I was carried away by the hype, and other fans belief that they may be a decent team. In my heart I believed the Packers had been riding on Rodgers coattails. I felt he was hitting receivers he knew, and trusted, thereby keeping them competitive.
What I didn't realize is that they couldn't continue to put up the 30+ points they needed to win games. Yet, I did figure, at 11 wins, they would be ousted in their first playoff game.
Rodgers confidence is gone. He doesn't trust his receivers, and they aren't on the same page as he is. It's on him, it's on them, and it's on the coaching staff, which has failed miserably to properly define their individual responsibilities on plays. As far as new receivers, I think the problem is more with coaching than skills. Watching Watson out there tells me that they should have stuck with him, even after his game one first play drop. They temporarily stunted his growth, as a player. But, also understand, Rodgers doesn't seem to trust any of them, except possibly Lazard, and even then, only part of the time.
On defense, as people have stated, we've gone nowhere to improve over where we were when ML took the reins of the team. Is this a front office mistake, or on ML? They can share the blame. Too many square pegs that they try to plug into round holes. I doubt it will ever change with the GM and coaches to be honest. There's a mindset there, and it's wrong.
It's time to address where the future of this franchise lies. Is it in same-o, same-o philosophy where the goal is to win over 60% of your games, or is it to rise back to the top, and be a real contender, year after year. I am fairly confident on one thing. That rise to the top will never happen with Gutey as GM, and Love at QB. It's going to take a ruthless GM coming in and gutting players off the team, even if they're fan favorites.
I should have said the Packers would be lucky to win 7 or 8 games this year. That's pretty much what I thought before I got caught up in the hype, and threads like this one. I don't think I'm alone on that. Sometimes we let our heart speak for our heads, and that's not reality.