TOO EARLY TO PUT A PIN IN THIS.

A National Review fund-raising blurb opens, "The NFL draft has concluded and confirmed that the Jets are two years from a winning record, that the Bears still stink, and that the Packers will win the Super Bowl."  Whether that prompts Militant Normals in Packer Nation to open their wallets, or whether that will age like Philadelphia cream cheese, remains to be determined.  Apparently author Luther Abel owns a share of Packer stock.

In Packer Nation, the standard remains five titles in six attempts in eight seasons, and the special teams are a work in progress.

TODAY IN FAR-TOO-EARLY FOOTBALL PROGNOSTICATIONS.

"How close are the 30 other NFL teams to a Super Bowl?"  Recall, dear reader, that the smart money had little love for the Seahawks and Patriots, both coming off bad seasons.  For what it's worth, the Vikings are sixteenth out, the Bears twelfth, the Lions eighth, and the Packers fifth.  Put two of the late season outs, the Bills and the Rams, as the most likely pairing on Valentine's Day a year out.

Maybe I'll return to this story in about a year, as the playoff picture shakes out.  Who knows, because betting money is involved, the football season forecasts might be more accurate than the usually hysterical forecasts at the beginning of hurricane season.

LET THE QUARTERBACK CONTROVERSY BEGIN.

The Pittsburgh Steelers indeed did hire former Packer and Cowboy coach Mike McCarthy as their fourth head coach since 1970.  There might be a few academic hires from 1970 still in the common room, but there are freeway flyer adjunct faculty with longer times under contract than most coaches these days.

Part of the reason those guys could stick along so long was their relative youth as coaches. They could coach a long time and still not be overly old.

McCarthy is in a different boat, a very experienced head coach but one with a lot more years under his belt.

That doesn't mean it will or won't work. It's just an interesting breaking of the trend.

McCarthy is from Pittsburgh, which certainly gives him bonus points here.

Now, everyone wants to see if he'll bring Aaron Rodgers back to rekindle their relationship from their Packers days.

From there, Pittsburgh will hope to start winning playoff games again, something that hasn't happened there in about a decade.

I'm not sure "rekindle their relationship" is what either the coach or Steeler management had in mind.  Billy Heyen with The Sporting News reports that Aaron Rodgers is currently "a fan of McCarthy."  Danica Patrick was not available for comment.

LIFE IMITATES THE BABYLON BEE.

As professional football's regular season ended and the ritual sackings of coaches commenced, we noted them recognizing that coaches enjoy a form of tenure.

The Babylon Bee is not wrong in its satire.  "Losing Football Team Excitedly Introduces New Coach Just Fired From Other Losing Football Team"  The stock photo accompanying the article is of Mike McCarthy, who went from winning a Super Bowl with America's Team to coaching a Dallas Cowboys team that was excused, a couple of years ago, from the playoffs, by America's Team.  Subsequently, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones asked Mr McCarthy to clean out his desk.  But his name might still be on this off-season's dance card.

And lo, it has come to pass that Mike McCarthy might be on the dance card of the team America's Team beat in that Super Bowl.

When Mike Tomlin left the Pittsburgh Steelers, it seemed to increase the odds Aaron Rodgers would leave, either to retire or pursue a new team.

But the latest head coach rumors coming out of Pittsburgh, involving Mike McCarthy, could change things back in the other direction.

McCarthy was Rodgers' head coach with the Green Bay Packers when they won a Super Bowl.

And it sounds like McCarthy is one of the favorites to end up with the Pittsburgh gig.

What transpired in Green Bay in the years after that Super Bowl win was not pretty.  I wonder how much of that history Doug Whaley, former general manager with Buffalo and current general manager of the springtime United Football League, knows.

Former NFL GM Doug Whaley spoke on 93.7 FM in Pittsburgh to break some of this down.

He was asked whether Rodgers and McCarthy would make sense as a pairing.

"Absolutely, no doubt," Whaley answered, then continued. "Then they can seriously put a plan together and say, let's get a quarterback."

The suggestion from Whaley, it appears, is for Rodgers to spend one year with McCarthy as his starting QB so they can figure out where they are going next at the most important position in sports.

Yes, Mike McCarthy has experience as quarterback coach, and yet a transitional quarterback working with what might be a transitional coach to quickly develop a new quarterback might get ... interesting.

WHAT STANDARD CONSISTENCY?

The Green Bay Packers will continue with the same management team going into the 2026 season.

