This is it. Perennial playoff team that rarely goes the distance. Not being a entitled fan here, but just a realistic one. I'm still happy at where we are now (looking at you Bears), but it's time we awaken to reality.
- MLF has hit his his max capability and change needs to start with him. Maybe let the OC help with play calling, while he can look at some meta stuff like clock management, training against penalties etc. We have been mostly stagnant with just passing glimpses of brilliance making things more glitzy that they actually are. How can one be so strategic and blind at the same time!
- Gute's (and Ted's) team building is good to keep us here. We may need to rely on individual brilliance to take us further. But that's it. We are successful, but rarely dominate (looking at you, Lions). Overachievers, but never stars.
I really can't fault anyone as they have done their best. And here we are!
Yeah I agree something has to change for the Packers to go farther than they have the last two years. Just making the playoffs is certainly not enough for me.
I'd say Gluten has done a good job with personnel, especially considering the cap hits from guys like Rodgers, Bakh, JA and now Clark. Even so, he has more work to do than I thought just a few weeks ago. CB talent has to be upgraded, but now add OL depth, Edge rusher, veteran #1 WR talent, and DL talent and his job gets a lot tougher. Morgan will hopefully help address OL depth when healthy. The CB group is my #1 priority followed closely by a veteran, top WR. There is only so much that can be done in FA, and then the draft can supplement other areas that need to be addressed.
The real change needs to come, as you aptly note, in MLF's role. By essentially being the OC on game day, he's missing the forest for the trees. He needs to take a macro view of the team and count on his coordinators to deliver. Clock management and penalties were a problem for the entire season. Someone needs to chase that down, and a clear path to do so is required.
The team is a long, long way from being bad, quite the opposite. We all (most of us) had expectations that the team would build off the success of the last half of last season. Didn't work out so some changes are needed.