From Question Mark to Cornerstone, He’s Quietly Become One of the Best Returns on Investment in the League.QQ

The Packers gotta win Saturday night and see what it means Sunday

John from St. Albert, Canada

Good day, you know what they say about support groups for specific challenges – there is real, shared empathy, because everyone is going through the same struggles. II is that support group for Packers fans. I had a hard time processing the Denver game and it was an even harder time this past Saturday. Monday’s II gave me comfort – I am not alone! By the way, turn a who/whom sentence into a question and then answer it. The subject of the answer makes it clear – “he” = who; “him” = whom.

This might have been the most Inboxy-ish Inbox submission ever published in Insider Inbox.

Craig from Laramie, WY

Socrates said, “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” I’m still at a loss as to what to talk about following Saturday night’s catastrophe. Maybe none of the above? There is still some football left to be played. Go Pack Go!

Socrates was a wise man, but he never faced a cover-zero blitz. There are topics to discuss, corrections to be made and a game to win this Saturday night.

Wesley from Woodbury, MN

Kudos to Malik Willis for an outstanding backup performance. Do you think he just secured a big raise for next year? With all the injuries at QB in KC, I’m thinking he’ll be trading green and gold for red. Will be sad to see him go but think he has proven he can be a starter in this league.

Willis has proven he deserves the opportunity to compete for a starting job. Whatever happens, Willis will go down as one of the best moves Brian Gutekunst has made. For the modest seventh-round price it took to acquire Willis, he’s been an incredible return on investment for the Packers.

Dustin from Kansas City, MO

Happened to be at a sports bar with a couple Raiders friends of mine to watch that mess of a game. They helped keep things in perspective when it all fell apart at the end, so that was nice. Also, they are really hoping their ownership takes a good, long look at Malik Willis this offseason. I personally hope he doesn’t go there or Cleveland or anywhere else that is famous for wasting QBs. He deserves better than that for everything he’s done for us.

Fit is always key. Just ask Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold. Willis will have a lot to consider this offseason. But first, there are games to be won whether it’s in a spot start against Baltimore or continuing his faithful duties as QB2.

Patrick from Madison, WI

With Jordan Love in concussion protocol and Willis banged up, what should we know about practice-squad QB Clayton Tune? Do you think he’ll be on the roster vs. Baltimore? If we need another QB, would you expect the Packers to look to at any free agents as our third-string QB?

We should learn more this afternoon on the status of Love (concussion protocol) and Willis (shoulder). If Tune is elevated, though, he’s a young QB the Packers are high on. Green Bay wasted little time bringing him in as QB3 after Arizona cut Tune at the end of camp. A former fifth-round pick, Tune put up big numbers at Houston while throwing some of those passes to Matthew Golden.

Roger from McGrath, AK

Can you think of a current matchup of better backup QBs than Ravens at Packers?

I don’t know why Baltimore ever let Snoop Huntley leave in the first place. He’s never been a high-priced backup and fits the Ravens’ system perfectly. John Harbaugh called Lamar Jackson as “day-to-day” while discussing his back contusion on Monday, so we’ll see how everything shakes out. But I am a huge fan of Huntley’s.

Subhadeep from Middletown, CT

Winning NFC North is not that out of reach. One game at a time. Yes, we have some massive injuries, but we need to beat the Ravens who just lost Lamar before the half in the Pats game. Win against Ravens putting pressure on Bears who are facing 49ers with good chance to be beaten. Win to secure playoff. Bears head to Lions, and Dan Campbell has shown to fire up his team even when they are out of playoffs. We head to Vikings and winning that with Lions’ win secures us NFC North and a home game. Go Pack Go!

I don’t care about the division title right now. It would be great to host a playoff game for the first time in four years, but that’s out of Green Bay’s control. The Packers gotta win on Saturday night and see what it means Sunday.

