The Green Bay Packers have yet to take the field for a competitive football game this year (family night is a ton of fun, but that doesn’t count). On Saturday, we’ll see them host the New York Jets, who are coming off a two-year failed experiment with quarterback and general manager Aaron Rodgers and are, in usual Jets fashion, a hapless embarrassment to the sport, so there’s that.
Over the past week, I read David Maraniss’s outstanding biography of Vince Lombardi, When Pride Still Mattered. Somehow I had never made the time to do so previously, and I found it eye-opening and a fantastic insight into the driving forces behind the man Lombardi grew into.
Now, keep in mind I was born in the 80s, around 20 years after Lombardi coached his final game for Green Bay. Growing up, I heard all kinds of stories about the Lombardi days from my dad, but he was always a distant concept for me.
Reading the biography sort of emphasized a couple things from me:
Boy, Lombardi really was not that old when he passed away. And, like, I knew that, but I had never really thought about it. As I inch closer and closer to 40, I think the concept of mortality starts to become increasingly tangible, which really makes things like that sink in more than they had in the past.
Boy, Lombardi really was not in Green Bay for all that long. Ten seasons, nine as head coach. And of course, this I knew too, but I had never really reflected on it before. The man’s legacy is one of someone who had decades of greatness to their name, but really, he had only a decade (if you include his one year in Washington before his passing) of head coaching experience.
Where am I going with all of this?
Well, Matt LaFleur is currently entering his seventh year of coaching the Packers. And obviously, the league and the game are much different today than they were in 1965, when Lombardi was entering *his* seventh year of coaching the Packers with two titles to his name and what was to become the season with the first of a record-tying three consecutive NFL championships. There are more teams, the players are much better conditioned and trained, strategies have completely changed, rules have been tweaked countless times.
But we’re entering year seven, and it feels as though LaFleur has still yet to completely make his mark.
What do we know about Matt at this point?
Well, he’s a good football coach. This is inarguable. You do not win as many games as he has in his first six seasons without being pretty darn good at your job.
The players seem to like him. He definitely does not have a reputation of being an unfair hardass; he always takes accountability and never throws a player or assistant under the bus, and treats the media with professionalism. He’s been able to manage some strong personalities quite well.
He’s loyal. Sometimes overly so. There are times where he’d be much better off making a change (whether it be a player or coach) and takes too long to do so, then ends up making the move for which fans had been calling forever and it succeeds.
He clearly understands offensive football and has adjusted his schemes to the strengths of his players, though midgame adjustments can occasionally leave something to be desired.
We know a lot. But it still remains to be seen whether LaFleur will be the guy who can bring the Packers their 14th championship.
Conventional wisdom would indicate LaFleur is very safe, barring complete catastrophe this year. He has a young, ascending team and has overall done a good job of keeping the team competitive since his arrival in 2019, even when many expected the team to fail miserably. But of course, with a new team president/regime, anything could change at any time.
Lombardi, Mike Holmgren, and Mike McCarthy all had at least one championship by the time they began their seventh season, and Lombardi and Holmgren each had multiple appearances. Of Super Bowl-winning coaches, here is the entire list of coaches who won their first championship as a head coach in their seventh year with the team or later:
-Andy Reid (7th year with Chiefs, 21st year overall as a head coach)
-Tom Landry (13th year with Cowboys, 13th year overall as a head coach)
And that’s it. That’s the entire list.
Ultimately, it comes to this: regular season victories only matter for so long. There is very little history of a coach in LaFleur’s position becoming a championship winner; by their seventh season, teams are itching to win a title or bring in someone who they feel can.
At the moment, there’s certainly reason to believe LaFleur can be that man. After all, being routinely competitive is one of the best ways to get yourself there. Certainly there are a number of comparisons to be drawn with how Andy Reid was seen at a similar point in his career.
But he’s already walking a different path than past Packer coaches of renown, and if he does not bring home a Super Bowl this year, only one coach in NFL history will have done what he’s hoping to accomplish.
Wisconsin Beer of the Week
With my favorite brewery closed, I took my first trip up into a familiar space to visit Torzala Brewing Company a few weeks ago. I’d heard good things about their beer, and my favorite former bartender at 1840 was pouring brews there, so I figured I’d stop in and check it out.
The space has previously housed other names in Milwaukee brewing like Component and Eagle Park, so it’s served as something of an incubator for small craft breweries in the city. Component is actually still in the same warehouse building, but in a larger space that they’ve really overhauled.
I brought home several cans of their beer, including the one featured here today: Brew 42. And yes, I bought it because it’s a play on the Packers cadence. I mean come on, check out the green and gold can!
Brew 42 is a pretty solid German pilsner. The beer was brewed in collaboration with former Badger and Packer Gary Ellerson, who’s become something of a staple in Wisconsin sports radio as well. Torzala describes it as a beer with a “clean malt bill, crip hop bitterness, dry finish, and excessively refreshing. This cold one pairs with everything, including Gary’s hot takes!”
I’ve been drinking a lot more pilsners recently with the summer heat and the desire for something a little lighter, and this one certainly holds up. While the Czechs make the best pilsners (IMO), a good German style brew always hits. There are no frills here – if you light crisp pilsners, you’ll like this one. And of course, with the football season getting started again, it’s a timely purchase.
I have enjoyed what I’ve tried from Torzala so far, and I am looking forward to visiting again!
