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Good morning, everybody. Welcome into the Winkler Verse. I'm Bart Winkler. We've got an episode today, which is all Tyler. Done.
Go along, T D. Dot com, it's a sub stack. Go along, does a great job with it. A lot of great. Draft coverage there.
Which is in two weeks, which I like. It's probably because the Packers don't have a first-round pick. You know, I'm just like. Oh yeah, the draft is in two weeks.
So that's coming up. Really good piece on Javon Bullard that we'll talk about. Tyler. How are you? Good to see you.
Bart, it's so good to hear your voice again, but this time to also see you. I think that's the beauty about going independent, right?
Now we can make it more real. I got to get out there. We got to talk over a beer about the Packers and Matt LaFleur and the future of everything.
So inching our way to a reality. Have a beer with Matt LaFleur. Bring him on. Bring him in. Let's do it.
Have a seat tower five. Let me start there. I don't I don't want to say I don't like him. I don't want to say, I don't want to, it's not about that. What it's about is I I'm not surp I'm not surprised that the Packers.
Extended him. I think other teams maybe don't. I'm not surprised that the Packers did. What I keep saying with Matt LaFleur And this will tie in because you wrote a great piece, Javon Bullard. Out of Georgia.
A couple of years now with the Packers.
Somebody that I think is really making a name for himself with the team and really wants more. And it's a really good look. And I'd encourage everybody to check it out. It's a really good look at who this guy is. You do a great job with that.
Thanks. With LaFleur, my thing comes back to They had a 21-3 lead against the Bears. at halftime and throw at everything else that happened that season. The Browns, the Panthers, the other stuff. Throw the five-game losing streak.
Let's just talk about that. My thing is. I don't see in him. A coach, and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I'll say that.
They get the number one seed, regular season coach, whatever. They get the number one seed, they get to buy. I don't see Matt LaFleur. In a four-week stretch, three games, divisional, conference, bi-week Super Bowl. I don't see that that guy has the makeup, the demeanor, the ability.
to get it done. My evidence would be you were up 21 to 3 against the Bears. What the hell happened in that locker room? At halftime, what the hell happened with that team?
So that's where I come with Matt LaFleur. It's not that I don't, whatever, it's I don't think they're going to win a Super Bowl with him. And this Javon Bullard article and the stuff that he had to say. Like Yeah. Yeah.
When you asked him about the coaching, you know, he talked about like Kirby Smart and other guys he's had and it's like Okay, so he's saying things without necessarily saying things that maybe LaFleur isn't the right guy for this team. How do you see it from your conversations with him? You had covered this team a long time. You cover the league very well. The Matt LaFleur decision, the extension.
Was it the right thing for the Packers to do? Yeah. I was Maybe not stunned, but very surprised that he was extended. I think that going into The postseason, I know this isn't just me. I know people on that roster, on that coaching staff, that probably felt he would be back.
As the season kind of unfolded the way it did, you lose Micah Parsons, Tucker Kraft, Josh Jacobs is banged up. Look, injury, everybody has injuries. These were major injuries. And they were what, like 9-3-1 at some point. Denver happens.
I definitely want to get to that game. I feel like that is when the team really died, not at Soldier Field in the playoffs. But I was there too. I was there in the stands. That was our road trip.
We're feeling good. And everything happened. Your quarterback gets whacked in the head, and nobody does anything about it because that's how they're coached, right? There are teams with coaches who say, We're not going to stand for this shit, stand up. Do something about it.
Right? Like your quarterback, it's punked. The instinct should be to fight. To stand up, not to point. Like a child on the playground.
Like I. There are teams and coaches and players that react that way. And then there are teams that got some fight. And your point being, like, to win in January, three, four games in a row to get to a Super Bowl and win that game. Those are the teams that have some fighting.
Javon Bullard got into a lot of this. He's like, look at Seattle. Look at Philly two years ago. These are Defenses that want to drag into the dark alley. And I don't think you can really say that about this metal floor football team.
So Yeah, to answer your question, I think you heard it from Javon Bullard when it came to Ben Johnson. Don't let him shit on you like that. He wants him to stand up. Like and like like that Denver moment. If you let a bully win, you're going to get bullied again and again and again.
