Is it Thompson, McCarthey, and Rodgers to get the Pack back to the playoffs or Childress and Farve to get the Vikings to the Super Bowl. I believe the pressure is soley on Childress and Farve to get the Vikings deep into the playoffs. The Vikings owner Ziggy Wolf has spent a lot of money building the Vikings. The Vikings are a fine talented team I think everyone can agree on that. Solid defense, soild OL, and arguably the best RB in the NFL.

I have never been a Brad Childress fan. This goes back to his days of being the Offensive Coordinator under Barry Alvarez at UW. Childress had no creativity whatsoever. I could watch a UW game and predict the playcalling before the play would happen. IMO this was a desperation move by Childress to get Farve in a Vikings uniform to save his job. The Vikings on paper have to be a favorite to represent the NFC in the superbowl. IMO anything less then a Super Bowl appearence for the Vikings and Childress is out of a job.

To the Pack. Last year we all had to expect growing pains from Rodgers. Rodgers last year got the most important thing a NFL QB needs to suceed ( experience). Rodgers had the advantage of sitting behind Farve. By doing this Rodgers learned the playbook, worked on his body by getting stronger, and learned how to read defenses on film. Last year he got the experience. I am expecting a hudge year from Rodgers. I am expecting those loses by four points or less to be wins this year.

Thompson and McCarthy have the pressure of leading this team back to the playoffs. Officially this is Thompson's team with soley the palyers he has drafted and acquirred. Another 6-10 season as I am sure we can all agree to would be unacceptable. I liked what I saw in the first preseason game. I liked the the toughness of both lines. I liked the running game. I liked the 3-4 defense. The players looked fresh and strong.

I am looking foward to this season. But IMO the pressure is more on the Vikings then the Packers. Thoughts.

I think Childress just proved what a joke he really is as a HC. All of your minincamps and OTA's, three weeks of training camp and he salivates for an end of the line QB who has been practicing with high school kids. Yes it is the great Brett Favre but that is still a huge gamble, let alone how much it probably alienated his current QBs. Strange move. I guess if it works fine, if it doesn't what kind of team will you have next year?

I personally see no real pressure on the Packers, at least no more thatn any other team. I do believe this is the year we see the Packers start their ascent. Watching the game the other night, you realize how young that we are, alot of these guys are in their third or fourth year and that is when they should take off. Rodgers in his second starting season---hopefully he stays healthy--even though Flynn may be able to handle it. On D our linebacker crew looks as though they are taking on Kevin Green's personality. They look to be the strength of the defence so far and the backfield will be strong also. Same as any here, if we can stay healthy.....
I do hope we beat the Queens soundly each time that we play them. I don't necessarily want to see Favre hurt in those games, but I would like to see the beating either by the score or the psycological effects make him retire after one of those games. I have lost all respect for him--not just because he is with the DyQueens. Because his word is absolutely no good.

Well now for the Vikings it's SB or bust. No more excuses. If they don't win the SB, Childress should get fired. More pressure on them as the Packers are flying way below the radar, which they must love.

Wow, what a change of pace.

Great post!!

You're my boy Blue!!

Go Pack!!

I was thinking earlier today about THE PACKER - Viking matchup.

To me, first and foremost is Rodgers vs Favre.

Next is Chilly and Favre vs EXPECTATIONS.

No matter how this season turns out, the super sub plot of it will be Rodgers vs Favre.

The real issue this season is the dance between Favre and Chilly (Vikings). By bringing in Favre they have set the bar very high. They basically made The Super Bowl thier Benchmark. They got AP, they got the Williams Wall, they got that crazy guy Allen and now they have Favre, the missing link?

Even though the Vikes have all that, for THE PACKERS, this season comes down to how well Rodgers can lead the offense.

If THE PACKERS fail, Rodgers can easily get a pass (unless he really screws up). There is way too much other stuff THE PACKERS need to go right in order for them to be considered winners.

Whereas.

If The Vikes fail, Favre (or the decision to bring him on board) will be analized and dissected ad nauseum (because it is wildy considered by the football world that a QB is all they need).