Troy from Westminster, CO

My feelings about this outcome didn’t have to do with it specifically being Da Bears. However, it certainly had to do with the chance to secure the driver’s seat for the NFC North title against their primary competition for that division title. Whether it was the Lions, Vikings or Bears (oh my), the implications of the collapse mattered much more than it would have had it been any almost other team in that situation, certainly the Texans, Buccaneers or Chargers.

That was the toughest loss of the season for all the reasons you mentioned. Fortunately, an old friend did the Packers a huge favor on Sunday afternoon in Detroit, so the weekend goes down as a push. That said, a win on Saturday night sends Green Bay to the playoffs for the third straight year while returning the favor to Aaron Rodgers.

Mark from Amarillo, TX

If you would have asked me last week to write down three names of players I would have wanted to cover an onside kick, I probably would have written Romeo Doubs down three times. If you were to ask me again today, I would still probably write down Romeo three times. Folks are down on him for that failure, but there were so many other failures that even gave the Bears the chance to win. Hope Romeo keeps his head up. He’s too important to this team!

It’s a difficult job and not one Doubs takes lightly. To Doubs’ credit, he took complete ownership of the mishap. While Spoff is right that Doubs needs to attack the ball, it was far from a perfect play. The Bears and their bunch formation successfully cleared an alley for Noah Sewell and eventually Josh Blackwell to the ball. Spoff’s overall point was well-constructed…everyone both on the field and sideline had a hand in Green Bay coming up short.

Jeff from Albuquerque, NM

One play call I totally did not understand was running a play after the Bears scored to tie the game. There were only a few seconds left and MLF calls a play and Malik gets hurt. Why not just take a knee and let the clock run out? Made no sense to me.

The Packers had all their timeouts and wanted to see if they could hit an explosive, I assume. With 24 seconds left, I probably would have done the same.

Matt from Kula, HI

I don’t question the physical toughness of this team in any way. However, mental toughness appears to be lacking at critical times. Penalties, blown coverages, dropped passes, and fumbles all result from lack of concentration or succumbing to the pressure of the moment. Correcting this trend is a shared responsibility of coaches and players. Whether or not the season ends in failure will depend on doing so.

I don’t disagree. Since Week 3, a persistent issue plaguing the Packers is how they’ve played in the final stretch of these games. Adversity is inevitable. When it hits, somebody needs to step up whether it’s execution on special teams, defensive takeaways or the offense running a successful four-minute drive to seal a win.

Jason from Austin, TX

Here is something to keep in mind to everyone that’s still down about this loss: It’s not the worst loss ever. It’s also not the last game of the season (like it was the last time we ended a game like that, which was far worse). The Lions losing was a bright spot this weekend as all we need to do is win against Baltimore and we’re in. The players are pros, but human, so how do the coaches avoid a “woe is me” mentality from the players going into this next game? They can’t think they’re cursed!

Matt LaFleur had a marvelous answer to this on Sunday afternoon. He has to move forward. Because if LaFleur doesn’t, then how can he expect his players to.

Rich from Howell, MI

What do NFL coaches have against taking points? If Packers kick the field goal on the first drive, they win the game…More points equals wins! I blame Campbell for this and it’s on my last good nerve!

More points does equal wins…which is why teams play for six (plus one) rather than settling for field goals on fourth-and-short. To the number of you wanting to correlate this game to 2014, I ask how you can confidently say take the points? Lest we forget that aspect of the loss to the Seahawk in the NFC title game? Process over outcome. The play call and execution need to be better, but it was the right call to go for it on fourth-and-1.

Jeremiah from Middleton, WI

It doesn’t really matter at this point, but were you surprised Ben Johnson didn’t go for two at the end of regulation? Two weeks ago, there was the consensus there was no way he would settle for a tie if they got the touchdown in that game, but he did here.

Yes and no. Yes, because of reputation. But the Bears also were struggling to punch the ball in before the fourth-and-4 TD pass to Jahdae Walker. Chicago was guaranteed a possession in overtime under the new rules, so I’m sure that was part of the consideration for Johnson.