More on Lombardi
As I mentioned earlier, I found Lombardi’s biography to be fascinating. A few other quick things that stood out:
It’s made very clear just how much Lombardi’s philosophy was influenced by his Jesuit background and by his coaching tutelage under Red Blaik at West Point. There’s so much written about Blaik that sounds exactly like things Lombardi is famous for saying, and there’s a reason for that. I found the chapters about Lombardi’s time at Fordham and West Point to be pretty engrossing.
It’s interesting to see which former players of Lombardi’s are emphasized the most in the narrative. For example, we got a lot of Paul Hornung–probably more than any other player–and it’s made apparent that he’s the one Vince loved the most. We also get quite a bit of Max McGee, which was a slight surprise, but given he’s one of the few to have been there before Vince and then through all of Vince’s tenure, it makes sense. Not quite as much Bart Starr or Forrest Gregg as one might expect, and a little more Dave Robinson and Willie Wood than expected, which is cool.
I already knew this, but reading the final chapters of the biography made it really clear just how much Vince was turning around Washington before he passed. The team ended up winning a championship several years later, and he might have gotten them there even sooner.
Maraniss draws a really compelling portrait of a man who was obsessed with his own celebrity and his being perceived as one of the greats, while also balancing an inherent introverted nature and a complex family life. While the portrayal is mostly positive, it certainly does not go out of its way to make Lombardi look good, and includes plenty of the “warts” that make him human.
Anyway, I’m way late to the boat on this – the biography was published 25 years ago, and I’m sure many of you have read it already. But in case any of you have not, I very strongly recommend it!
Who I’m most excited about
Getting back to actual current players now!
One of the questions I ask every year in my fan expectations survey is who fans expect to be the biggest positive surprise of the season. It’s always fun to see what the consensus ends up being there.
A similar question I could ask is which players people are most excited about. Here are a few of mine for this year:
Tucker Kraft: It really felt last year like Kraft was beginning to get some national recognition for his toughness and versatility. This year could be a big-time breakout year. He’s surehanded, fearless, and has been a go-to guy for Jordan Love. It’s been a long time since the Packers have had a player at the position as well-rounded as him, and tight ends often take several years to really begin to reach their full potential. If he’s truly still just learning, there could be some really fun stuff ahead this year for Kraft.
Edgerrin Cooper: Last year we only got a taste of what Cooper is capable of; the Packers kept him primarily in a rotational role for most of the season. But the cat is out of the bag–the guy is a player. And this year, he’s going to be relied on a lot more in the defense. He could be the difference maker in the linebacking corps that this team has been missing for an extremely long time.
Jordan Love: Certainly not a new face any more, but I’m very much looking forward to seeing what steps forward he takes this year and whether the offense will gel a bit more this year, especially considering he’s actually healthy for the first time since, well, last August. The passing game never TRULY clicked last year, so I’m excited to see what Love’s got in store this year.
Xavier McKinney: I’m just excited to see this dude on the football field again. A human highlight reel on defense; the most exciting and consequential free agent signing the Packers have had in years. Here’s hoping he picks up right where he left off!
Matthew Golden: Obviously, I can’t wait to see what the first round pick can do for the team this year. You never want to place too high of expectations on a rookie, but the Packers also could really use Golden becoming a big part of the offense right off the bat. He’s fast, he’s got a versatile route tree, he’s got great hands. The sooner he can get involved, the better this offense will be.
Around the NFC North
As always, it’s time to go around the NFC North. Again, with nothing really to go off from preseason contests yet, we’re just looking at some expectations and storylines for the season.
The CHICAGO BEARS need Caleb Williams to look like a franchise player this year. He doesn’t have to be great (though that would certainly help), but he needs to be consistent, and he needs to show clear improvement. There were some significant stretches last year where Williams looked completely out of his depth; almost certainly a significant portion of that was due to coaching. There were some absolutely putrid statlines for stretches of weeks at a time. With Ben Johnson, the team has an offensive-minded coach branded a genius who made an above average Jared Goff look like a superstar. There can be no more excuses.
The DETROIT LIONS have, according to reports, been having issues with sloppiness on offense while the defense is dominating. This isn’t particularly surprising in the wake of their coordinator departing; there are going to be some growing pains. There won’t be much cause for true concern until week one–if the team comes out looking offensively inept, there are going to be a LOT of people talking about how Ben Johnson, and not Dan Campbell, was the real vehicle for the team’s recent success. For now, the biggest thing the Lions have to do is manage the pressure that comes with high expectations. Though it is, of course, kind of funny to see Za’Darius Smith’s name coming up with some recent drama about a return to the team.
The MINNESOTA VIKINGS are, as I mentioned last week, a tough team to analyze with their quarterback situation what it is. Though some media blowhards have certainly been having a good time writing them off. Colin Cowherd, a longtime foe of Packer fans, has criticized the Vikings for putting him into a “protective bubble,” despite having, according to Cowherd, “real concerns” about his abilities. This is, of course, all hooey until the season starts and we see what McCarthy can actually do, but it is important to remember as the Vikings themselves have said, McCarthy is essentially a rookie. It’ll probably be an uneven year for him, and for the Vikings as a result.
I’m out next week!
I’ll be spending the next week up north on vacation with my family, so I’ll be missing a week of Hello Wisconsin. I’m looking forward to getting back to the northwoods for some rest and relaxation before having to return to school responsibilities at the end of the month!
We go up to a lake near St. Germain, where my wife’s relatives have a cabin. There’ll be lots of reading, kayaking, fishing, bonfires, and all the other good stuff that comes with being up north in Wisconsin.
Enjoy the first preseason contest on Saturday, and I’ll be back to publication on August 21!