If the Vikings don't go deep into the playoffs (at least) with Peterson, Favre, a very expensive OL, and a stout defense, Childress is history.

Can anyone really believe that the choice a few years ago was between Childress and MM?

It won't surprise me if they miss the playoffs. I honestly don't know why so many people are so high on the Vikings every single year.

It's the paper tiger scenario season after season. We replaced Lombardi's Ghost when Holmgren arrived and won the SB. The queens have not been able to ever find a coach to win the SB. Chili is an idiot, put him on the Pats or Steelers and they blow it. Every year we will look at the queens personnel and say yep they could do it. I think over on the bad water side of the Mississippi it is coaching. god I hope they never hire Bill Cower.

Honestly Chili is in Dan Devines shoes, he doesn't have time to develope a QB, before he gets fired.

You can't say that it is a move of desperation, and in the same breath say that it makes them the favorite to represent the NFC in the superbowl. That is unless you think that the vikings were the favorite without Brett at QB. Which is not usually the case. It was a move that they looked at as putting them over the top.

Yeah I can. Lat year against Philly in the Playoffs Travarious Jackson was 15-35 147 yards and an interception that was returned for a touchdown. Owner Ziggy Wolf has spent a lot of money building this team Jarred Allen, Steve Hutchinson,. Antone Windfiled etc. Wolf even traded a fourth round pick to obtain Sage Rosenfelts (spelling) and signed him to a three year contract.The move of desperation was Childress and OC Bevell wanting Farve. Minnesota has the best RB in the game a very good OL and defense. Now you add Farve to the mix and once he gets fimilar with his teammates watch out. I hate to say it but this is a good team.


If the Vikings don't make a deep run into the playoffs Childress is gone plain and simple.

I guess if enough people repeat this enough times, it just becomes fact. Their OL is NOT very good.

If those losses by four or less last year were all wins and everything else stayed the same, the Packers' record would have been 13-3.

Are you expecting 13-3 this year?

Chilly has made some (comparatively) wise decisions as a coach. He no longer yanks AD in the midst of running up some serious numbers on the ground. He benched TJack and went with Gus at the right time (imo) last year. He has kept the installs minimized on offense, relying on the "kiss" principle and the talent of an incredibly good duo of running backs. It is easy for us as Packer fans to perceive him as stupid or whatever, but I'd bet he is not. Please don't let that get around that I said that.

I have seen little or no mention of the weight of the business side of the Minnesota Vikings in this discussion. In my opinion, they have been bringing a very good "product" for their fanbase, yet are having difficulty "still" with ticket sales and of course the stadium itself. They have a very good core of passionate fans, but they are simply too small in number to ameliorate those issues.

The acquisition of Brett has to be looked at in the context of these other issues before a fair assessment can be given. There are a lot of purple 4's flying off the shelves, and if Brett continues to meld with that group and perform, my strong guess is that the metrodump's ticket sales problem...for example, will go away.

As for us.

We don't have those kinds of problems, and the nature of our "ownership" is conducive to "staying the course"---Thank God, imo. I have seen when we were not patient.....

It can be argued that our management and coaching staff have "too much power" and can make us less responsive and/or willing to make "needed changes".

Taking the pluses and the minuses of our ownership structure and the norm, I like ours, to a profound degree. Had we a more traditional form of ownership and management, I don't know if the correct decisions would have been made regarding a certain ..... Lord knows there was a huge outcry for .................

Hot seat?

Chilly------Maybe. We are not armed with enough information to know, notwithstanding the deluge of media prognostication that would ensue if their experiment/gamble with Brett fails this year.

Anyone on our staff----I really doubt it. These things have a way of being judged, say...now---in the context of what is known now, not in hindsight, to a large degree.. e.g. - Did the staff make wise decisions based on the information they had at the time? Of course if things fall to pieces, everything gets re-examined, but another one of those fringe benefits to our form of ownership and management is that the process stands a much better chance of being fair, contrasted to being fan-driven...at least compared to the aforementioned other way, with a single entity making decisions as he/she sees fit...and (God forbid, imo) sometimes heavily influenced by the knee-jerk reaction of the fanbase.

From what I've seen I agree. At least not as far as pass protection.