Justin from Thousand Oaks, CA

Do you think the resurgence of once-pilloried QBs like Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Trevor Lawrence, Malik Willis, and even Mac Jones might cause teams to be a little less prone to dump young QBs like Stroud too early? Clearly a lot of teams have given up on talented QBs too fast. Or was the scenery change (excepting Lawrence) part of why they found new life?

I think the change of scenery definitely mattered, but only Mayfield had started in the playoffs (two games) before changing scenes. That draws a contrast to Stroud’s case.

Steve from Cedar Falls, IA

Next weekend’s games full of intrigue. Broncos second-string QB. Patriots look unstoppable. Rams-Seahawks meet for third time …

I don’t think the Patriots look unstoppable, but they just caught the biggest break at this stage of a postseason in quite some time.

Venny from Montgomery, AL

Is Davante Adams a Hall of Fame lock? Will he need a Super Bowl win or additional productive seasons to boost his case?

He’s got a strong HOF resume already, with three first-team All-Pro selections, six Pro Bowls, and leading the league in TD catches with three different teams. But winning a Super Bowl and having a sizable impact on that victory would almost certainly shorten his wait.

It’s funny to me how people think LaFleur needs to change his coaching style to be more mean and cutthroat with the players in order to get over the hump – but nobody talks about how his current coaching style is part of the reason for their success now. There’s no guarantee that him having less of a personal relationship with his players means more success in crunch time. It most likely would mean the opposite.

As far as player relationships go, a coach’s top priority is to get his players to go all out for him. There are any number of ways to go about it, but effort has to be a given for execution to have a chance.

Regarding Booker’s hits on Jordan Love and a possible suspension – Vontaze Burfict was suspended for almost an entire season because he had a history of illegal hits. While the suspension was after a single play, the league clearly was punishing him for past infractions. It has happened before.

Fines also go up for repeat offenders, and I recall a couple of suspensions for a game (or two) this past season. Those are usually for multiple violations of “defenseless player” protections, though.

Our offensive line, in its totality, had a rather underperforming year, at least by Packer standards. In your opinion, do you think we tried too hard to be diverse, rotating players and/or positions, and not letting them “settle in”? Or did problems evolve from other circumstances?

It’s a fine line. Cross-training players is important to cover for injuries, but there are drawbacks. There’s no easy answer to that one.

Paula from Apple Valley, MN

I’m trying to stop over-assessing the past season and move on. But one thing that keeps coming back to me is moving Elgton Jenkins to center. I didn’t like it at the time and, in my opinion, it played a bigger role in our lack of success than most seem to think (or are saying). Even if Elgton had stayed healthy, it just seems like we never found the right mix after that move. Am I making too much of that move?

It failed. There’s no denying that. The Packers invested in a C-LG combo of Jenkins-Aaron Banks to be a decided improvement over Myers-Jenkins, but it didn’t pan out that way, though they may have found their new center of the future in the process. Curious to see what happens with Sean Rhyan now.

During the “analysis” of what went wrong with the second half of the Bears game, MLF made reference to the linemen not sliding to pick up the blitz that the Bears seemed to be throwing at the Packers on every play. Assuming this is recognized during the game, where does the primary responsibility for adjusting to this lie? HC, OC, OL coach? Or is it more likely a simple matter of recognition, but the OL just not executing?

They have protection calls with rules dictating who blocks whom based on the defensive front. If the rules aren’t followed, or if one lineman is executing the wrong call, or if someone whiffs on a block, it creates a free runner at the quarterback. It sounds like all were happening at various times. Whose responsibility? It’s on the players to execute the calls as they’ve been coached, but if they can’t, there’s also fault with not being coached well enough. There’s no one finger to point.

I think the most disappointing unit this year wasn’t special teams, but the OL. I know we had injuries, but the unit never really seemed to gel even when we settled into a starting five. And the pre-snap issues, missed assignments, etc., cost us several games, and probably the two Bears losses. More than special teams, I think ML has to take a long look at the offensive line coaching. Lang wants us to bring back Campen. I think that has to be at least considered. Thoughts?

I expect everything about the offensive line to be thoroughly examined, both on the personnel and coaching side. I’d be a fool to try to predict the eventual solutions.

Ray from West Des Moines, IA

Amid all the disappointment of this past season, Lukas Van Ness demonstrated what he can add to the defense. Many people had considered him a wasted first-round pick and may now be changing their minds. How do you see his future with the Packers?

Promising. As long as Van Ness can stay healthy, I think we’re going to see in Year 4 what we were starting to see before and after his injury in Year 3.

More of a statement than a question … We need to improve the kick and punt return. If I am correct the last TD we had on any sort of return was Keisean Nixon vs. Vikings in 2023, that’s two years too long!

That TD was actually in 2022, but who’s counting.