People around the league see that. Ben Johnson, this goes all the way back to that introductory press conference. When he just calls out Matt LaFleur, we all assume that they're close friends. They're not. And he doesn't really say anything.
I'm sure it's pissing him off behind the scenes, but. Look, I don't know. I get it. I'm in the media and we love this stuff. We love Packers, Bears hating each other again.
It's good for football. But there is something to that. There is something for standing up for yourself. I can't see a Dan Campbell getting pushed around like this.
So Yeah, I think that the players see it, the coaches see it, and there's... There's everything that we see, and there's everything we don't see. What do we see, Bart? I mean, this is a team. I had to pull, I feel like it's deja vu.
I had so many Sean McDermott conversations like this the last couple years, but what we see is a coach entering year nine. Only John Madden, Bill Cower, and Tom Landry have won Super Bowls with a team this point or beyond. Hank Stram too, but Hank Stram won an AFL title.
So, you know, don't really count him.
So, very rarely does a coach just. win a Super Bowl at this point of their career with a team. He could do it, right? Like the young talent has kind of been growing up together now. Jordan Love, fourth year as a starter.
But then you look at last season. I mean, they choked away a 10-0 lead late against the Browns. They had that 16-13 pillow fight with the Panthers, that Denver moment where they get punked and they squander that. 23 to 14 lead, the botched onset kick against Chicago. You get steamrolled for 300 rushing yards by Derrick Henry and the Ravens.
In five of their nine losses, they led by nine plus points. Three times they lost when they didn't even punt. Like, if that's not coaching, I don't know what is. And oh, yeah, they were up 21 to three in the playoffs and lost. See, that's the issue that I like.
Get feedback wise. I'm very. Open. And adamant and public that I don't think Matt LaFleur should be the coach of this team. And so there's going to be pushback with that from people that, you know.
Don't care, or think he's fine, or give me the regular season record. You know, if Aaron Rodgers is still here. And LaFleur, like he had a different, him coaching Jordan Love in this team. Probably different than coaching Aaron Rodgers in that team because I always said LaFleur was like a co-manager. Like, okay, Aaron's in control a little bit, but you know, all right, LaFleur, you got to coach now.
I think there's a bunch of things that I've criticized LeFleur over the years for. I don't think he deals with things well the first time. I think he always needs to like Go through something before he figures out, okay, I'm gonna do that.
So, like, if they ever make a Super Bowl, no way they're winning. Um, with him. And then I also think like he wears his emotions on his sleeve, and he's also a very bad poker player. Like, you can tell things annoy him. You can tell Ben Johnson is punking him.
You can tell that he's frustrated. You can tell sometimes he doesn't know what is going on or what to do. And it's interesting. When I get pushback from fans, I say, well, that's because you. Are now okay with what the Packers are.
You're okay with a team that will give you nine wins. You know, you have that first weekend in January when you can all go to the bar with your buddies, get the jello shots after touchdowns. You know that. And anything more than that is gravy. I don't think that's how the Packers franchise should be operating.
But what happened in this offseason was a quick extension for LaFleur. I guess even quicker than it actually happened. LaFleur said, Yeah, he's never really worried about it. And so the Packers have decided that what we saw. Over your tenure and what we saw last year.
Every stat you just said with the punting and the 10-0 and the pillow fights. The Packers. The organization. And policy. They are not only okay with what's happening with the Packers.
They want more of it. And if you're going to have that. And then you're going to have players, like we know with your article, Javon Bullard wants more, and he's aggressive, and he's physical, and he wants, you know, he's going to go for that extra hit, and he's going to try to win. If you're a coach in an organization that has clearly said. We'll see what happens.
And then you have players that are like how I want everyone to be when they're on my football team. How does that end up like It usually seems like the players don't influence the coach. The coach is going to squash that from the players. I think what you're getting to is the heart of this entire debate, Bart. And I'd love to hear your opinion on this as well.
I feel like Brian Goodekum has done a hell of a job as the general manager. Finding talent, he's the one that really. Put his career on the line to draft Jordan Love when he did. But it wasn't only that, it's drafting wide receivers constantly. Is he perfect?
