Those unheralded stories defined the Packers’…

 “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” Check.

“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” Check.

“Winning isn’t everything, but the will to win is everything.” Check.

“The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.” Check.

I’m not going anywhere. The Pack will be back.

Gretchen from Dousman, WI

Hello Mike and Wes and all the Insiders out there. I give you two a ton of credit for having to revisit that horrible letdown of a game over and over again. You’ve taught us to moderate our expectations, but none of us truly did that. We set ourselves up for this huge disappointment, but then we all believed in this team. We’ll get through this together and hopefully round about the end of March we can get enthused again and start looking forward to the ’22 season. Thanks for all you do.

I’ll never ask a fan to curtail their expectations. They should have high expectations. It’s the Green Bay freakin’ Packers. It’s more so how people manage disappointment. Everyone wants to win it all, but ultimately only one team can. This is hard. I’m not saying it isn’t. But that’s why it matters.

Following the game, I found myself at peace with whatever the future holds for Green Bay. If that means Aaron Rodgers moves on and we’d be facing a roster overhaul, I was ready to take the ride. If it meant significant salary cap gymnastics to keep the championship window open for another 1-3 years, I was on board. After a few more days, I don’t even want to consider a roster overhaul. Generational quarterbacks don’t often fall in your lap, and there is unfinished business we need Rodgers for.

As the dust begins to settle, this is where I came down on things. I believe Matt LaFleur is right when he talked about how there will be no rebuild. The Packers don’t need one. Amidst all the uncertainty, this roster still has a lot of young talent that’s already under contract for 2022. It really comes down to what Rodgers wants to do. If Rodgers is back, then Brian Gutekunst, Russ Ball and the rest of the organization begin to build on that foundation. It is good to hear things are in a better place today than they were last offseason. That already makes this current situation more desirable.

Offseason-came-too-early Greetings, Insiders! I read someplace that AR12 got sacked five times, although I don’t seem to remember that many. Was there a pattern of sorts in evidence as to how the pass protection was breaking down?

The only area I felt the 49ers consistently won was up front. They made the necessary corrections, especially against the run, after the first series. Once San Francisco started stopping Green Bay’s ground game, the defensive front got back to doing what it does best – pressuring with four and allowing DeMeco Ryans to mix his coverages. It was an expertly crafted game plan.

Gute and Russ Ball have the future of the Packers in their hands. How do they prioritize the many decisions they need to make to get under the cap? Davante Adams, De’Vondre Campbell and Rasul Douglas all must stay – but they can’t use up half the cap. There are other key players too. This is a nightmare, but I guess it is still better than being the Lions GM!

This is no disrespect to the Lions because I think they made several good moves this past year, but I’d much rather be in the Packers’ position where you have an overabundance of talent than a dearth of it. Brad Holmes and Detroit’s brass have an uphill battle to climb to get that done. Green Bay just needs to push the right buttons and it’s back in the hunt in 2022.

Not that Gute has you on speed dial, but I’m wondering: Once (if) you have 12 and 17 back in the fold, which Packer free agents are most important to re-sign? De’Vondre Campbell? Robert Tonyan? Rasul Douglas? Lucas Patrick? Is any of that possible without renegotiated contracts for David Bakhtiari, Aaron Jones and others? My head hurts, and I’m not Russ Ball.

That’s why Russ does what he does and I handle Inbox.