What's amazing is that he did it with a lot of players who aren't even suited for the new defense, and had to learn from the ground up.
I think 2025/26 is going to be an even better year, if they shore up a couple of weaknesses.
Fully agree. Where this defense is at the momet is where I was hoping we would reach sometime in 2025 - but not January; more like October/November of 25.
When we hired Hafley, I deep-dived into the man's history, and what was his defensive philosophy. And what we have seen this year is exactly what I knew he would be
trying to accomplish, and what I hoped he
could. But I thought it would take 2 drafts to do it. He did it with one draft and one UFA.
I know there are a lot of games where we all swing down from the trees by our tails, flinging bananas and screeching "soft D, same old Packers, 15 yards off the line of scrimmage, not the time to play prevent," etc. But...
At the end of the day, the numbers are there. #5 yardage defense, #6 scoring D, and the
3rd toughest schedule according to ESPN's metrics. I don't wanna hear any more of this "fire Hafley, it's the same old thing" ****.
I had extremely high hopes for Hafley, possibly unrelaistically high. But he has exceeded most of them. If not for Detroit and Minnesota vastly exceeding their normal level of success this season, we're 13-4 or even 14-3, and a solid bet to go all the way. 1 year ago, who could
possibly have foreseen that Minnesota and the Detroits were going to be freaking 14-3 and 15-2 overall????
If Sunday goes poorly, yeah - I'll be here criticizing the mistakes and shortcomings. But that doesn't mean I'm giving up on our team. Just means we're not quite there yet, and here are the things we need to clean up this summer to take the next step - and reestablish our rightful position at the top of the NFC and (especially) the NFC North.
Which I do believe is quite acheivable in the 2025 season. I think this D is in very good hands.