2009 Green Bay Packers & NFL Predictions (Official Edition)

[ReasonablySober]

This hype train is scaring the hell out of me.

I liked it when you had one or two guys giving us the North. It was cute when Don Banks had us in the Super Bowl. But more often than not now I'm seeing the Packers as an NFC rep in the SB. I'm listening to the Simmons podcast right now and his pick is either Packers/Pats or Packers/Steelers. He isn't sure about the AFC, he just knows he's going with GB in the SB.

[Mags FTW]

In his Vegas column he put money on them to win the SB at 25-1.

10:40: We stop at the sports book to make a Super Bowl bet on Green Bay at 25-1 (my favorite of the long shots).

[bucks59]

I figured I put this here, more hype via SI

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/f ... index.html

[bucks59]

I'm going to predict 11-5. My earlier prediction was 9-7.

I'm going to guess losses: Dallas, BMore, @ Chicago, @ Pittsburgh, @ Arizona.

Earlier I thought we'd also lose to Tampa and one of the Vikings games; I think I changed my stance on the Vikings games because of personal biases. Tampa looks pretty bad and could be one of the worst teams in the NFL this year.

[Wade-A-Holic]

I'm going to say 12-4. I see about 8 games on the schedule that fall under the "could go either way" category, and I say we'll take half of those games. The other 8 are "should win".

[Wade-A-Holic]

Yeah this hype is getting ridiculous. My brent-loving sister thinks the packers are a 9-7 team at best, citing the 6-10 from a year ago. I counter with: well how did the Dolphins go from 1-15 to winning their division? Crickets... It's seriously disturbing how much by blood boils when she tries to talk about football.

[Ill-yasova]

Crap. Bill Simmons has picked the Pack as his NFC champion and has them going against either the Patriots or the Steelers in the Super Bowl. Simmons is usually a kiss of death but lets hope he's right for once. Prediction is in the latest podcast on the homepage (since he's too lazy to write articles anymore).

[humanrefutation]

Crap. Bill Simmons has picked the Pack as his NFC champion and has them going against either the Patriots or the Steelers in the Super Bowl. Simmons is usually a kiss of death but lets hope he's right for once. Prediction is in the latest podcast on the homepage (since he's too lazy to write articles anymore).

He actually picked them to win the super bowl in the column today.

Packers OVER Steelers, 27-19

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ons/090910

[Wade-A-Holic]

This hype isn't unfounded...

Our 3 biggest weaknesses last season:

1. Defense
If Capers continues his trend of producing top 10 defenses in his first season as DC, this team will fare much better at holding leads, which was its biggest problem last season, in my opinion. The scheme is better and the talent is there. No more watching 4 completely tired down linemen trying to rush the passer late in the 4th quarter while our bad man cover linebackers get exposed downfield.

2. Special Teams
I think Kapinos will be better and so will our coverage units. Hopefully Crosby can pick it up.

3. Running the ball
3a. Red Zone TD conversion rate
Once again, this was key in our inability to hold onto leads. Aaron Rodgers was really good at not turning the ball over in the red zone or making crucial mistakes, but our inability to run the ball, combined with some conservative play calling and a lack of big red zone receiving targets really hurt us. No more with Jermichael Finley, our beefed up line, a healthy James Jones, and improved play from our fullbacks.

This team is now well equipped to do the one thing it couldn't last season: hold onto a lead.

[LUKE23]

Was on vacation during this thread, but I will stick with my previous prediction of 11-5.

[Newz]

we could start Matt Flynn all 16 games to manage the offense and we still might go 9-7.

I've never seen a group of people drink the preseason kool-aid as much as the people on this board have. This team would be 9-7 with Matt Flynn at QB? SERIOUSLY?! That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read.

I think there is a chance we could go 13-3 if everything falls into place, don't get me wrong. I think TT is awesome and has done a great job in assembling the team... I just think being a very young team with a still young QB and an unproven defense (that was terrible last year) still has some major question marks.

I'll stick with my 9-7 prediction... I bet there are a lot better odds that we go 8-8 to 11-5 than us winning 12+ games.

It's not that crazy. Bill Walsh made a career out of taking no name QBs and putting them in a great system with great WRs and had alot of success doing it. I like Rodgers, I think he's awesome, but a QBs success is alot more relative to the players around him than most people realize.

Remember when you guys said that we could go 9-7 with Matt Flynn instead of Aaron Rodgers?

...

.......

[LUKE23]

Long ways to go. No point in anyone saying anything about being right or wrong yet.

[Newz]

Long ways to go. No point in anyone saying anything about being right or wrong yet.

Well it was just as ridiculous to say it then as it is now.

It's just more amusing for me to read it now because we just lost to the Bengals.

[Ayt]

15-1

[paulpressey25]

I'm going with 11-5.

But we could go two games higher or two games lower. I still think we have three weaknesses:

1) Kicking game/Special teams don't seem special yet.
2) Defense appears to be very exciting and will make huge plays. But I still question if our line can hold teams to three and out's much of the game like a championship team does.
3) I'm still not there on the running game being able to road-grade on those 3rd and 1's and goal-line opportunities.

But again all these are critiques based on the standard of what you need to be a Super Bowl winner versus a team that wins it's division or gets a wild card. This team is as promising as any we've had in the Thompson era. We just need some breaks the next 17 weeks.

[an_also]

you sly dog you. I dont know why i dont have my prediction in this thread but predicted 10-6

[Siefer]

After seeing this team play, I'm upgrading slightly from my original 10-6 prediction:

Packers 11-5
Vikings 10-6
Bears 9-7
Lions 3-13

Playoffs:

1. Packers (11-5)
2. Saints (11-5)
3. Giants (10-6)
4. Cardinals (10-6)
5. Vikings (10-6)
6. Eagles (9-7)

I'm still can't bring myself to predict 12-4 or 13-3 like some others. I love our team, but I think they're still young, and the end of our schedule is going to be fairly brutal. Unfortunately, I could see us dropping 4 of the last 5. I certainly hope I'm wrong about that, but even so, I predict another NFC North title.

Got the record, and 5 out of 6 playoff teams right. Just underestimated the Vikings and Saints (at least how hot they started), and overestimated the Giants. We finished the season a lot better than most everyone expected, in part because of a situation (Arizona throwing in the towel today), and partially because this team just hit a second gear after the Tampa Bay game. I honestly feel like we are legit Super Bowl contenders at this point. The scariest match up to me is probably @ Philly or @ Minnesota.