The 2-2 start wasn't inspiring. The next four games started with a very disappointing loss, but ended with 2 wins and a well played road loss against the last unbeaten team in the NFL. After 8 games, it looked like the Packers were playing the best of all the NFC North teams.

It was possible to believe the Packers would lose at home to Dallas, then on the road in Tampa. But to lose to Atlanta? At Lambeau? After Atlanta finished up an 11 win season, it doesn't look so bad. Atlanta got just enough offense from WR Roddy White in the first half (over 100 yards), and from RB Michael Turner in the 2nd half, to lead them to victory. One week after his serious shoulder injury in Tampa, Rodgers threw for over 300 yards. Again the run defense collapsed late in the game, and, again, another poor game for RB Ryan Grant.

Due to injuries, Seattle was forced to start QB Charlie Frye against one of the best pass defenses in the NFL. Somehow he managed to throw two TDs, but he was so awful. He had no accuracy past 10 yards. It was like they played a team without a QB. Seattle would have been better playing RB Julius Jones in the wildcat all game.

Hope sprang eternal after the big win over Indianapolis. The pass defense owned MVP QB Peyton Manning, he threw two pick 6s, and even the run defense showed up. It was a bad statistical game for Grant, but he started to show some signs of life in this game. WR Greg Jennings started to slow down at this point; this was the first of four games in 2008 when he was held for under 40 yards receiving.

If you can have a good loss, losing at unbeaten Tennessee in overtime was a good loss. Rodgers took some heat in the papers after this game for throwing one INT in the endzone, and having two drives stall near the goal line. K Mason Crosby was forced to kick two short (23 and 25 yard) FGs instead. I thought that was a load of c*&p because he had also managed to throw for over 300 yards against the best pass defense in the NFL. The Packers' run defense, again, collapsed at the end. Tennessee got the ball to start OT and their last 6 plays were all running plays to set up the game winning FG.

Before we start looking ahead to 2009, it might help to look back at how the 2008 season went.

Coming out of the gate, the Minnesota game looked very sloppy. A lot of penalties, but no turnovers. It might have been the worst game of the season for Minnesota DE Jared Allen, who was held without a sack or tackle. Although RB Adrian Peterson had a great game, the first of many great games running backs had against the Packers in 2008, Minnesota had lousy field position the entire game. Their best start was from their own 31 yard line. It was great to start with a win, but it wasn't very convincing.

The win at Detroit felt better then it should have. It felt like the Packers were hitting their stride, but in hindsight, they were just crushing an eventual 0-16 team. The Packers scoreboard got puffed up at the end when QB Jon Kitna threw 3 INTs. RB Brandon Jackson scored the first TD shortly after the first INT, then Woodson and Collins returned the next two INTs for TDs.

Dallas. It could have been a big win. I was optimistic that they had put it all together after the first two games. Instead, the problems shown in the first two weeks were magnified. This game was before QB Tony Romo, RB Marion Barber, and RB Felix Jones were injured, and they all had a great game. RB Ryan Grant was still limited by his bad hamstring and none of the receivers were getting open for QB Aaron Rodgers.

The loss at Tampa Bay was one of the lowest points of the season. DE Cullen Jenkins was lost for the season. Rodgers injured his shoulder, but later proved he could play through it. The score was much closer than the actual game. Two big TD passes to WR Greg Jennings, and three INTs thrown in the 3rd quarter by Tampa QB Brian Griese, kept the Packers in it. In the end, Tampa's defense was in it's early season dominant form and took over. A late game collapse by the Packers' run defense ended any hope of a come back.

What do you remember from these games?

According to various sources, it's gonna happen. Former 49ers head coach will be the Packers new defensive coordinator.

Although Nolan's recent teams in San Francisco and Baltimore (as defensive coordinator from 2002-2004) ran a 3-4 defense, they would probably keep the 4-3 scheme because the current roster is better suited to it:

“He’s good now. He’s smart,” said the scout who’s familiar with Nolan. “He can run 3-4, 4-3, he knows it all. It depends on what personnel you have. He’ll do whatever, morph to whatever. He’ll use your players to their strengths. He’s smart that way.”

The rumor of former 49ers head coach Mike Nolan taking over as defensive coordinator, as reported by ProFootballTalk, has begun to float:

"A league source tells us that Nolan curently is in the process of lining up a staff of assistants, and the thinking is that Nolan will be the next defensive coordinator of the Packers."

49er fans are happily looking back at the free agent signing of QB J.T. O'Sullivan because it led to the canning of Mike Nolan. So that is not a ringing endorsement. He did a lot of damage to the 49ers when he was acting as their GM from 2005-2007, but not necessarily due to his defensive coaching. He also was a PR disaster, especially when talking about QB Alex Smith.

He's got a solid resume and been on the NFL sidelines every Sunday for the past 20 years. Maybe we should worry about whether the current players would fit into the scheme Nolan prefers, but I honestly don't know that much Xs and Os to say.

It doesn't matter who the defensive coach is unless he has players who can get the job done. And GM Ted Thompson has to do something to reload the roster in the defensive front seven for whoever the next defensive coordinator is. The selection of the new defensive coordinator is not as important as free agency in March, and the draft in April.

