Hey, I'm a die hard fan of the Green and Gold. I was born in Milwaukee. I went to Packer games at Milwaukee County Stadium when the Pack still played a few home games away from Lambeau. The first time I ever saw the Packers play, David Whitehurst was under center. I was born after the Lombardi era, so I saw a lot of bad football. I grew up in the "Hall of Fame Packers who shouldn't be standing on the sideline with a clipboard in their hands" era; Bart Starr and Forrest Gregg were great under center, or blocking. As Head Coaches...not so much. I learned early on what it was like to be a Packers fan, and have a ridiculous offense, and no defense. Lynn Dickey throwing to James Lofton, Paul Coffman and John Jefferson was a blast, even when it was like 5 degrees, and your breath froze the second it left your mouth in the 20 below wind chill. Problem was, Eric Dickerson would run for like 100 yards against us...in the first half. Walter Payton made the Packers defense his personal gauntlet.
Sometimes we vent. It's ok. It doesn't make us any less of a fan. I've been calling for Dom Capers' head for the last four years. We've had two Hall of Fame quarterbacks under center for the last twenty-five years, the hardest position to fill in all of professional sports, yet we only have three Super Bowl appearances with them, and two wins. We're wasting the prime of Aaron Rodgers' career with a Defensive Coordinator who can no longer keep up with the modern game. Capers was great ten years ago, but whatever it is--an inability to scheme for the mobile quarterbacks of today's game, talent evaluation, or in game decision making--I am tired of seeing the middle of our defense become a safe haven for opposing receivers and tight ends. I'm tired of watching our high draft picks chasing after wide open receivers because we just refuse to jam them off the line of scrimmage. Injuries are a part of the game, yes, and the Packers seem to get hit by injuries more than any other team--but at some point, you have to cut your losses. If Dom Capers doesn't have compromising pictures of Ted Thompson, Mark Murphy, or Mike McCarthy--I have to wonder how in the hell he keeps his job? Look at the litany of first and second rounders he's gotten in the past few years. And still, the defense under-performs. Aaron Rodgers became the starter in 2008. In ten seasons, he's had two top ten defense-in 2009, and 2010. In 2009, the Packer defense gave up 45 points in the opening round playoff loss to Kurt Warner and the Cardinals. Rodgers threw for 423 yards, 4 TD, and ran for another. Yet he lost because his defense imploded. The other time he had a top ten defense, the Packers won it all. Rodgers beat the #1 scoring defense in the NFL in Pittsburgh.
Compare that to the team Tom Brady has had around him. Everybody is calling Brady the greatest of all-time. And, to be sure, he's a phenomenal QB; a first-round Hall of Famer. But Super Bowl wins are a team accomplishment, not a metric of individual greatness. Brady has five rings, yes. But look at the defenses he had in those wins. The Patriots ranked, in order, 6th, 1st, 2nd, 8th and 1st in the NFL in scoring defense the years they won it all. Give somebody like Aaron Rodgers that kind of defense, and just how far can Green Bay go?
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