Obviously not. We can cherry put this pick or that pick, but you look at his drafts. He has found a different type of player than He did early in his tenure as GM, and as Ted Thompson did his entire tenure as GM, God rest his soul. I mean, The Packers should have more than one Super Bowl ring with Aaron Rodgers. Like news flash, right?
And a major reason they don't is. They tracked a lot of nice guys. And look, these are players that I love talking to in the locker room. Everybody did. You gotta have some assholes, as Javon Bullard said.
And I'm sorry if I I don't know if I can swear on your podcast, Bart. Yes, you can. You can. All right. You got to have assholes.
And he said, look. If you're an asshole, be an asshole. You shouldn't have to tiptoe around who you really are at 1265 Lomarti Avenue. And I remember talking to Bill Michaels about this during Super Bowl week, and he brought it up. I agreed.
Things are a little corporate. There. And I think that's kind of happened over time. And maybe that maybe that's part of it. Like a player says something that's a little out of line, right to the principal's office, sitting down with the coach.
The PR staff can't do this. No. Let your players be themselves. Brian Gudekitz is finding guys with an edge. He's finding Javon Bullard.
Evan Williams will come up and hit you. Train for Micah Parsons. This is a dude that says whatever the hell he wants to say and plays through that echo of the whistle. I mean, he's finding these players. He found the quarterback.
Made the move for Josh Jacobs when it was unpopular. Three and a half years younger than Aaron Jones. Like he has built a team to win the Super Bowl. It's on Matlin Florida to finish the job. And so, is he going to allow these personalities to?
Flourish, let guys be themselves. I think there is a lot to like about Matt LaFleur. I kind of hedged it a little bit when I wrote my column after that playoff loss. Um you know It was basically what you're saying, Bart. Like, I get it.
If they move on, it's time after a loss like this. These playoff losses should have consequences. He also helped develop Jordan Love. Schematically does a lot of great things on offense. Like when he showed a killer instinct at times this year, the turkey day win over Detroit comes to mind.
So I don't think they're far off, but can a coach evolve at this point? When he has been coaching for a while now, I don't know, right? Only he can answer that, but he's got seven months to do it. Normally, if people ask if they can swear, I make the joke, yeah, try not to fucking swear, please. But I skipped that one today.
I saw the ads on the screen. I'm like, ah, shit. I'm not in the go-along world anymore. Can I do this? Oh, no.
Everyone on board the Winklerverse is well aware of the language. Uh that happens on this pro Big thanks to our sponsor, BetterHelp, for partnering with us for this important conversation about mental health. This is Steve Smith here, former NFL wide receiver and host of the 89 Show on YouTube.
So, having a counselor and working with BetterHelp gives you an opportunity to really start to unpack, but people don't understand when you unpack things, you also open up a box, but you're not always sure what's inside.
So, I think that's why seeing a professional is extremely important. If you need someone to open up to, visit BetterHelp. That's betterh.com/slash 89 to get started. And Doug. There's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
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I just I don't I don't I don't want to be so stereotypical where I'm like My football coach needs to be. My football coach needs to be, football is live. He needs to sleep from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. and he's bleeding football.
But I do like, there are things that Matt LaFleur does well. As you mentioned. But I just the the issue for me is Coach.
So, yeah, he can scheme up plays. That's an offensive coordinator job. He can develop quarterbacks. That's a quarterback. Coach job.
The head coach has to oversee everything. I do think that the team eventually takes the personality of their coach. I think In covering the Brewers for a long time, like Council's a good manager, but he's also like. He never shows emotion one way or the other.
Some people don't want to go too high because then that means they can go too low.
So they try to keep it even keel. But then the Brewers start to have that. And then you get Pat Murphy in there, who's a maniac, wild card. And then the team's playing more aggressive.
So I do think there's that part of it. The Packers, it seems like. I don't know how far back I have to go. Mm-hmm. Because like You know, the 96 defense was Reggie and Leroy, obviously.
There was that sort of edge. And there's been guys like with that. But it seems like Remember Mike Daniels, obviously? Take the words out of my mouth. He he wanted to be like.