Matt LaFleur and Brian Gutekunst are set to lead the Green Bay Packers for years to come.

After nearly a week of negotiations, the Packers signed LaFleur to a multi-year contract extension that will guarantee he won’t go into 2026 with just one year left on his deal. At the same time, the Packers were also close to completing a contract extension for Gutekunst.

PackersNews confirmed the status of both deals and learned that executive vice president/director of football operations Russ Ball would also receive a contract extension.

Terms of the deals were not available and it's unclear whether LaFleur and Gutekunst will have matching years on their contracts.

Apparently headquarters had been inclined to continue irrespective of how the wild card playoff game turned out.

According to a person familiar with the talks with LaFleur, Gutekunst and Ball, the Packers' front office structure is staying the same. All three men will report to President and CEO Ed Policy, who made the decision to extend each of the three men's contracts.

The structure has been in place since 2018 when then-President Mark Murphy decided that the general manager would not have total authority over the football operation as had been the case since general manager Ron Wolf was hired in 1992.

LaFleur’s future with the Packers seemed like it was in question after the Packers suffered an embarrassing wild-card playoff loss to the Chicago Bears on Jan. 10. It was the third time in the past four playoff appearances that the Packers bowed out of the playoffs in their first game.

However, according to a source with knowledge of the talks Policy had with his leadership, there was no hesitation about bringing LaFleur back. As NFL Network had reported prior to the Packers' playoff loss to the Chicago Bears, the final game would not have a bearing on LaFleur's future.

It appears Policy had already decided that LaFleur would remain as head coach provided the two were able to reach a contract agreement. Although it took a week to get the deal done, it appears that it was mostly because Policy had three contracts to negotiate and not because there was any hesitation from LaFleur or Policy.

The challenge is always whether the turmoil of a coaching change and subsequent rebuild (Admiral Gallery's description of a command change at sea being akin to removing one head and grafting on another applies to coaching changes, irrespective of whether it's an internal promotion or the coaching square dance) is worth doing.

Part of Policy's decision was whether seven years was enough time for LaFleur to lead the Packers to a Super Bowl. Despite a 76-40-1 regular-season record, LaFleur has gotten the team to the NFC championship game twice, but no further.

Policy decided the Packers could win a Super Bowl under LaFleur.

At the end of Coach LaFleur's second season, we noted,

Every so often, a team management does go all in on making a Super Bowl run, and Tampa might have done so making Tom Brady the de facto director of personnel, and perhaps that will work out for them (this year) and perhaps the reckoning with the salary cap and free agency will not haunt them for ten seasons.  On the other hand, how often might a management make a big splash on free agency only to wind up with an angry locker room and no playoff appearances to show for it?  We know what the standard is, and being regularly in the mix is a better sort of frustration than regularly being out of the mix.

The Tom Brady - Rob Gronkowski farewell tour ended with a championship in Tampa Bay, but has anyone heard from them lately?  Or would you rather be the Bears, still shuffling after forty years?  The Vikings, going zero-for-Bud Grant?  The Lions, still carrying the curse of Bobby Layne?

MORE LIKE A COACHING SQUARE DANCE THAN A COACHING CARROUSSEL.

Thus did a Milwaukee news analyst describe the annual ritual of unsuccessful head coaches cleaning out one office only to fill another.  The Babylon Bee is not wrong in its satire.  "Losing Football Team Excitedly Introduces New Coach Just Fired From Other Losing Football Team"  The stock photo accompanying the article is of Mike McCarthy, who went from winning a Super Bowl with America's Team to coaching a Dallas Cowboys team that was excused, a couple of years ago, from the playoffs, by America's Team.  Subsequently, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones asked Mr McCarthy to clean out his desk.  But his name might still be on this off-season's dance card.

A losing football team excitedly announced today it had hired a new head coach, who was just fired from a different losing football team.

Though the team's previous coach was also hired from yet another losing team, the general manager felt confident the new loser coach would stop the losing.

"This will change everything," announced general manager John Ryans. "With seven wins and twenty-nine losses over the past three years, our new coach knows what it takes to win. He also knows what it takes to not win. He's got that knowledge, and bringing that knowledge is huge. With our group of players who generally lose, plus a new coach who's been losing, we've never been in a better position to not lose."

According to league sources, all of the losing football teams are once again participating in the annual mandatory coach swap. "This time will be different, I know it," said local fan Marcus Denison. "He really was the best coach available, because the coaches that win didn't get fired. He may be a loser, but he's lost in very different ways than our old coach. I think it's going to be a great fit."

