Wow.  People are taking this NFC Championship loss hard.  Check out this article written in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinnel a few days ago by Packers beat writer Bob McGinn.  It’s on the Packers Insider page, so if you don’t have a subscription it might be hard to get to it.

So, let me run this down for you.  He’s got 3 keys to success next year.  I’ll give them to you in reverse order.

• Get rid of the zone blocking scheme and install a power running scheme.  I actually don’t have much of a complaint with this one.  I think Bob might be on to something here.  All season long Green Bay was unable to convert on 3rd and short using the running game.  Thus, McCarthy called a lot of pass plays (17 of 19 3rd and 2 were pass plays).  In the Championship game with the weather so ridiculously cold, they couldn’t use the athletic lineman required for zone blocking to move the Giants D-line.  The cold negated any advantage of speed or athleticism.  News flash: It gets cold in Green Bay.  You want to be able to run the ball in December.  You can’t do that with the zone scheme.

• Replace Bob Sanders with Gregg Williams as the defensive coordinator.  Bob Sanders didn’t really do anything to deserve a firing.  His defense was 11th in the league and allowed only 18.2 points per game.  I guess the knock on Sanders would be that he runs his defense and he doesn’t stray from it regardless of who’s on the field or how they’re playing.  Gregg Williams has been doing this DC thing for a while, but anybody remember his Buffalo defense as being outstanding?  Washington’s defense this year allowed 19.4 points per game and almost the same yardage and turnover totals as Green Bay’s.  Why would this be an upgrade?

• Lastly, it’s time to cut ties with Brett Favre.  What?!?!?!?  The reasoning being he played bad in the 2 cold weather games Green Bay played.  True.  Those games were also absent a running game (remember the first point in this ramble?) and the defense couldn’t get off the field.  Can’t blame Brett entirely for those outcomes but I won’t sit here and tell you he’s free of blame.  After watching the replay, that interception was indeed the worst of 5 options Favre had on that play.  He does indeed tend to lock on to Driver at crunch time.  But, here’s a news flash for you Bob, they wouldn’t have been in that game if Favre wasn’t on the roster!  Do you think Aaron “I got hurt again” Rodgers would have led you to the promised land when he can’t remain healthy as the backup quaterback?  What do you think will happen when he starts getting hit every Sunday?  Look, the kid looks like he has the skills, but it doesn’t do any good if he’s not on the field.

Look everyone is pissed off that they lost.  The players and coaches included.  It was a great opportunity thrown away.  It’s very hard to get to that game.  It’s hard to remain mostly injury free while other teams don’t.  There’s a bit of luck to this thing, and the Packers threw it away against the Giants.  But, there’s an old saying about throwing the baby out with the bath water.  I agree some changes need to be made, but the 5th defensive coordinator in 6 years is a bit much.  Getting rid of the horse you rode to get there seems ludicrous.  Zone blocking, I can do without it.  That’s not a bad start.  Then maybe you wouldn’t need Favre so much and a transition would be easier.  And, if he decides to hang ‘em up, you’ve got to have a better running game.