I'm going to fire people up. I'm going to be a, you know, I'm going to be the guy. And when he did it, it seemed out of place. It seemed like What are you doing? It doesn't work here.
And then the Packers are like, all right, well, let's get, we finally get this Micah Parsons, who is the kind of player we needed. I don't know that this organization. And again, in reading the piece you did on Javon Bullard, and that's what I want people to check out. Um It's the kind of mentality That You want from your player. I don't know if that's going to mesh with his coach.
And with the franchise he's for. Because it does seem like There's still like a When Matt LaFleur when Matt LaFleur beats opponents. It seems like he doesn't want to beat them too badly because he feels bad if he goes up more than 10 points. And so if you're going to have guys on defense that have this edge, this attitude. Which you should.
It's a gruesome sport. I just I don't know how everything's going to I don't know how everything's going to come together. To win a Super Bowl, which I thought was the goal, especially in Green Bay. You can talk about putting your foot on a team's throat. And I'm sure we'll hear that.
And having a killer instinct. You could say all these things. Cutting off your dick. Right. Just words.
They're just words. You know, what are you doing? Wednesday, Thursday, Friday during a practice week. Spend a lot of time around the Houston Texans. They're putting the pads on late in the year.
They're hitting. D'Amico Ryans, he's calling you out in meetings. If you're If you're like letting up in a drill, if you're not going all out. And talking to players and some of these Packer practices, it's like Go half speed here, 75% speed there. You know, Sean Ryan shared that story of Pylo driving a D-lineman who kept driving him back, and he gets called out in front of the whole team in a meeting room.
You know, Javon Bullard's talking about how he's trying to go up to that line and. You know, then he's like you said, kind of reminiscing back to the University of Georgia days when Kirby Smart would encourage this stuff and he like swiped the quarterback as a freshman and it wasn't exactly like sent home, wasn't kicked out. Like that kind of stuff is. Politely and gently encouraged you because you know if it's instinctual and it's primitive and it's part of you, you don't want to just like zap that out of somebody's game. It's, it's, I always use this analogy.
It's like telling Dave Chappelle he can't swear or can't make this joke or can't make that joke or like, you know. You gotta let artists create. And you have found these players who play with the violence, who play with an aggression, have that mentality that Mike Daniels loves, that Mike Daniel missed. I've had him on my podcast. Looking back at it, it's like it still drives them nuts that that mentality could not become contagious.
Same with TJ Lang. Like they, guys, tried. But I don't think that Ted Thompson was acquiring players who had it in him. Like Dan Campbell would be the first to say: you can't just pass out toughness pills, it does have to be in you. And then I feel like Green Bay is doing that now.
And then it's gotta be coached, it's gotta be encouraged. I don't think either one of us are saying, line up for an Oklahoma drill and beat the piss out of each other, right? Like, we're not, you know, going full junction boys here. There's only so much you can do under the current CBA, but I think there needs to be a different tenor-tone set. Behind the scenes during practice, because you're going to play how you practice.
I know it's a cliche for a reason, it matters. what you're doing those other days of the week because If you've got something in you that allows yourself to get bullied or punked, and you're not going through the whistle all the time, you're not finishing, you're not going to finish in a game.
Well, you talk about Goudekins, and like he is, he is drafting these guys. that have a little bit of edge and he's He's been dipping into the Georgia defense a lot. And, you know, these are guys that. are accustomed to one way, one kind of coaching.
So if Goudekins is drafting these guys. And trading for these guys with clear intent of like. All right, we're gonna go here. But then they get to Matt LaFleur. I j I don't know.
I'm just surprised that they're They're working together. I don't really feel like Goudekins really hired LaFleur. That seemed like a Mark Murphy thing. That was a whole weird thing where it was like the last possible candidate.
Well, I guess we got to hire this guy. He's the last one we're interviewing. Are they? It's all got to work together. I just don't feel like everyone's on the same page in Green Bay.
You know, or if they're on the same page, it's a page that I think sucks. We should always look to the Super Bowl champions. Seattle. Spending a week out there in Santa Clara, I got a good sense for how their organization is structured. They won a Super Bowl together, Pete Carroll and John Schneider, but they were reporting separately.
