron Rodgers personal life, not interested. Just play good football and do your squats man.

Packers Offensive line; they had problems in both games against the Buc's as did the Chiefs, you gotta give them their props man, they earned it and made Mahomes look mortal.

It is going to be a very interesting and challenging off-season for MLF-Russ Ball-Gutey and Murphy. Lets hope they get creatively aggressive and get this team over the hump and back in the Super Bowl in the next year or two.

That is all...

Nothing to add ... but I always look forward to this column. So many columns cover the same obvious points, but the "confessions" are different. Often addresses what I'm thinking about.

Helps me get over the losses ...

I would narrow the Bucs defense down even further to their front six. Their secondary is grabby and not that special, but the D-line and the two backers behind them are exceptional. The exact opposite of the Packers who have a good secondary and are less than special upfront. It will be tough for the Packers to improve our front 6/7 given where the Packers are drafting, but IMO that is the weakest part of the defense and of the whole team. Hopefully we get a gift to fall to us.

We chose King over TJ Watt, and Dalvin Cook are two that comes to the top of my mind.....
I was crushed when Leonhard turned down the job. I hope Barry does better then his two other stints at DC....
I watched the last two mins of 2nd QTR in the super bowl and wanted to vomit and turned it off....
I think the Love pick is going to really bite us this year as any other choice would most likely help us more this year with the down year of the cap.....
How many times is Green Bay going to get killed by stud ILB before we decide we need to invest in one?

The King play was a total cluster FuxKing. Redmond should have made the pick on the previous play however. Then it never happens.
Like you Al, I’ve been saying the Packers defense needs speed, physicality and a nasty attitude, or as you put it, intimidation for a long time.

As for the Bucs defense they slowed down the Saints and Packers and dominated the Chiefs. Kudos to Todd Bowles. Wish he was our DC.

Our OL had their worst games of the season against the Bucs. They allowed 5 sacks in each game and multiple QB hits. Not sure why we didn’t utilize TE chips and running straight at them in the NFCCG.

As for Barry his defense in LA is #2 in sacks over the last 4 seasons. His defenses even the poor ones in Detroit were among the league leaders in turnovers as well. Better tackling, more sacks and turnovers would go a long way towards improving our defense. We have no choice but to wait and see.

RIC makes sense. He has been his own corporation for quite a while now. Football, commercials and part NBA owner are 3 solid revenue streams. His 3rd MVP just means more exposure and more revenue for him. Maybe be the he is 43 the Packers will have finally built a defense that can actually play defense.

Nice job Al, stay well. Thanks, Since ‘61

Everytime I see the impact of exceptional ILB play I remember Elliot Wolfe's dumb quotes about the importance of Linebackers.

Packers are a soft team run by soft people who let themselves get spanked in their own house. Nothing will change .

My 'polluted mindset' has morphed to a 'muddled mindset'. This Packer team, including Aaron Rodgers exceeded my expectations - so to get as far as they did (with #1 seed) was a super bonus. Losing as they did is hard to swallow mainly because it was self-inflicted. A little better play by the O-line and better game decisions would have been enough to get past the Bucs. Ultimately, I believe we got out-coached and I think Andy Reid suffered the same.

The harder part for me is the dimming horizon for this team. Getting enough talent to make this a championship defense (D-line, CB, linebacker) will take time - two years if you are optimistic. Of course, Aaron Rodgers is the engine and his shelf life is close to done. Can Lafleur get two more championship years out of this offense?

All of these questions are asked in the backdrop of a very poor cap situation for the Packers. We are like the 5th poorest cap. Without signing any of our FA, we will need to shed around $20 million just to sign next year's draft class. Not a lot of wiggle room. The big question is how much of these contracts do we want to push out to extend guys like Rodgers, Adams and the like.

As I said... lot of muddle.

"This was easily the least interested I've ever been in watching a Super Bowl game"

You and I both Al. I think a lot of Packers fans were in the same place...Who gives a F**K! I sorta watched it, mostly listened to the first half. That first INT or TD by the Bucs near the start of the 2nd half was where I shut it off.

The Bucs defense was pretty damn good, down the stretch especially. BUT with that O-Line and what HAD to be swirling around in Andy Rieds mind, I think just about EVERY playoff team could have beat the Chiefs Sunday Night... Every team except the Bears that is.

A nickname for King?? Man o man, just want the man GONE from Green Bay. It's bad enough everytime I hear TJ Watts name I want to vomit instead of celabrate a Wisconsin boy doing great things. THANK GOD it wasn't the Bears, Vikings, or Lions drafting in that spot instead of the Steelers...Oh wait, that would have meant the Bears wouldn't have further destroyed their franschise with the Mack trade, right after doing years of damage with the Trubisky trade!!

