[For those not attuned to the Green Bay Packers’ fortunes: the team is 1 – 2, and was lucky to have escaped with its victory in Week 2 against the traditionally hapless New York Jets. Last night the Atlanta Falcons – who had lost the preceding week at home 34 – 3 — beat the Packers in Lambeau Field 35 – 14. I didn’t even bother to watch the second half; at the break the outcome was clear.]
In this original post, way back on January 11, 2026, reflecting upon the Packers’ playoff collapse against the Chicago Bears the previous night, I indicated doubts about Packers’ General Manager Brian Gutekunst, Packers’ Head Coach Matt LaFleur, and Packers’ Quarterback Jordan Love:
“Mr. Gutekunst hired [Mr.] LaFleur a number of years ago, and clearly Mr. LaFleur is technically an excellent coach, but one must question whether he has sufficiently instilled in his players that pride, the will to win, that is required to win a Super Bowl.
It doesn’t look to me like he has.
Likewise, although the color commentator lauded [Mr.] Love at one point last night … I wasn’t so sure. … There seems to me to be a question whether Mr. Love … has what it takes to win a Super Bowl. …
I would suggest that Mr. Gutekunst — who has essentially staked his legacy on Messrs. LaFleur and Love – should be asking himself this morning: Do these guys have … what it takes?
If he isn’t, the Packer Board of Directors should be asking themselves: Does Mr. Gutekunst have what it takes?” [Emphasis in Original]
After posting that note, I literally mentally turned the Packers off until the opening game of this season. [Nothing unusual here – since the early 2000s, I’ve paid no attention to Green Bay from the last game of one season until the first real game of the next (the sole exceptions being the years in which the franchise was contemplating its transitions from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers and then from Mr. Rodgers to Mr. Love 😉).] (It wasn’t difficult to shift one’s focus: Renee Goode had just been shot, Alex Pretti was soon to be shot, the Trump Regime was then discussing invading Greenland … and that was only January.) I discovered in doing a brief internet research for this post that Team president Ed Policy and the Packers’ Board of Directors provided multiyear extensions for Messrs. Gutekunst and LaFleur in January, 2026. Had I been aware at the time, I would then have entered a postscript, probably pretty neutrally observing that the Board had clearly decided that Messrs. Gutekunst, LaFleur, and Love did have “what it takes” to win a championship, almost certainly concluding with, “We’ll see what happens.”
Well, we’ve seen what’s happened.
Given our current domestic and global state of affairs, the Packers’ fortunes or those of any other sporting organization obviously aren’t worth a whit. But I’ll miss the weekly temporary distraction the team provided.
On we march.
Hey, at least you have the Brewers who are doing quite well.
Edk
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