And it got to a point after a while where it wasn't working. I think that John Schneider was trying to. Like the owner would ask him something about a problem on the coaching staff, or why are we doing this? Why are we doing that? And he would have to kind of protect Pete Carroll.
And didn't want to say the wrong thing because he's thinking of him when he didn't really know what was wrong. And then Pete Carroll is reporting. I saw it here in Buffalo. Sean McDermott and Brandon Bean, they were reporting separately. to Terry Pagul and I I think it probably took Terry as the owner a long time to really see some of the issues going on behind the scenes.
How Josh Allen and Sean McDermott weren't necessarily aligned, and it wasn't as harmonious as it should be, quarterback and head coach.
So I don't. Every team is different. And I'm sure that we could think of examples where, when they reported separately, it worked out, and you won, and everything is great. I feel like everything's got to be aligned in sync. Owner, GM, coach, quarterback, all the same spine and everything.
And when you report separately, you're going to have some problems that pop up. This might be one of them, right? Where we're kind of hypothesizing here more than anything. And maybe they're best pals, but. Over time, year to year to year, even in Seattle, when they had a great thing with Schneider and Carroll, it ran its course.
In Buffalo, nine years, it ran its course. You know, once upon a time, McDermott brought Brandon Bean in. To be his GM. And by the end of it. They weren't very close.
Keep an eye on it. I suppose is what we should tell everyone.
Well, the Buffalo comparison is apt and it's interesting. Because you could continue to make excuses for like Sean McDermott forever, just like you can for Matt LaFleur. And I think a big one this year has been: well, injuries. They didn't have Tucker Kraft. They didn't have Micah Parsons.
But they did in those other games that we were talking about. Like against the Browns, they did. And that was a coaching thing. And against the Panthers, they did. And that was a coaching thing.
And even when they didn't have them. Like, I don't know if they would have had enough Like, okay, they don't win the Super Bowl.
Well. You know, next year you come back with Parsons and Kraft.
Okay. But you were up 21 to 3. I I just I cannot Get over that for the life of me that you were up 21-3 against the Bears. What did you get from Bullard? Like, what happened in that locker room?
What happened in that game? How do you go up 21 when you're up 213? It's it would almost have been better if there was no halftime, just so Matt LaFleur didn't have a chance to ruin it. I asked him that exact question. Like, what was said at halftime?
And he said everything. Was said appropriately, you know, nothing out of the ordinary. Whether we're up 21, three, down 21.3, it's going to be the same kind of message, but I don't have it right in front of me, but in so many words, it's like, okay, it's one thing to say it. Let's go do it. And he put it on the players.
He put it on the coaches for lacking a killer instinct. I mean, he could see it in the bears' eyes when they're up 21 to 3. We've got this team down. They're defeated. There's a dread.
We have our proverbial foot on your throat. And you know, to quote Denny Green, once upon a time, we let him off the hook. And, you know, they need in so many words, he put it so eloquently, gotta like, I should pull it right up, right? I don't know if you have it there. We gotta take MFer's soul away in so many words, right?
Like, they have to, some way, somehow. See that dread and go in. For the kill here, where is he here? Oh, the bears kill you look for that, uh, Tywa. You look for that.
The bear, like. Just a couple weeks prior. The Bears did the same thing. Like the Bears, and you could tell there was a shot. I think it was like 21-3.
The Bears. The Bears scored after that or something. But I remember they showed a shot of Soldier Field. And I saw all the fans, and I was worried about this coming in because I said you have to. The Bears, because of what happened a couple of weeks ago.
to you They're even at 21-3 at halftime, like fans will be sad and stuff. But because of what happened a couple of weeks ago, it's not going to be the energy is not going to be out of the building until you vanquish it. And then. Do you remember Turtles 2 and Tred? I always use this comparison.
So Shredder died. Vanilla ice was wrapping at the docks. And then they killed Shredder. And they thought he was dead. But then at the very end of the movie, Shrutter's hand comes up.
out of the like docs And it's like I still have life. You kill him again.
Now kill him right now. Yes. Don't give them that little bit of life. The Bears got that little bit of life. And then the Packers were like...
Oh, I guess he's still alive. Let's okay. That That's it. Period. I don't know where I'm going.