FINALLY, a light at the end of the tunnel...The Bears STILL SUCK!

Small reflection .....
Assuming what I have already said in other posts that if the referees do correctly Tampa does not even pass the round against New Orleans, I have made a small comparison (Q excluded) player by player between GB and TB.
In my humble opinion (and very debatable ...) I have elaborated the following:
Gb is superior in 3 players (Devante Adams, Jaire A. and Bakt.)
We are tied in 2 players (Clark and Jenkins), but otherwise there is not a single time that I would take one of our players over theirs (I refer to talent).
So how come I still get the feeling that more GB has lost than Tampa has won ?? Maybe because we have Aaron Rodgers. I recognize that he is getting older, that he makes mistakes (he is human too) and that decision-making capacity on the whole perimeter is decreasing. But I firmly believe that without him this team (like many in recent years) would have a negative record.
For this I believe that Gb must restructure his contract, free up space in the roof and go fast on the free agency (in the hope of hitting the draft well)
Greetings from Italy
Go Pack Go

"This was easily the least interested I've ever been in watching a Super Bowl game"

You are not alone, they couldn't even manage to sell all the tickets. Looked like the stadium was half empty...

I'm glad the fans here have their sights set on a Super Bowl victory, but I would caution against too much negativity.
After the Packers had slipped into a couple years of dismal doldrums, our new head coach has revitalized the team to consecutive appearances in the NFL Final Four -- with an abundance of victories, including one in the playoffs each year.
It's understandable that we're not quite there yet as far as winning the Super Bowl because we haven't yet attained the level of the top teams -- but we can be hopeful that we're getting there.
We can praise the Packers for their accomplishments of late, and yet honestly assess their shortcomings so as to prod them to new heights.
Even as we're pursuing excellence, life is too short to not appreciate the amazing progress along the way.
***
Lest I be thought of as too positive, I was calling for a change in defensive coordinators at mid-season.
Then perhaps we would have seen if Jerry Gray was the man for the job in giving our defense an added edge.
In any case, now is the time to build that tougher defense of tenacity to put us over the top.
By the way, even in our win in the 2010 Super Bowl, the Steelers were bulldozing our defense in the second half -- and we were fortunate to hold on.
At least in those days our defense had some dash and daring, with Charles Woodson and Clay Matthews leading a corps of playmakers getting the ball back to our offense.
We could use some of that verve again, along with some of the ferocity of the Bucs defense that was the real difference in them beating us in the NFC Championship Game. They were fast and furious enough to frustrate us into mistakes. No shame at all in losing to them.
Their recipe seems to be brawny bruisers up front to eat up the blockers, and then quick crunchers to make devastating tackles. Let's focus on that in this draft, the kind of defense spoken of above by Jersey Al.
Thanks to him for a season of standout columns here at CHTV.

Super Bowl Blahs:

Watching the game, I couldn't help but think of the what ifs. What if we had the refs that were calling that game, and on the Lazard Interception they call DPI instead. Or what if they don't throw the DPI flag on King at the end of the game and Rodgers gets the ball back 1 last time. What if Adams catches the 1 TD. What if Redmond catches the ball before halftime. What if Bakhtiari doesn't get hurt.

The One:
How about the "Are you F***ing Kidding me play".

Joe Barry Hiring:
The one thing I know about his past DC jobs is that he did not have a lot of talented players to work with. He will have that in GB. I learned that the system he is going to employ is the Vic Fangio system. I like that. I learned from Bill Huber on the Mike Heller show the other day that the one good thing is that the defenses before and after Barry was the DC, were no better then when he was there. I believe Washington's defense improved under Barry and regressed after him. As we learned with LaFleur that we have to trust the process. Not a lot of people were happy with LaFleur. And he has finished 26-6 with 2 NFC championship games in his first 2 years.

Offensive Line:

Packers OL had been one of the strengths of the team all year. Wagner simply couldn't hold up against Barrett. Turner struggled against JPP. I do wonder what would have happened if Bakhtiari doesn't get hurt and Turner is able to play RT. I think they would have handled the pass rush much better.
When we get talking about the draft we need to make sure we talk about the OL. Watching what happened with Tampa and what they did to the Chiefs puts more emphasis that we need to make sure our OL is strong. With Linsley most likely to not return. Bakhtiari might be slow to return, OL becomes a bigger need. Turners versatility will help. Jenkins can move to OC if needed. Runyan looked good when he played. Stepanski might be a guy to watch. We definitely need to invest into our OT.

Bucs Defense in three words:
The speed really stands out. In all honesty the biggest difference was the ILB's. The speed at which they play is not comparable to the Packers. I really like Barnes and Martin looked good, but the speed difference is noticeable.

