Hello Wisconsin: Preparing for a 2025 Re-Do
It has been nearly a month since the Green Bay Packers ended their season with another inexcusable collapse in Chicago, and it now appears clear that the team has no intent of making any real staffing changes heading into the 2026 season that they weren’t forced to do.
In the immediate aftermath of the game, the internet was aflame with fans calling for coaches’ jobs. Even long-time media stalwarts with reputations for being level-headed like Bill Huber and Tom Silverstein penned pieces for their publications indicating that the Packers should fire Matt LaFleur.
This was different; while LaFleur had always had his share of vocal critics, they tended to be a loud and small minority. This time, though, that group of critics launched into the forefront and became larger than ever. This was the most heat the coach had ever felt, and it felt like the tide had turned.
Soon, though, it became clear that the Packers were not going to fire LaFleur. Considering some of the head coaching hires made by other teams since then that may have been a wise decision, but at the same time, nothing has really changed since the Packers last took the field. LaFleur is who he is, and there is a large enough sample size to produce some significant skepticism that he can be the man to lead the Packers to their 14th championship.
So, okay. LaFleur is coming back. Those most critical of LaFleur forced themselves to accept that the combination of reasonable regular season success, his work with Jordan Love, the market for available coaches, and the team’s list of injuries this year made it difficult for the Packers brass to want to make a different decision. Fine, whatever. But, for those critics, for this decision to be more palatable, there had to be some coordinator changes made.
And then the monkey’s paw curled.
Gone is the one decent coordinator the Packers had, Jeff Hafley, to be a head coach in Miami after just his second season in the NFL. Gone go several assistants to his staff.
Somehow, Rich Bisaccia retains his job after multiple years of continued terrible special teams play, a cycle that may not be entirely his fault given the team’s historical awfulness in this aspect of football, but a cycle that he also has done nothing to break.
Somehow, Adam Stenovich, who assisted in presiding over a mercurial at best offense that gave Jordan Love little help at key moments throughout the season, who scoffed at suggestions Matthew Golden could or should be a key part of game plans in the playoffs, gets to keep his job as well.
The only changes made to the Packers’ staff of any real consequence are ultimately the ones the team was forced into changing.
They really do intend to run it all back.
Who knows, maybe the whole thing really can just be chalked up to bad injury luck. After all, losing players the caliber of Micah Parsons, Zach Tom, Elgton Jenkins, Devonte Wyatt, and Tucker Kraft (among others) is always going to be a major blow.
But when you consider the way in which the team kept falling apart in the most crucial moments, it’s hard to come away feeling good about the coaching staff assembled for 2026. It’s hard to make the case that the team did anything to get better in that part of its football operation.
We’ll see what Jonathan Gannon brings to the defense; he has to produce results at least as good as Hafley’s did. We’ll see what happens when these key guys get back.
But I’m having a hard time feeling any sort of excitement about what the next season brings in store.
Maybe things will change in July when I’m desperate for the return of football. But for now… the idea of running it back has little appeal for me, and it feels as though the Packers are just kind of asleep at the wheel.
Wisconsin Beer of the Week
We’re in the thick of porter and stout season, so why not feature a porter today?
This is a beer I’ve never had from a brewery I have little to no experience with. It’s Nov. ‘93 by Low Daily Brewery, which is based in the small town of Burlington (known for its chocolate factory and Tony Romo, among other things). It’s been quite a while since I have paid a visit to Burlington; I remember running in a track meet there in high school, and the track was situated close enough to the chocolate factory that it was all you could smell.
Anyway, it should be no surprise then that this porter features a bit of a chocolatey flavor, though technically it is a vanilla porter (brewed with Madagascar vanilla beans). As you’d expect from a beer of the style, it weighs in at a moderate 6-ish percent ABV. It’s smooth and a little sweet; not too heavy at all. It’s ideal for winter nights where you’re looking for that warming roasty flavor but not trying to fill yourself up.
This was my first Low Daily experience and I was impressed, so I’ll be on the lookout for some more of their stuff in the near future.
Super Bowl highlights teams that have quickly reinvented themselves
It is probably a dramatic understatement to say it is really freakin’ hard to get to, let alone win, a Super Bowl.
That’s one of the reasons why what the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks have accomplished this year is so impressive.
Both of these teams were powerhouses to a degree in their own conferences during the last decade. Both of them fell off significantly by the start of this decade and had to go through some pretty significant identity shifts, changing coaches, quarterbacks, systems, entire rosters.
What Eliot Wolf in New England and John Schneider in Seattle (both former Green Bay guys) have done is truly impressive. These are teams that were winners relatively recently and didn’t have to take too long to perform a rebuild and get right back to football prominence. For Schneider who has been there the whole time, it might be especially impressive, and reminiscent of what Howie Roseman managed to do with the Philadelphia Eagles after that 2017 Super Bowl championship and the team’s ensuing brief collapse and rapid transformation.
