THE WEAKEST PART MUST STAND THE STRAIN.

Fifty years ago, the Green Bay Packers closed out 1967 with the Ice Bowl.

Green Bay went 9-4-1 in ’67 and limped into the playoffs on the heels of season-ending losses to the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers. Hall of Fame running backs Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung were gone. So, too, was the team’s aura of invincibility. This was an aging team that had lost key players to injury.

That's right, I'm not going to have another wallow in the past today.

Rather, I want you, dear reader, to reflect on the wonderful one-hoss shay.  There was one more, anti-climactic thumping of the Oakland Raiders followed by Vince Lombardi, for a year, serving as general manager, at the beginning of a quarter century of futility.

This year, it's a young team losing young players (and a key quarterback) to injury.

[D]uring a 35-11 loss to the Lions on Sunday at Ford Field they were a mess of a team, an injury-plagued, veteran-deprived, ragtag collection unable to make an 8-7 team already eliminated from the playoffs break a sweat in a half-empty stadium.

If the Packers had a quarterback who could somehow make them think they had a chance, maybe the score wouldn’t have been so lopsided and they would have left for home with their heads held high.

Instead, what it looked like from the upper deck of Ford Field was a team demoralized about the failures on offense, knowing there was no way they could beat a team whose coach might lose his job for going 9-7.

The Lions did release coach Jim Caldwell, and the Bears released coach John Fox.

Changes are coming in Green Bay, as well.  Longtime defensive coordinator Dom Capers is out.

The decision to rework the defensive staff came in the wake of a lackluster season in which the broken collarbone of quarterback Aaron Rodgers pulled back the curtain on issues across the board.

When Capers’ unit exhibited the same flaws as 2016 — namely the lack of pass rush, poor secondary play and a lack of cohesion from front to back — the Packers and coach Mike McCarthy felt it was time for a change.

Those defensive problems have been a long time coming: remember the 2011 team that was 15-1 in the regular season only to be booed at Green Bay as Eli Manning and the Giants excused them from the playoffs, precluding even a return to the Super Bowl?  And yes, [North] Carolina quarterback Cam Newton is a bit of a showboat, but even so, the point of a defense is to be prepared.

Receivers, tight ends and running backs running free, defensive linemen jumping offside, and maybe the worst of all, quarterback Cam Newton caught on television telling linebacker Clay Matthews before the snap, “You’ve been watching film, huh? Watch this.”

“This” turned out to be Newton throwing to halfback Christian McCaffrey running uncovered over the middle for an easy touchdown while the Packers bungled a coverage they had worked on during the week.

There's more at work, though, than poor coaching or a lack of coordination among the position specialists.

There were times when the Packers had too many men on the field and others when they didn’t have enough. There were blown coverages in which receivers ran free and others when two defenders followed the same target. Veterans had to redirect rookies before the ball was snapped. Coaches disagreed with one another over whose players were at fault for certain touchdowns.

The operation as a whole felt broken.

Still, there were several factors that went beyond Capers’ control, shifting at least a portion of the blame to general manager Ted Thompson, who is stepping down and will take an advisory role with the organization.

The Packers’ cornerback position was decimated by injuries in each of the last two seasons, beginning with the career-ending concussion for Sam Shields in the 2016 season opener at Jacksonville. Capers has been without a true No. 1 corner ever since, a virtual death sentence in today’s pass-happy league.

There were groin problems for Randall and Rollins, both of whom needed surgery last season, and a devastating knee injury to Demetri Goodson that cost him all of 2017. Rollins tore his Achilles tendon in October. King, this year’s top draft pick, was in an out of the lineup with a shoulder problem that ultimately landed him on injured reserve. Davon House, the lone veteran Thompson signed, battled problems with his quadricep, shoulder and multiple transverse process fractures in his back.

