Your team’s counting on you Saturday night

Margeaux from Tallahassee , FL

I see or hear nary a mention of Trey Lance as we get closer to game time. His athleticism could be a problem if SF throws us a changeup. What say you?

Maybe not, Margeaux, but I sure have. If Packers fans are doing the self-scout, I promise you this defense will be ready for Lance. You have to expect anything and everything with the Niners, especially with Jimmy Garoppolo hurting and a prodigy like Lance waiting in the wings.

With regards to “redeeming losses” I like to equate it to a wound turning into a scar. If that wound can be treated fairly quickly, in this case through a win or an event that was directly prompted by it, the scar won’t be as prominent as it could’ve been. The ’09 WC scar is barely visible. The ’14 NFCC is still healing, who knows if it ever will. The ’07 NFCC is a big scar, but a reminder of how we got here. To me, the wounds of the past two years can still be healed, but time is running out.

I agree you must learn from the past but eventually you do have to look forward or you’re going to trip over your feet. The Packers can’t do anything about 2007, 2014, 2020, 1918, or 1216. They play for today because today has the only championship left to be won. This journey isn’t about healing wounds to avoid the scar. It’s about building monuments. Fourteen teams enter but only one will prevail. The Packers gotta do what they gotta do this year to make sure they’re victorious this year.

Dan from Morehead City, NC

For the playoffs, do the call-up rules change for the practice squad? I see we protected four on the squad for this week, which is more than usual.

Same rules as the regular season except there’s no limitations on how many times practice-squad players can be elevated. And no, that wasn’t more than usual. The Packers protected four all season.

Is Josiah Deguara the Pack’s “semi-secret” weapon? Seems like he shows up when needed.

That’s my pick and I’m sticking to it.

If as Spoff expects, the Niners are persistently persistent with running the ball, what might we expect to see the Pack persistent at?

Persistently stopping them?

Wes, do you have a feeling the TE group could be a big part of this game?

I do. As much as we talked about Deebo Samuel and Elijah Mitchell this week, the Packers need to run well on their side of the ball and the tight ends can help get that done. If you can set the tone early with Jones and AJ Dillon, that sets up the play-action and intermediate passing game. That’s where Marcedes Lewis, Deguara and Tyler Davis have been effective this year. They don’t need seven catches for 120 yards for the Packers to win. A few catches at key points in the game could go a long way for this offense.

If a game is being played in single-digit temperatures, I think most fans would argue that the Packers gain an advantage over their warm-weather opponents. At minus-5 degrees or colder, I think most fans would acknowledge it’s a crapshoot and we really don’t know how players from either team will deal with the cold. From your discussions with Packers players over the years, is there a temperature sweet spot/range that they like for winter games at Lambeau?

I’d say probably in the teens with some biting wind chill. I actually think the Packers hold an advantage no matter how cold it gets. They know what it’s like to live in this weather. There was that old Kevin Greene quote about what was going through his mind as Brett Favre knelt down to seal the win in the 1996-97 NFC title game and how the Panthers were just ready to go home. There’s a lot of truth to that.