4th And 26 Packers '09: Good 'til the last drop

In a given NFL season, there are really only three questions that matter. 1. Did the Packers win the Super Bowl? 2. Did the Vikings? 3. How about the Bears? Since the first and third have only happened once in my lifetime, and the second has never happened ever, seasons have to be graded on a curve.

Obviously ’09 ended with a wicked kick to the groin. Now that we’ve all had time to gnaw on the bones, I hope we’re off the “we got screwed by the refs” train. Yes, there was a penalty on the final play. And yes, there were two penalties on Larry Fitzgerald’s last touchdown. It sucks, but it happens. Remember, the only reason we made it to overtime at all is because a NFL kicker not named Mason Crosby shanked a 34-yarder in a dome. And if I had a micron of confidence the Cards wouldn’t have scored even if a penalty had been thrown on the Fitz play, I’d be a whole lot madder. As it stands, there’s plenty to be steamed about: one punt for the Cardinals, giving up 156 rushing yards and 531 total, Kurt Warner’s line (29-33, 5 TDs, 0 INTs), Aaron Rodgers missing Greg Jennings twice on sure TDs, and so on, ad infinitum.

Still, it’s hard for me to categorize this season as anything but “damn solid” and “really freaking fun.” Consider: Last year we were effectively done on Nov. 30. We improved by five games. We came back from a frustrating 4-4 start by winning seven out of our last eight games. And as much as the final loss burns, this team is ridiculously well-stocked for the future. So with all that in mind, let’s recap five of this year’s key storylines.

1. Aaron Rodgers is the man
After two seasons, we should probably be past the point where we reduce Rodgers’ career to a bullet-pointed comparison with Brett Favre's. Get used to it, though, because it’s never going away. When Rodgers wins his first Super Bowl, everyone will talk about how Favre took the Pack to two. When Rodgers breaks Favre’s team records, we’ll hear about how Favre’s beard was more badass. It’s annoying. Favre was awesome for the Pack. Rodgers is awesome. Even better, Rodgers isn’t a dick. And all hyperbole aside, when you factor in age and injury history, exactly which NFL player would you trade him for? (Hint: There isn’t one.)

2. Ted Thompson is not dumb
Bitch about Ted Thompson all you want for Jarrett Bush or his disdain of vets, but there’s no reason anyone—except those with traumatic brain injuries—should argue he made the wrong move with Favre. And incomprehensibly, people who are normally smart still do. Thompson and the Packers handled the situation abysmally. Favre also acted like an ingrate, and he’s too much of a bitter, narcissistic ass to realize he could have ended up in Minny and had every single Packers fan in his corner.

3. Mike McCarthy is good enough
Even if he wins a Super Bowl, McCarthy will never inspire the same kind of fawning as Mike Holmgren. He’s too boring, too full of coach-speak, and he just can’t grow a decent moustache. Plus, he’s not as good—then again, not many coaches are. This year he proved he wasn’t afraid to admit his schemes were flawed, and adjust accordingly. Remember, he was as much to blame for the Pack’s tepid start as any of the players, and he dialed back his gameplans to better fit his personnel. By all accounts, the players believe in him, and in a league where working around egos is just as important as figuring out your opponents, that’s no small feat. So what if he doesn’t like the grounds crew?

4. RTs, LOLs, and ;)’s
Us hard-core Packers fans are beyond lucky to have the dissertation-level team coverage we do at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Green Bay Press-Gazette. This year added a new wrinkle in that many of the beat writers—in particular, Greg Bedard, Jason Wilde, and Tom Pelissero—were available daily on Twitter for questions, additional exposition, and more often than not, to act as sounding boards for our incessant whining. Nowadays, if you think there’s a coach that needs firing, or you’re curious about who tripped in Wednesday’s practice, you can have a response in roughly three minutes. The green and gold minutia cupboard has never been better stocked.

5. Super Bowl XLV is in Arlington. Just sayin’
It’s true there are many question marks: Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton are not only free agents, they’re basically used up. Will Al Harris ever be back, and how will that trickle down through the secondary? For all the good Dom Capers did this year, elite QBs like Favre, Warner, and Ben Roethlisberger shredded the Pack this year. (Combined they threw for 1,397 yards, 15 TDs, and 0 INTs in four games.) Post those numbers in a video game and your console would explode. Still, the contributions of the young superstars budding or already in full bloom can’t be overstated. (By the way, is Clay Matthews married? A, uh, friend of mine wants to know.) With a likely lockout coming in two years, 2010 is the year to gel and get this done. The Pack is more than poised to make a serious run—especially with its recent playoff tenderizing. And maybe best of all, there’s always this: Only eight months until training camp, baby.