Period. I mean, the analogy I threw in the story, it's leaving Michael Myers in the alley to bleed out, like assuming that he'll die. I mean, he's not just going. To die. on his own.
You've got to put that dagger in to quote our dear friend Wayne Larravey. I mean, poor Wayne didn't have the opportunity to drop that epic line the last month of the season. Like, you've got to take that dagger and stick him in, stick it in the opponent. And this is what Javon Bullard said: quote, we're on y'all ass and we're acting like you. Motherfuckers don't even want to play no more.
But we need that instinct to kill MF's hope. Like, no, not. I'm sorry, kill motherfuckers. Hope I forgot I can, I can go all out here. Like, no, not today, not tomorrow.
Y'all through. We're going to beat your ass. I don't think we've got that as a team yet, but we've got another year to prove it.
So it's that's why I love doing these kind of long-form features, Bart, because look, there's a lot of really good film junkies in the Twitterverse who throw up the film and you see their face in the corner and they're breaking it down and X, this, and X and O's. And that stuff matters, but this is football, it's a human game. Right? You've got 22 players colliding at all of these vicious angles for 60 minutes. What Javon Bullard's hitting on is what separates the teams that win Super Bowls from the teams that don't.
And I think nothing matters more for the Green Bay Packers than somehow finding that killer instinct. And Doug. There's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show. Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this?
Your first date? Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league, anyways. Only pay for what you need at LibertyMutual.com. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. I'm like. Not In it, but I'll just throw some anecdotes because I was doing a thing with.
Caleb Durbin of the Brewers before he got traded. finally get like in with a guy and then they get dealt out of here. But we were doing a Q ⁇ A. And Pat Murphy was doing a QA in Green Bay, the manager at the same time. And somebody asked him about Pat and Caleb's just like Should I call him?
And so he FaceTimed him, and then they were FaceTiming from each other's things. And it was like, yeah, okay, I could just pick up the phone and call my manager. Right now, I don't I don't know that that's the case with the Packers.
So I say that because I wonder. When you You sit down with Javon Bullard and he's. Willing to tell you this kind of stuff, and he's willing to say, Even just willing to say we're not there yet. Like that is, I hope this message gets to my coach in some way. But I don't know that Matt LaFleur is going to read this and think, oh, geez, I need to change.
Or I don't know that he's going to. Uh I don't I don't know like. What is going to come out of this? Because I don't know that. That coach.
Is the right coach to read something like this or to hear a player say something like this? How do you think Bullard is going to take this ad? Do you think he's confident on the field? Is that something you could do off the field? Like, no, coach, listen, man.
Or is that something through play? Like, how is Buller now and the rest of the Packers that want more? How do they convince their coach? About what they want, that they don't have that killer instinct when you're trying to convince a guy who maybe is immune to it no matter what. You know, we all take ourselves too seriously in sports media, and we think, oh, of course, players and coaches are all reading and they care.
And I mean, I've been told that Matt LaFleur doesn't really read anything and genuinely nobody does, Tyler. Nobody reads anything ever. Come on. But, like, how when this isn't like me writing a column or my buddy Tom Silverstein or Bob McGinnis. It's not it's not that it's one of your players saying the quiet part out loud that matters that fans want to hear Like This shit does, it does matter, right?
Like, you've been a seven seed for the last three years, which, by the way, like in the old playoff format, you don't even get into the playoffs. And maybe it's a totally different conversation.
So, something. needs to change. I'll say this: in terms of the relationship between Matt LaFour and players, I think it's from what I've heard from players, it's fine. It's around them. It's, I don't know.
I don't know. I'd be kind of. Anecdotally cherry-picking, I suppose. I think it's okay. I know he drives his coaches really hard behind the scenes, a lot like Kyle Shanahan and the coaches he's been around.
And I did talk to one of those coaches on staff. After the story came out, and all he told me is: I hope Javon speaks up this year because that's exactly what our team needs.
So, whether it comes from the players within, from the top down, all the above I think that they're close. And this is something that Maybe I'm trying to think where we differ, disagree. I don't think all is lost with Matt LaFleur and these Packers, this edition, because I think that the talent is. is there it is and he has proven at times That he can't have that killer instinct. If anything, in that Bears game, he was probably chucking it downfield too much at the end, right?