Back in August, the Acme Packing Company fantasy football league got going. My team, Notre Dame Box, led the league in points scored (led by QB Aaron Rodgers and WR Andre Johnson). But as most everyone knows, regular season dominance doesn't always translate into post season fantasy success. I was knocked out in the semi-finals, and Devil Dogs, owned by ShadowNix, went onto win the league championship. He had a solid season from the top overall pick RB LaDainian Tomlinson, obviously he wasn't worth going number one overall this season but he still contributed. His second round pick was QB Drew Brees and he was the fantasy MVP this season in our league.

And as promised back in August, the winner will be receiving his choice of Packer themed prize. He went for the stylish hoody jacket which shall be on his doorstep by the end of the week. Congratulations!

I'll be doing something again next summer, so keep it in mind.

JSOnline.com reported that The National Football Post reported that defensive coordinator Bob Sanders has been fired. I've said before that Sanders isn't the reason his players played poorly. This hasn't been confirmed as of Sunday night by the Packers at Packers.com, so this might not be true.

Baltimore 27, Miami 9. I saw very little of this game, but the outcome doesn't surprise me. Next week's Baltimore at Tennessee game should decide who goes to the Super Bowl. I'd put Pittsburgh right there with them, but I'm not convinced QB Ben Roethlisberger will overcome his concussion.

Minnesota 14, Philadelphia 26. One player was the difference in this game; QB Tarvaris Jackson. God he was awful. He only had 15 completions, and 3 came in the meaningless last drive. His only TD pass was a pick 6 to CB Asante Samuel. It's really too bad for Minnesota. Their defense was great and RB Adrian Peterson had a good game against a great Philly run defense. They played good enough to win, but Jackson held them back. It's good for Packer fans, but Minnesota has a low team ceiling as long as Jackson is their QB.

Next week; Philadelphia at NY Giants and Baltimore at Tennessee should be the games that decide who goes to the Super Bowl. Arizona is a horrible matchup against Carolina's great pass defense and lousy run defense. San Diego at Pittsburgh could be a good game, but I don't think either have a chance against the other AFC teams.

This game was a rematch of last season when San Diego won at Indianapolis. This time the Bolts win in San Diego.

Here's the SB Nation Colts site - Stampede Blue. Chargers site at Bolts from the Blue.

I missed the OT period, but I saw about half the game. The Colts defense played like the Packers D; great pass defense and a run defense that couldn't stop RB Brent Fullwood. San Diego even managed to blow a few extra opportunities in the game. I saw the Bolts secondary drop at least 3 INTs, RB Darren Sproles was the hero but he had a fumble into the end zone in the 3rd quarter, and QB Philip Rivers threw a dumb INT into the end zone when they were in FG range. They also allowed the long TD bomb to WR Reggie Wayne while the Bolts defense was just standing around.

In the press conference, Colts head coach Tony Dungy said Bolts P Mike Scifres was the difference in the game. That didn't seem possible but the Colts were killed with bad field position. Both San Diego TD drives in the 2nd quarter started in Indianapolis territory.

Arizona 30, Atlanta 24.

I haven't watched either of these teams very much this season, but I was surprised that RB Michael Turner didn't have a better game. Then I looked at his stats at Football Outsiders and saw they only had him ranked as the 19th best RB this season. He's had a lot of production this season, but also too many carries. He looked really indecisive trying to find the opening in the defensive line.

In hindsight; this was a bad matchup for Atlanta. Their pass defense is average, and Arizona's pass offense is outstanding. It was asking a lot from their defense to stop them all game. And Arizona's run defense is average, but they were up to the challenge when playing at home against a slightly overrated Atlanta run offense. QB Matt Ryan had a good game, but made some rookie mistakes (i.e. taking a safety in the 4th quarter) and it was asking a lot for him to carry the team to a victory.

If you look back at my old Packers blog, I was very critical of the hiring of Mike McCarthy. My thinking was; how could they fire Mike Sherman after only one losing season, and replace him with an offensive coordinator who had just led one of the worst offenses of all time (the 2005 49ers). I was wrong about McCarthy; he's a great head coach.

Back then, I was really pissed off at the hiring of special teams coach Mike Stock:

Another quality hire by Mike McCarthy. At least the Packers have never fired Mike Stock before. Stock has been around forever and got his first coaching job with the legendary Ara Parseghian at Notre Dame back in the 1960s. He was special teams coach of the year in 1987 and apparently he has been coasting off that past success plus his relationship with Marty Schottenheimer ever since.

In hindsight, Stock did more good then I expected. CB Will Blackmon and Tramon Williams both became dangerous return men (although Williams didn't have many opportunities in 2008). K Mason Crosby is very good. And the kick coverage and blocking has generally been good.

His Waterloo was P Derrick Frost. On the release of Frost:

"Is it disappointing for you...
It's disappointing for me because I'm responsible for coaching the kid, obviously. He kicked really well Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, just have to carry it over to Sunday too. That's the problem."

I think he was telling McCarthy and Thompson what a great job Frost was doing every week, only to have the awful Frost we saw every Sunday show up at game time.

Although McCarthy's known him for many years, going back to their days in Kansas City in the 1990s, Stock has retired. From JSOnline.com:

"Mike Stock didn't sound like someone who was ready to retire from the Green Bay Packers...

It's unclear what changed in the last week - whether he was encouraged to retire or just decided he had enough - but the 69-year-old Stock called it quits."

I think he was given the choice; retire or your fired. Although my original opinion of him was very poor, I don't know whether he deserved to get fired. The special teams units were very good, at times, under Stock. But the whole situation with Frost probably ended his coaching career.