The 2023 Green Bay Packers are in control of their own playoff destiny.
Rewind to earlier this season, and those words I just said out loud would seem crazy, but that is exactly where we are and a big reason why, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, who, over and over, continues to show everyone he was right…and, he was right in multiple ways.
It was an off-season that began with many more questions than answers, and with only a month left of the season, those questions have been answered, and some of them have been louldy answered.
Jordan Love, fopr example, is clearly the solution at quarterback. He is, without a doubt, your franchise quarterback going forward, hopefully, for many years to come.
Hindsight, that 2020 draft which was once highly criticized looks rather promising.
Fast forward to this spring and another part of it was the questioning of the direction Gutey was taking this team when he decided to send of a 4-time MVP in Aaron Rodgers.
The New York Jets, as we have seen for a large part of this year, are clearly a mess.
Aaron Rodgers injured. Adrian Amos released. Randall Cobb a no-show. Allen Lazard, after signing for 44 million dollars was benched. A handful of former Packers that Gutey said – “meh, no thanks,” and let them walk or sent them away proved to be the right decisions.
The Packers, on the other hand, are in complete control of making the playoffs, something that 4-time MVP couldn’t do last year with a much more experienced team.
The future and the present of this team continue to point up, and a big reason why is the decisions their general manager has made, and continues to make both in-season and in the off-season.
Guys he has selected are simply making plays, and standing out as pivotal pieces moving forward.
At the end of the day, whether you like him or not, it’s now past time you acknowledge that Gutey was right.