When a field goal would suffice. A shorter field goal.
So I I think they're close. I think they have the talent. We'll see. I mean. In the NFC North, they could finish first, they could finish last.
And you could say that about all four teams. It's hard for me to have this explosive take on any of those four teams. Right now, but I think Green Bay is as good as any of them. And that's a credit to Brian Gutigens. Yeah, I think you look around though, like.
Because this will be a topic, and then I'm sure I'll do it or what. What coach in the NFC North would you like? Rather have an idea Like this is so the Packers are trying to figure this stuff out At a time where they're not afforded really any luxuries from the division. Because the Vikings are trying to figure out their way, but they got a good coach. And They still think they're a quarterback away.
They went and got a guy. Who they're gonna see what they can get out of in Kyler Murray. The Bears, obviously, if you're in Chicago, you're feeling as good as you have in 40 years. And Detroit I feel like they are going to feel, you know, they. We could look back and say, wow, they really missed their window.
But they are gifted with a last place schedule, and I don't think they're going to waste that.
So you're you can't really afford. Right now to lose games to the Browns. To have games where you don't punt and still lose, to blow nine-plus-point leads. If you're going to go to Denver and have a nine-point lead, You need to win that football game. And so until the Packers figured, like they have to do this very challenging thing.
And because of their division, they don't have a lot of room for error. And they had injuries, anyways.
So, if the counter-argument to us saying they've got to toughen up in practice and do more in practice, I mean, maybe you got to condition the body for contact more. I feel like that's a conversation we've been having about the Green Bay Packers for 20 years.
So, I mean, there are things. behind the scenes that Matt LaFleur can do can change. Is he willing to make those changes? You know, down at the owners' meeting, it was interesting what he said on how if players are unhappy, it's on you to do something about it. I didn't mind it.
Like, I mean, it's good to have that general honesty and that transparency, and it should flow all directions because the teams that win Super Bowls are going to have friction. If you don't have friction, eventually you're going to have it, and it's going to be in the form of a blowup that you can never recover from.
So, there needs to be some of this healthy friction, I think. Coaches to coaches, coaches to players, players, everybody. for green bay like so when this story's written you know And say they're talking about it, you know, you don't, there's two reactions. You bring Javon Bullard in and you say, oh, you shouldn't be talking like this. Or you say, guess what?
You're right. You're effing right, Javon. Every word. I'm going to stand up. And have a little more pride.
And I want my players to stand up. And have a little more pride. And what they should have done after that Denver game when Jordan Love gets smacked in the head is put that up in front of the whole team. And say never again. Like when this happens, I don't care.
Take your 15 yards. Get in his face.
So Did that happen? Javon Buller couldn't remember a meeting like that occurring after that game. I talked to a coach who thought maybe the lineman talked about it. Maybe it came up in the it should have been one through 53. Loud and clear.
What a moment to set a tone if you're Matt LaFleur. I don't think he did it when he should have, and then it showed they didn't win again. Golongtd.com, Tyler Dunn. A lot of good draft stuff on there. I was reading Bob McGinn breaking down long snappers.
That's my favorite part of the series every year. The Scouts breaking down the long snappers. I love it. It's important. It's part of the roster.
It's part of the 53. What else do you guys got planned with the draft and everything at Golong T D? Oh man, I'm so blessed to have Bob bringing his draft series to go along. I think it's been four or five years now.
So that's all live, all 12 parts: the good, the bad, the ugly, on all the prospects, just for our subscribers.
So that's live. You mentioned the Javon Bullard story. I'm going to have a piece on Joe Brady. I think you kind of look at the Bills if you're a Packer fan and, like you said, see some similarities in. The head coach, GM dynamics, how a team is trying to smash down that Super Bowl wall.
So that might be interesting to people. And of course, we're always going to tap into the Packers because when I launched this thing in 2020, man, it was on the foundation of Packer fans.
So can't thank everybody out there enough for subscribing. Tyler Dunn, go long TD. Thanks for stopping into the Winklerverse. Thank you for having me, man. It's been an honor.
Yeah.