It’s also one of the reasons why it’s difficult to stomach what has happened with the Packers not just in LaFleur’s tenure, but over the last 15 seasons. The Packers simply have not managed to do what these teams have, at least yet. They haven’t been able to sufficiently reinvent themselves to the point where they’re not just sneaking into the playoffs, but kicking the doors in. They’ve not returned to the point where they’re expecting to be there rather than just happy to be there.
Between the Seahawks, the Patriots, the Eagles, and other teams like the Rams and 49ers, we’ve seen teams manage to go through these lulls and reboot relatively quickly in recent years to bring themselves back to Super Bowls.
We love the holiday season
And by the holiday season, I mean Super Bowl weekend!
I love the Super Bowl, and honestly I probably have more fun with the game when the Packers are not playing. For Super Bowl XLV I was so anxious that I couldn’t really eat or drink anything the whole day.
For a number of years now we’ve hosted a Super Bowl gathering at my house and it’s always a good time. There’s chili, all kinds of snacks and dips and desserts, and of course, plenty of beverages of a wide assortment. Friends come with their kids, we’ve got a couple different TVs going, it’s a good time.
This year I get to revive one of my favorite Super Bowl traditions: cheering for the New England Patriots.
You see, during the height of the Patriots’ dynasties, my post-Packer elimination philosophy was simple: if I as a Packer fan don’t get to be happy, nobody else does. So what’s the outcome that will cause the most people to be upset? Obviously it’s the Patriots winning. Even the Patriots fans wouldn’t really enjoy it all that much themselves because they’d seen it so many times before.
I’m not quite sure the Patriots winning will cause the same level of angst as it did in the Brady/Belichick years, but certainly there would be a more visceral response to a New England victory than a Seattle victory. And to me, this is exactly what I’m looking for.
I as a fan was denied a happy ending to the season. Now everybody else has to suffer as well. Sorry, that’s just the way it is.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to watching the game (and commercials) with friends. Despite knowing nothing about Bad Bunny, I’m certainly looking forward to the performance as well for the sheer spectacle, though I’m not sure anything will ever beat Kendrick Lamar getting to perform a Drake diss track on live television in front of an audience of 125 million and looking straight into the camera to call him a pedophile with a big cheeky grin. That’s entertainment, folks.
Around the NFC North
As always, it’s time to go around the NFC North.
* The CHICAGO BEARS suck.
* The DETROIT LIONS apparently nearly had Quandre Diggs back in town this season, but he declined to sign with the team when they tried to bring him in off the Seahawks’ practice squad. Diggs has played a key role as a role player near the end of his career in helping Seattle to the Super Bowl; it’s interesting to consider how this could have changed things.
* The MINNESOTA VIKINGS canned their general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in a bit of a surprise move shortly after the conference championship weekend. Perhaps seeing Sam Darnold lead the Seahawks to the Super Bowl as favorites was a bit too much for the Vikings–a reminder of the decision to allow him to leave in favor of JJ McCarthy, one of the league’s worst starters at the position who was widely panned as being a reach when the team drafted him in 2024. Adofo-Mensah was generally a poor drafter and presided over the team while what had been one of the league’s strongest rosters aged out with no real replacements while the team’s available cap space shrank significantly.
Mr. Backes’s “This or That”
Every day I put a different “this or that” poll up on my whiteboard and have students leave tallies throughout the day. I then compile this information and post it here for laughs.
* Winter olympics defeated summer olympics
* Wendy’s defeated McDonald’s
* Oreos defeated Chips Ahoy
* Apple juice defeated orange juice
* Basketball defeated baseball
Super Bowl Pick
Okay, so we’ve made it. The final game of the NFL season before we head into the long dark of the offseason.
I don’t know that there’s a soul alive that would have predicted this matchup before the season started, but I guess that’s why they play the games. It’s often easy to say of a couple ascending new teams that they could be right back here next year, but we all know that that’s not how this works; for one or both of these teams, this could be their only chance. So it’s going to be fun to see how this one plays out with these fresh-but-not-fresh faces.
It's difficult for me to not pick the Seahawks. While I have generally tuned out any of the talk of the Patriots having benefited from an easy schedule (guess what, they still won all those games), I do not think they have been as efficient or as fearsome as this Seahawks team has been. While the Patriots have the capability of making it interesting, the Seahawks are far more well rounded and have been the closest thing the league has had this year to a juggernaut.
Ultimately, give me the Seahawks in a 30-20 game. An especially cool story for Sam Darnold, and a reminder to never judge a player too harshly for flaming out with the Jets. They’re an irredeemable dumpster fire.
Seattle Seahawks 30, New England Patriots 20
Filed Under: FeaturedTim BackesHello Wisconsin
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Tim Backes is a lifelong Packer fan and a contributor to CheeseheadTV. Follow him on Twitter @timbackes for his Packer takes, random musings and Untappd beer check-ins.
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Tags: Seattle Seahawksnew england patriotsSuper Bowl LXMr. Backes's This or ThatWisconsin Beer of the WeekMatt LaFleurRich BisacciaJeff HafleyAdam StenovichNFL picks
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