Tallon from Castle Rock, CO

I’m sure the Monday Inbox is a hard one for you all, since you’re having to deal with all sorts of fuming fans, appreciate you all. With this season looking bleak, can we please just beat the Bears so that they don’t get their first win in a decade against us? I couldn’t stand hearing about that for seven months.

I can’t speak for Mike, but I’ve been reading four months of overreactions in both directions, so what’s another day really?

More of an observation than a question. Everyone is saying we had no business losing to the Panthers, and we probably beat ourselves. But the Panthers seem to be turning out better than originally advertised. Maybe we lost to a better team than we thought.

As I’ve been saying all season, I felt like the Packers had one “bad” loss. That was Cleveland in Week 3. The rest is the rub of the green when it comes to traversing a 17-game regular season in the NFL. I will say that Panthers game was a harbinger for the run defense, though.

David from Janesville, WI

Mike’s comment about the CLE/CAR/CHI games was a salient one. Many years I recall the Packers “stealing” a win here or there. This year they earned every one of them, no thefts detected. Unfortunately, they puked up those three losses snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. If they had those three wins, maybe the Ravens game is a disturbing one-off instead of what appears to be a team circling the drain. I hope they can swim their way back out, time grows short.

Now that’s an excellent point. Because of those early losses, however you define them, the setbacks against Philadelphia, Denver, Chicago and Baltimore hurt a little more.

My fourth grandson was born this morning, mom and baby are doing great! Jeff is a very proud father. After all the letdowns this year, a second round of cancer treatments, and seeing Tucker Kraft, Micah Parsons, then Jordan Love all go down to injury, I will still watch the playoff games with a full heart! Go Pack Go!

Amen to that, Eric. All the best to you and the growing fam.

Pete from Hillsborough, NC

It’s likely to be tough sledding either way, but I think I would prefer to play Da Bears in Chicago than the Eagles in Philly. What do you think?

Less focus on the hill and more focus on the climb.

Joe from Cedar Rapids, IA

I completely agree that the losses to the Browns, Panthers and Bears were far worse than the Ravens loss. Is it fair to say that the Packer fans are now being asked to accept just making the playoffs as our new standard? We seem to have lost our homefield advantage as well, a direct result of the inconsistent effort by the team.

I think “Packer fans are now being asked to accept just making the playoffs as our new standard” might be the most entitled thing I’ve read in 10 years writing this column. There is no way to guarantee Super Bowl victory, folks. If there was, a team would’ve mastered it by now. You put the most talented team together you possibly can and hope for the best. That’s organized sports – from the Elm Division of Green Bay rec league basketball to the NFL.

Bill from Forest Park, OH

I really appreciate the honesty with which the two of you respond to our questions and comments here in II. Whether it’s about the Packers’ performance in a single game or looking back over the entire season, or addressing officiating and the league’s level of concern, I know you’re giving us your unvarnished opinions, and I greatly respect that. Thanks for making this a must-read for us six (or five offseason) days a week!

That’s why I chuckle when people are like, “Well, you’re just saying that because you work for the team.” If you know me, this is how I am in every aspect of my life – for better or worse. Getting too high leads to the hardest fall while being too low prevents you from living in the moment. I’ve only felt true disappointment twice while working here: the 2020 NFC title game because A) It was Covid and nothing else was happening, and B) that was the best Packers team I’ve covered. The other was the 2021 divisional loss to San Francisco because I felt that was Green Bay’s last shot with Aaron Rodgers. In a way, it sorta was.

Jesse from Colorado Springs, CO

My Super Bowl is beating the Bears in the wild card (if they keep the No. 2 seed). I would love to beat the Bears, because I hate the Bears.

That’s a common sentiment shared among Packers fans, but winning is powerful elixir in this league. The 2010 team is a testament to the power of just going 1-0. A single spark is enough to start a fire if the kindling is set right. So my advice…Don’t lose hope.