Green Bay Packers Season Preview

Today’s Packer preview comes courtesy of Rob Vosters, a writer in the Divisionaries’ Milwaukee office.

The beginning of fall marks a very special time for Packer fans. Not only is it the beginning of the football season, that time of year when visions of Super Bowls past and future bloom brightly in the minds of all, but it also signifies the beginning of Wisconsin fashion season. No longer are the ubiquitous Packer sweatshirts, sweatpants, Zubaz, mock turtlenecks, Dickies, ski hats, T-shirts, incorrectly-used blaze orange hunting jackets, weightlifting gloves or beer cozies relegated to one’s closet or personal storage unit. The signs of leaves turning is nature’s way of alerting the citizens of this great state that they can freely don their favorite team’s overpriced foreign-made clothing in any of the millions of churches, taverns, rest stops, supper clubs, Wal-Mart parking lots, bars, schools or drinking establishments and know that they are truly at the bow of the S.S. Fashionable Packer Fan.

But as we’ve seen in recent years, dressing for success and actually being successful do not always go hand in hand. In successive seasons the Green Bay Packers have been the benefactor and then victim of bad breaks. The 2007 season saw them pull a 13-3 record and NFC Championship berth out of their asses thanks, in part, to the early-season strength of Brett Favre’s traitor arm and the mid-season ascension of running back Ryan Grant. If ever there was a high tide for luck in Green Bay, it was 2007. Game after game went their way, with only the bookend losses to the Bears and a shellacking by the Cowboys in between to keep Packer fans from overdosing on Super Bowl fantasies.

The 2008 season was a complete reversal of fortune — a tumultuous preseason QB controversy, a holdout by running back Ryan Grant and a season-ending injury to linebacker Nick Barnett coupled with a complete defensive meltdown resulted in a 6-10 record only mitigated by the fact that 7 games were decided by less than a touchdown. Lacking support from the half of the Packer fan base that deeply identifies with Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers was a frequent target of criticism for failing to capitalize on drives late in games (overlooked was the fact that those fourth-quarter drives were only necessary because the Packers defense had just allowed the other team to score). Yet, in spite of the losing record in 2008, Rodgers, Grant and wide receiver Greg Jennings all had (albeit young) career years.

Was the abrupt return to mediocrity the direct result of Brett Favre’s absence? Definitely not. Notwithstanding Favre’s mastery of masturbatory media praise regardless of his inability to control himself in clutch situations, his flaccid late-season performance with the Jets last year is proof enough that Ted Thompson made the right decision in kicking Favre to the curb in favor of Aaron Rodgers. In due time it will seem like a no-brainer to everyone but the most cheese-headed of Packer fans. Trust me, Favre fans, just because Rodgers doesn’t necessarily enjoy the same things as you (Wranglers, hunting and trucknutz) that does not make him a bad quarterback. His career is already off to a better start than ol’ puke n’ rally’s and if he stays healthy he will ultimately win more Lombardi Trophies than Favre ever lost for us.

With last year’s drama firmly behind them and all of the offensive pieces still in place this season, the true gauge for the Packers 2009 success will be the performance of their revamped defense. An eventful offseason included the firing of defensive coordinator Bob Sanders and the scrapping of the traditional 4-3 defense in favor of Dom Capers and his 3-4 scheme. This shift — the 4-3 defense has been a staple in Green Bay since 1992 — forced Pro Bowl defensive end Aaron Kampmann to make a hasty transition to outside linebacker, which has put the Packers in the enviable position of having more depth at linebacker than the Detroit Lions have bitter masochistic fans. The true test for the defense will be staying healthy (duh) and avoiding boneheaded miscues like last season’s end-of-year collapse. Fortunately, through four meaningless preseason games, the defense has looked more than impressive in shutting down opponents’ first-string offense.

The combination of an established offense capable of scoring lots and lots of points and a greatly improved defense bodes well for the team’s success in 2009. Just as so many were quick to jump from the bandwagon during last year’s fit of bad luck, expect to see an altogether annoying resurgence of cheese top hats, cheese sweater vests and cheese neckerchiefs (oh please, please do this entry level alts!) when the Packers start the season strong against the Chicago Bears and go into Minnesota with a 3-0 record. The latter half of the schedule appears to be the most formidable, including a particularly rough stretch of games against Baltimore, Chicago (away) and Pittsburgh (away). But barring unforeseen injuries it’s difficult not to go into Sunday night’s game against the Bears with the feeling that not only will the 2009 Packers rebound from last season’s losing record, but with a few lucky breaks they’ll make 2009 just as memorable as 2007.

Prediction: 12-4, with a 100 percent chance of nationally-televised man boob during Sunday night’s game.

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