I've waited a few days to put this column together in order to let my blood settle down a bit. But it hasn't. The fourth quarter against Tampa Bay still rings like a haunted bell, signaling all that has gone wrong in the first half of this season. Many of these problems are becoming so frequent you might as well call them hall-marks of the Ted and Mike regime.I'm not going into all of that. You watched the game. Or maybe you were lucky and missed it. Maybe you didn't waste your beautiful Sunday sitting in front of the television set, jaw agape, anger swelling in your guts. Maybe you rolled around in a pile of leaves with your sweet-heart. Maybe you went fishing. I wish I was you.
Oh my dear readers, it just keeps getting worse.
After two of the most horrible losses I can even fathom, Ted and Mike are now below .500 during their time in Green Bay. This is unacceptable, folks. I fear we are slipping back into the Lindy Infante years, or worse, the Forrest Gregg years - pain-ful times in which the prestige of the Green and Gold retreated into the northern forests like a majestic timber wolf in the fog. Some folks go their whole lives without seeing a timber wolf, even if they live in wolf territory. I'll tell you what, dear readers, I am not content to hear an occasional howl from over the next ridge.
The pathetic, mistake-strewn loss to a lousy team in this year's Battle of the Bays was a tipping point for me. The predator bounties led to the rapid eradication of the wolves from Wisconsin in the 1950s. If the mistakes of the McCarthy era have opened the door to destruction of prestige, this loss, you could say, was the trapper's bullet that shot the last wolf down.
It's pretty simple now, in my eyes. Coach McCarthy keeps saying he needs to 'clean things up' but I want to see things cleaned up. I want actions, not words. On Sunday night I wanted the Executive Committee to fire both of the bums, but while I may still be angry and frustrated, I am willing to give them 8 more games. In my eyes, dear readers, they must turn this wreck around and make the playoffs or both of them should be kicked to the curb at the end of the season.
Not that I'm expecting such a turn-around, but I'm willing to give them a shot. Maybe they need to have their little toes put the the flames, and from what I've been reading and hearing out in the community, their are plenty of fans out there who don't have the patience I am calling for in this space. So I'm sure they know they're working for their jobs today. I don't think they'll be able to 'clean it up' and make the playoffs, but golly, dear readers, I truly hope I am wrong about these two.
Better than cleaning it up, McCarthy would do well to adjust his game-plan to his personnel. Maybe instead of bashing his skull into a brick wall every week, Mike ought to try walking around the wall or climbing over it, is my point.
There is no happy ending to this column, dear readers. This column just got blocked and returned for a touch-down. Until next time, then.
-FG