"Offensive Line:

I thought the Packers offensive line played poorly against the Bucs defense, but after seeing how the Bucs destroyed the Chief's offensive line, I'd have to revise that and say they probably did as well as could be expected without David Bakhtiari."

Man. So true. I will regret the CG forever. If even ONE thing goes the other way - including Bakh being there - we win. UGHHH.

I. HATE. TOM. BRADY.

OK. If you posted that AR was doing so much better this season because he wasn't dating, out yourself. Moving on.

So, looking to the draft and FA, GB needs an ILB, DT, O Line, RB and a CB. Sound familiar?

The thing that bothered me the most about the TD play before half, was TB pulled their TE and sent in their fastest receiver, after calling the timeout. If that didn't telegraph their intentions, then not only is Pettine an idiot, he is also blind.

Yes, GB blew the NFCCG, but TB's defense caught breaks with injuries to the OL for both GB and KC.

As for nick naming that play, I submit: "WTF2020"

The reason one or many is sick of Tom Brady is simple jealousy. Deny it all you want, but when you want Rodgers winning like Brady does, you'd be ecstatic that people are sick of Rodgers.

The talk about the OL while maintaining a top five or number one ranking throughout the season was constantly boasted about, especially its incredible ability to maintain such with their interchangeable depth, until they got stomped when that ranked play needed to show up.

So it's now being said that we should wait and see about Joe Barry. Why? Is it possible that MLF may go the route of MM and surround himself with friends regardless of their poor success scaring some. When the failures are what stands out on a resume, nobody should be expected to wait and see, while those who should be all over it, endorse a softball approach about covering the backstory and the principle person(s), Barry and LaFleur.

Apparently, lots of people didn’t care about the game. It had the worst viewership since 1969, and it was down millions from last year, which was down millions from the year before. I’ve watched every Super Bowl, but I had this one on in the background while I did other stuff.

For the second year , Jersey Al has pointed to a lack of team speed on defense for the Packers, but I don’t believe the plays that ended our season would have been changed by more defensive speed. The bomb to end the half, the fumble by Jones and subsequent TD, the missed opportunity to Lazard, the inability of Rodgers to Adams at the goal line.....none of these were about lack of defensive speed.

It was a great season, we had a really good team but we shot ourselves in the foot. That’s my season recap.

Of Course King messed up. But he is No F**k-up. How many CBs does one franchise have to keep drafting? We've seen Tramon Williams even mess up during MMs rein. But to keep dumping on King, is just foolishness. This defense couldn't stop Brady. And thats the simple truth. It hasn't stopped anyone for 10 years. Capers and Pettine didn't have the answers. So if two guys who pushed the 3-4-4, can't figure it out. Shouldn't the scheme be changed? I praise the Barry pick. A coach that believes in LBs again. Hot Damn! I 'm excited. Physical play is coming back to GB. No need to call a Lawyer. Yet some on this site have persecuted King so much. He should call one. And if it's not Kings Fault, it's Rodgers. The conversation about Defense has been the same for the last 10 drafts. Something needs to change. And while the NFL will get to fest on are cast-offs. Gute' position on Love, shows he isn't listening to the fans. Ignoring the DL until they made the playoffs? Gute is the guy to blame! For he is responsible for this roster. All the money and blood won't help. The packers got buried.

I laugh at all those saying they didn't watch or mostly ignored it while watching it. Personally, when I lose, I want to say I lost to the Champion. Even at the very least, it sounds better than all the whining from so many here.

RIC. Give the man credit, he rivals Brady in expanding and keeping his brand relevant... King was the end of a total Team Failure at the Half. At any point Lafleur should have called for or called a Time Out himself. Tampa's offensive tempo was beating Green Bay's defensive sets. It was well known after the Colts game that Lafleur made sure that he would make the call on the sideline. And yes, Someone should have made that call, maybe Amos didn't feel he could make that call. Pettine was too easy as a scapegoat covering Lafleur's failures as HC. The Berry hiring. Ugh. Just a bad DC period. In a contract year for Lafleur no less. Gute just put Lafleur on the clock. Great as always Al...

Nickname for the PLAY AT HALF TIME, THE DUCK KING!

I have no answers. But I wish that I did. Maybe the new coaches would on last years team. This year’s team is going to be worse because of the talent drain due to the smaller salary cap. When we draft at the bottom of the order for decades and have an expensive QB then it’s hard to do more with less. I think that we outperformed expectations. I hated the ending but loved the journey.

I vote for the Mikey PP Whoopsie..

Maybe "Should've held him". Certainly would have been better than when he did get called for holding.