At publishing time, one unlucky coach was left at the end of the annual coach swap, thus becoming the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

It's a ritual common in organized sports.  How many baseball teams did Dave Bristol or Leo Durocher or Gene Mauch or Harry Walker manage in their careers?  Sparky Anderson, who had two very good runs with the Reds and Tigers cracked wise about enjoying a sort of tenure.  And Ned Yost couldn't secure the main prize in Milwaukee but subsequently did so with Kansas City.

PALACE INTRIGUE IN PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL.

Is anybody surprised?  Yesterday's round-up of the process that is the league's most important product included

There are seven head coaching vacancies as we publish.  The Ravens are not known for willy-nilly swapping out head coaches, unlike some other teams you might have heard of.  And Mr Harbaugh being available at the relatively young age of 64 is prompting speculation about additional teams making moves.

Sure enough, there is an eighth vacancy now.  "Dolphins fire Mike McDaniel after 4 seasons as coach."

AFTER FURTHER REVIEW.

Football: episodic violence interrupted by committee meetings.  It used to be that only the players would have those meetings, now the officials inject themselves into the delays.  It should not come as any surprise that a sport that has trouble defining what a "catch" is and yet in all earnestness can speak of "completing the process of the catch" can bog down in process worship worthy of a faculty meeting.

Consider, first, how the simple act of winning a game might not be sufficient to break a tie and get the team winning the game into the playoffs.  That came up Saturday and Sunday when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the [North] Carolina Panthers in their final game, on Saturday.  That gave both of those teams an identical, sub-0.500, record, but a third team in that division had a shot at the same record.  "Why the Saints and Falcons Will Decide Whether the Bucs or Panthers Win the NFC South."  Sports Illustrated offer a straightforward explanation.  Red State's Jerry Wilson sees the humor in the situation.

Should the Buccaneers beat the Panthers on January 3 and the Falcons beat the Saints on January 4, Tampa Bay, Carolina, and Atlanta will all finish the season at a robust 8-9. (Slight tinge of sarcasm there.) The Panthers would then win the division because they beat the Falcons twice and the Buccaneers once during the regular season, thus having the best record against the other two teams. However, if Tampa Bay and New Orleans both win, the Buccaneers win the division because they have a better record against common opponents than the Panthers. Glad we could clear that up for you, although I am now in dire need of an aspirin.

The league has contemplated contingencies more convoluted than a three-way tie for the lead, or for teams qualifying as a wild-card (meaning you start on the road and probably don't have a home playoff game) and after reading through those, something stronger than aspirin might be in order.

FOOTBALL IS A COLLISION SPORT.

A month ago, the Green Bay Packers were in a position to secure first place in the Black and Blue Division.  There are worse ways to lose a game in Denver than have a very good defensive back intercept a first-down pass intended as a knock-out score after the defense records a three-and-out to open the second half.  Later, as Denver rallied, Packer defender Micah Parsons suffered a season-ending injury.  The anterior cruciate ligament gets stronger only in geologic time, while player speed and mass increase in a generation.

As we posted our final Advent meditation for the Festive Season, we were anticipating a showdown between the Packers and Bears with that first place being held by the winner with two games to play.  But for some foolish penalties on the defense in what could have been the final Bear possession and yet another failure of the special teams to cover an on-side kick that everyone in the stadium knew was coming, the Packers might have had that division lead.

OPTING OUT OF YET ANOTHER CARTEL?

Very interesting.  "Notre Dame opts to skip postseason entirely after being left out of College Football Playoff."  Why?

The Fighting Irish played in last season's national championship game but were on the playoff bubble this fall after a 10-2 record, including an opening-week loss at Miami. Notre Dame was ranked in the top 10 of every ranking by the playoff selection committee until Sunday's final rankings, when it fell to 11th and was the first team left out. Meanwhile Miami (10-2) earned the final at-large berth.

The Fighting Irish had won 10 consecutive games and were idle Saturday but fell anyway. Athletic director Pete Bevacqua called the previous rankings a “farce and total waste of time” to ESPN.

How the committee would view Miami and Notre Dame had been a subplot all season. The committee’s chairman, Hunter Yurachek, had said Miami’s head-to-head win wasn’t a significant factor — until Sunday, when BYU’s drop in the rankings after its loss in the Big 12 championship moved Miami up, creating a head-to-head comparison between the schools.

