Oh no, here we go again

It’s about that time of year when I put my full hope and faith into the Packers even though history tells me this is a bad idea.

The Green and Gold boast a stacked defense, one of the best quarterbacks ever and a young core of talent on both sides of the ball. I was encouraged by the preseason as we saw flashes of dominance against all three opponents. Jordan Love looked pretty solid all preseason and if Aaron Rodgers ever went down with an injury this year, knock on wood that it won’t happen, I’d feel decent about our chances to get through a stretch with Love at the quarterback position. That, or his value on the trade market hasn’t been totally diminished by his seldom snaps against an NFL defense.

I think there is a ton to be excited about. However, I remember the feeling of losing NFC Championship Game after NFC Championship Game and being surprised that it happened. From the Seahawks’ comeback in 2014 to the Arizona Cardinals’ withstanding of not one but two Aaron Rodgers Hail Marys to send the game into overtime, to even last year where all the Packers had to do was score over 13 points against a 49ers defense that gave up 30 points to the Packers in week three earlier that season.

I remember where I was when I was watching those heartbreaking games more so than I remember where I was for the great victories.

The Seattle loss: my parents’ basement. The Arizona game: my first college house living room. The 2019 49ers loss where Jimmy Garappolo only passed for 77 yards against the Packer defense and the Packers still got blown out: a friend’s Packer party. Both last year’s game and the 2020 Tampa Bay loss I “enjoyed” from the comfort of my basement living as I was slowly reduced to a pile of mush as the game slipped away.

I shouldn’t complain too much. The Packers have had more success than the Vikings, Bears and Lions combined over the last 20 years but the heartbreak that comes in January is getting real old, real fast.

The Packers organization has had to defer salary from Aaron Rodgers’ contract as well as a number of other contracts as they restructured deals to create cap space this year and years past. That means to win a championship, the team has to go and win now. The window will close when all of that deferred money catches up to the organization and they have to start letting players walk.

That being said, as much as I’d like to hope this season will be different than the last eight or nine seasons, it is easier when it comes to January to keep my expectations low and remember the pain of

the past.

SPEEDING

THROUGH

L

IFE

NEAL H OGDEN EDITOR