It meant that in each of the last two years, as the Packers reached the NFC Championship Game in 2016 and fought to remain in the playoff race this season, Capers reached a point where undrafted rookies were the only healthy bodies at one of the game’s most important positions. The chances of Makinton Dorleant, Josh Hawkins, Lenzy Pipkins and Donatello Brown guiding the Packers to glory was slim, so Capers turned his backup safeties into slot cornerbacks instead.

At some point, Thompson should have reinforced his roster with veterans to give Capers a legitimate chance.

If Capers decides to call it a career, he will leave the sport with a tremendous résumé.

That's right, general manager Ted Thompson is becoming general manager emeritus, complete with an apartment in the Vatican.  (Oh, wait.)  Not sure this is a good idea: Vince Lombardi prowling the corporate suite whilst Phil Bengston was dealing with an aging quarterback and a line that should have been on injured reserve couldn't have hurt the Vikings.  History rhymes.  And the task awaiting the new general manager will not be easy.

Thompson owes it to the veterans who have slogged through this season to improve the roster and stop counting on draft picks staying healthy during their first season in the NFL. Many don’t.

The best thing McCarthy has going for him is that this game should open eyes everywhere that the Packers need free-agent help and a major change in either off-season training or draft health evaluation. It can’t be a coincidence that they’re one of the most injured teams year after year.

Those injuries contribute to weaknesses on the offense (in particular, a good offensive line has to keep the quarterback upright). "As bad as the defense has been, though, the offense has just as many holes. Maybe more."

The spin from Lambeau Field is that there might be new people in key offices, but the governing philosophy will continue.

[Kicker Mason] Crosby’s job status came under scrutiny in 2012 when he made only 21-of-33 field goals (63.6 percent). Yet, Thompson and McCarthy stood by Crosby and he rebounded the following year with what stands as his best season in 2013 (33-of-37, 89.2 percent).

“He’s diligent. He’s always working,” Crosby said. “He’s always looking to find guys that fit in this culture, in this locker room. He brought Coach McCarthy in, they came in together and made this thing what it is. So that groundwork and kind of the foundation he laid for these last 10, 11, 12 years now for him, that's why we've been so successful. It's a lot of credit to him and what he does in that front office.”

Thompson and his front office also enjoyed success drafting receivers, specifically in the second round. That’s where the Packers unearthed Jordy Nelson (2008), Randall Cobb (2011), Davante Adams (2014) and Greg Jennings (2006) in addition to finding James Jones in the third round in 2007.

“I have a lot of respect for Ted, he’s one of the main reasons I’m here,” said Adams, who signed an extension with the Packers last week. “He believed in me and kept me here throughout some bumps in the road. Lot of respect for him and however he takes care of his situation.”

Perhaps more than the acquisition of perennial Pro Bowl players such as Rodgers, Charles Woodson, Clay Matthews and Nick Collins was the opportunity Thompson’s front office has provided to unheralded players.

The organization had 24 undrafted rookies make the Packers’ opening-day roster since 2010, including starting left guard Lane Taylor. Taylor, who signed a contract extension in September, was one of several players who spoke about Thompson’s impact during Tuesday’s final media availability of the season.

Mr Thompson has dealt well with the salary cap, although you'll notice these observers carping about his being sometimes too stingy in free agency.

Here are Pete Dougherty's closing thoughts, going into the restructuring season that accompanies the playoffs.

If I’m [Packer president Mark] Murphy, I’d skip the middle man, hire whichever of his top three scouts he thinks will be the best GM and do what he must to retain [negotiator Russ] Ball. That setup allowed Thompson to concentrate mostly on scouting, in essence acting as the team’s super scout.

Other candidates from other teams might come as well. But the early guess here is that Murphy will stay in-house.

Regardless of Murphy’s path, he’s starting the Packers on a new era. They’ve had their biggest shakeup in a long time. Now it’s up to Murphy to set the next course.

Will that shakeup lead to a more resilient team, continuing to contend and make deep playoff runs, or are we entering another quarter-century of frustration?