Notre Dame joined Iowa State and Kansas State in declining bowl bids despite being eligible, although the circumstances were far different; the Cyclones and the Wildcats are each going through coaching transitions. The Big 12 Conference fined both schools $500,000 for saying no to the postseason.

Last year, an early season loss to Northern Illinois didn't keep Notre Dame out of the playoffs.  That year's Northern Illinois team ended its season with a bowl victory.

LET'S JUST SAY WE REMEMBERED.

I've maintained that the Packers might do better if they have to work to win their division.  It helps that the Bears field a good team; it helps even more to beat the Bears.

The Packers, though, have to win.

That photo is from eleven years ago.  It's representative of conditions on the ground here today.  That stringy little maple seedling has grown some since.

IT IS DECEMBER, AND IT IS BEARS WEEK.

How many times must I remind readers that the weather weenies love to scare people?  "Triple polar vortex sends temperatures plunging in central and eastern U.S. as 1st Arctic cold blast moves in."

Oh, please.

The first of three rounds of cold Arctic air from a shifting polar vortex has sent temperatures plunging across the central and eastern U.S., threatening centuries-old record lows in cities and towns from Iowa to Maine.

And meteorologists forecast two more blasts of frigid temperatures for millions of people over the next two weeks.

“The week will end with some of the coldest air of the season so far, as a front advances from the Midwest into the Northeast and mid-Atlantic,” said Renee Duff, AccuWeather senior meteorologist.

“A displacement of the polar vortex is allowing Arctic air to seep into the central and eastern U.S.,” Duff said. “A second cold outbreak is in the forecast next week, and a third round of frigid air is likely during the middle of the month.”

Which raises the possibility of a White Christmas at Cold Spring Shops headquarters, just like the ones we used to know.

Right in time for professional football's title drive.  The Packers host Chicago, play at Denver, then play Saturday evening at Chicago, and after Christmas host Baltimore (the former Browns, not the Colts).  Foul weather cities with outdoor stadiums all.

THE RECEIVERS ARE THAT GOOD.

The true professional concentrates on eliminating errors.

One of the referees from the Thanksgiving game between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions had an intriguing explanation for wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks’ touchdown play.

The highlight took place early into the second quarter. Wicks caught a 22-yard pass from quarterback Jordan Love as he had a great contest from the Lions defender. He maintained his balance while keeping his feet inside the end zone, preventing them from going out of bounds.

Lions reporter Colton Pouncy interviewed the NFL’s Vice President of Instant Replay Mark Butterworth after the game. One of the topics involved Wicks’ touchdown, which the referee explained why they upheld the call.

“What did you see on the second quarter touchdown to Dontayvion Wicks that led you to confirm he had possession of the ball and both feet in bounds?” Pouncy asked.

“The ruling on the field was a touchdown. We saw control with his right foot down and his left down in the end zone and then a third step out of the end zone,” Butterworth answered.

“Was there any discussion about a bobble?” Pouncy followed up.

“No. These receivers are that good. He controls the ball with his hand. But with his hands or arm above his body, while pulling it down, by rule, he can actually pull that ball into his body as he completes the process of a catch,” Butterworth replied.

Yes, on Thanksgiving, and Lion defenders can still get away with pass interference.

There is enough in the definition of a "catch," particularly that "completing the process" part that the next spectacular catch you see might not, after review, be a catch. A well-executed sideline catch with both feet inbounds and the receiver promptly going out of bounds can, by rule, be not a catch because the receiver has not made a proper football move.  Watch for something like that to present between now and the end of the Super Bowl.

THE CROSS-BORDER RIVALRY FROM JANESVILLE TO WOODRUFF.

Pajamas Media's David Manney contemplates "Wisconsin's Greatest Football Feuds."

People growing up in western Wisconsin carry a unique brand of irritation towards Minnesota. Families near Eau Claire, Altoona, Hudson, and La Crosse feel the Vikings' rivalry more intensely because purple jerseys appear in grocery aisles, fishing docks, and workplace break rooms.

Folks living near Milwaukee, Racine, and Green Bay feel a stronger pull towards the Bears' rivalry.

Proximity dictates which fans get under your skin, except for a very close friend of mine who lives in Green Bay, a Vikings fan surrounded by a sea of green and gold.

Writers who've covered the rivalries for years, framing the battles, rarely capture how Wisconsin geography carves fans into two camps: one rolling its eyes at Minnesota pride, while the other spars with Chicago fans who NEVER whisper.

He didn't mention Marinette and Menominee, perhaps because the other rivalry of the Black and Blue Division comes into play somewhere along a line between Manistique and Marquette, along the old time zone divider, where the radios west of that line are tuned to Brewer and Packer broadcasts.

THE FANS KNOW WHAT THE STANDARD IS.

A Barstool Sports contributor called Hubbs asserts, "Matt LaFleur Has No Balls And Needs To Give Up Play-Calling For The Packers."  Well, yes, that Sunday fiasco in Green Bay made the absence of any coffee at the Baird Center for Train Fest look like the smallest of First World problems, at least in the sports world.

The Packers might be the most confusing 5-2-1 team you'll ever come across. After their convincing win against the Steelers on SNF I think most people felt they had no choice but to respect the Pack and consider them a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

Well, after Sunday's dud of all duds, losing as a 13.5 point home favorite to the Carolina Panthers, how can they be? I mean how does a game like that happen, especially when Bryce Young going 11 for 20 for 102 yards and an interception? How do you lose to a team that had give up 40+ to New England and Buffalo? If you're this Super Bowl contender you should be right on par with those teams.

That 13.5 point favorite scored all of 13 points and couldn't stop the Panthers from getting into reasonable field goal range to walk off as winners.  The columnist wants a change in play-calling responsibilities.

I think it's been a long time coming for LaFleur to give up play-calling. This offense needs a new voice. Do I expect a team that's 5-2-1 to make a drastic change like this? No, but they absolutely should. This Packers offense leaves far too much on the table every week. Whether they're starting slow like in the Pittsburgh and Arizona games, or playing with their food like the Bengals game. It's never a full 60 minute complete effort where they just run away with a game because the offense was relentless. When you look at the numbers under the hood you see it's a play-calling issue.

Listen, I don't know if this Packers team can overcome Tucker Kraft's season ending ACL injury. He was their number one option and really made them special. They have plenty of talent besides him, although LaFleur would rather feature Savion Williams than Matthew Golden so it might not even matter.

There are voices among the Packer faithful who are calling for a coaching change.  At the time Matt LaFleur introduced himself to the fourth estate, we reminded readers "The standard is still five championships in six championship games in eight seasons."  Over the past thirty years, Packer teams have had the window of opportunity to make a run at that standard, or at least to repeat, or to win a couple titles over five years, and that has not come to pass.  People with long memories might not be satisfied with a change in the play-calling responsibilities.

A TEAM THAT WILL LIVE IN IGNOMINY.

For years, some sports pundit has offered "Bottom Ten" rankings for college and professional teams.  I'm old enough to remember one iteration listing Bay (Green) along with Bay (Tampa), the aftermath of the Lombardi Era being nearly thirty years in the wilderness with a team not much better than an expansion team, and another iteration featuring the Los Angeles Lambs.

These days, the pundit is Ryan McGee with ESPN, and he hits close to home.  Go, Northern Ill-ugh-noise.

The Other Other Huskies are one of a whopping six #MACtion team stuck at 1-and-something, but won, er, lost out for this spot over the other five because: 1. They actually played a game last weekend; C. They lost to San Diego State, which isn't terrible, but the final score of the game was 6-3; and secondly, we wanted a chance to hype this week's Pillow Fight of the Week, when they host My Hammy of Ohio, which is now 1-3 after beating Lindenwood, a school you've never heard of unless you are a big Pierre Desir fan.

That's the way to motivate fans on homecoming weekend at the teachers' college that claims to have invented homecoming.

HOW DO YOU SCOUT BLOCKING AND TACKLING?

So ran the lament during the Lombardi era in Green Bay.

There are fundamentals in baseball as well.

People in baseball keep warning me: Don’t get carried away with the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers’ batted-ball luck is insane, they say. Their 53-17 record since May 24 might be a classic case of peaking early. Come the postseason, they could be headed for another quick flameout.

All true. But even though the Brewers’ 14-game winning streak ended Sunday with a 3-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds in 10 innings, their record is best in the majors by six games. The team that opened the season with the sport’s eighth lowest payroll is putting the competition to shame.

There’s a lesson here, if anyone in baseball cares to heed it. The lesson is in every ball the Brewers put in play and every runner they advance, every cutoff man they hit and every extra base they take. The Brewers are not perfect – Sunday’s loss included a critical error to open the ninth by Brice Turang at shortstop and two botched bunts in the late innings. But they at least try to play the game properly at a time when most teams place too little emphasis on fundamentals and too much on the next big analytical thing.

Baseball is a different sort of game, in that you can't put the ball in Bart Starr's or Giannis's hands in a tight situation, and beginning players ought be coached in Little League (and here is where the helicopter parents really ought chill) in the ways each player can keep the line moving, or stop the other team's line from moving.

Can someone please explain why clubs fixate on enhancing pitchers’ fastball velocities and hitters’ exit velocities but fail to properly instruct players on running the bases and hitting the cutoff man? Why can’t organizations focus on both?

The Brewers are an outlier, exploiting a new market inefficiency – knowing how to play baseball. They obsess over little things, in part, because they generally do not pay for superstars who do big things. Most Brewers make too little money and possess too little service time to defy their detail-oriented leader, manager Pat Murphy. And the team’s highest-paid player, left fielder Christian Yelich, practices what Murphy preaches, inspiring his teammates to do the same.

The advantage in the playoffs might be with the big payrolls, and yet if you take care of the base running and the position of fielders on each ball put in play, the World Series might take care of itself.

The Brewers entered Sunday tied for fifth in sacrifice bunts and sixth in sacrifice flies, and also were second in stolen bases. They scrap. They drive opponents to distraction. They beat teams in any number of ways.

“I think we need to take a page out of the Brewers’ book,” Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Bryan Reynolds said Wednesday. “They just do everything right. They base run, they take the extra base, they put the ball in play, swing at strikes. I think we could benefit a lot from trying to have the same kind of game style.”

It’s not just the small-market teams that could benefit, it’s every team. Here’s to the little things that make baseball beautiful. Here’s to baseball’s version of David using slingshots on the sport’s Goliaths. Here’s to the Brewers, however long they continue the fun.

Indeed.

HOW DID YOUR WORK WEEK GO?

What better way to close out a week of reporting on Eventful Things than with a sketch worthy of Mad?

That's a wrap for this week. Thanks for looking in.

FOOTBALL IS BLOCKING AND TACKLING.

Mark Oldacre takes stock of the Packers' draft choices.

How do you control the game? By physically exerting your will on your opponent. The Packers seem to be undergoing something of a philosophical change on the offensive line, specifically by beefing up the interior, seeking to play bully ball with Josh Jacobs at running back.

Green Bay’s offensive line was overwhelmed by the likes of Detroit and Philadelphia in the passing game in 2024, and they appear to want to start dictating things up front.

In [receiver Matthew] Golden, the Packers may have an answer to the issues they faced whereby opponents essentially did not respect their receivers’ ability to get open versus physical man coverage and burn them downfield. Golden is a presence defenses will have to plan for and be aware of on every snap.

With him in tow, Green Bay can get back to dictating to defenses in the passing game, and his ability to make big catches in key moments should also help them convert more third downs and stay on the field, accomplishing the goal of controlling the game offensively.

After the offense scores, though, comes the kickoff, and the surprise onside kick is no longer an option.

Collin Oliver, Green Bay’s fifth-round pick, is a hybrid defensive end/off-ball linebacker who is explosive and was productive at Oklahoma State. He is unlikely to ever be a starter but is an exciting sub-rusher who could be moved around by defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley to create chaos.

The first three rounds of this draft were reminiscent of 2020, with the Packers going offense with their first three picks for the first time since then, including a big perceived "reach" in round two, much like A.J. Dillon was, and an interesting offensive utility player in round three, similar to Josaiah Deguara.

Green Bay has done serious work in recent years to turn this roster over, make it younger and get them back to competing in a hurry. This weekend they rewarded themselves with some fun picks which could be impactful specific role players.

Draft Days in Titletown were a lot of fun to watch, complete with trash talking from the other Black and Blue Division teams as they made their hires.  It's a few weeks until the first organized team activities.  "Green Bay can now play any style of football they want on offense, and the coaching staff cannot say they are lacking an ingredient they need."  We'll see if the resources are on hand on defense.  "Hafley made the most of what he had on defense a year ago, and the Packers will be relying on him, along with new defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington, to do the same again."

THAT DEFLATING COLLEGE FOOTBALL BUBBLE.

Northern Illinois football recently changed its conference affiliation to ... the Mountain West.  Northern Star sports reporter Skyler Kisellus hopes for the best.  "Though NIU has left the Mid-American Conference before, its upcoming departure won’t backfire like its ill-fated 1986 exit."