David from Hilliard, OH

I thought this team learned its lesson in Cleveland?

It's never the same lesson. That's what makes winning consistently so hard.

Brian from Grand Rapids, MI

Trap games may or may not be real thing with the players, but games like today and against Cleveland last month are why fans believe there are trap games.

Oh, I hear you. Believe me, I do. I just think labeling a matchup a trap game is disrespectful to a bunch of professional players and coaches who are never as bad (or good) as any record suggests.

Bob from Cedar Rapids, IA

The way the Packers played, they should have used throwback uniforms from the '70s and '80s.

That's actually pretty good. Appreciate the humor.

Alan from Woodland Hills, CA

The Packers have one of the most talented rosters in the NFL, yet they continue to play undisciplined erratic football. Terrible decisions to eschew a field goal with 11:00 left in the game and Jordan Love needlessly forcing a throw into triple coverage against the wind on first down exacerbated a terrible game by the offensive line. When the O coach says last week his linemen are blocking the wrong people on runs, what are the coaches and players doing? There is something wrong with the Packers.

When there's too much in your own house to clean up, it's harder to play your game, and then harder yet to win when you're forced to play someone else's game. The Panthers came in and dictated how this game went, and the Packers never made them reconsider.

Gregg from NC

Unacceptable.

Inarguable.

Sue from Libertyville, IL

I'm not sure Jordan Love is maturing enough in his third year as a starter. His poor decisions to pass long downfield when his receiver is triple covered twice in the same game is disappointing. Do you think LaFleur and Love tired of the dink-dunk pass game and gambled for explosive plays?

Yes, because inevitably a mistake would be made to wreck a drive when they were playing the short/quick game. So they got impatient. But you can't play into the opponent's hands. The need to win the way they were being forced to play was the crux of my Rapid Reaction piece, because Carolina wasn't the first and won't be the last defense to sit back, make tackles, and wait for the Packers to screw up.

Dana from Santa Fe, NM

Did either of you see anything positive about the Packers today?

Luke Musgrave's 21-yard reception to jump start the fourth-quarter TD drive was a big moment because the Packers are going to need a lot more of that in the wake of Tucker Kraft's injury.

Brad from Nampa, ID

Hey Mike, when I read your story "Tucker Kraft's pace is off the charts for Packers tight ends" I said to myself, I hope Spoff just didn't jinx us. The football Gods can be cruel at times. Thoughts and prayers going out to Tucker. My heart breaks for him. I sure hope he comes back stronger in 2026.

He was on the cover of Wes's game program, too, coincidentally. Unplanned double whammy. I hope the injury is not as bad as feared. All the best to Tucker in his recovery, whatever that entails.

Matt from St. Paul, MN

Mike, I understand that the NFL is a unique beast and anyone can beat anyone every weekend. However, even given that caveat, the Packers have consistently played down to lesser opponents for years, well beyond the rate of a typical NFL team. To me, that is a coaching issue. What do you think? Is it coaching? The players? Or is it truly the ups and downs of the NFL, and us fans need to adjust our expectations?

I don't know what constitutes "the rate of a typical of an NFL team" because I only cover one. Inconsistency is the name of this game as far as I'm concerned. But there's a difference between a middling team making a couple of plays to beat you, and performing like the Packers did Sunday. That was just poor, in all areas, from the top down, in a three-point loss, which tells you how little they had to do well to win. I don't know how to rank them and don't care to, but an outing like that at home puts it in the inexcusable category.

Joe from Wichita, KS

Why on earth did LaFleur go for it on fourth-and-8 from the Carolina 13 with 11 minutes to go in the game? You're down by seven, you do NOT need a TD there. Points were at a premium for the Packers all game, take the points!

The regret sounded pretty clear to me from the podium.

Matt from Cloquet, MN

That was a tough one to swallow. Just about everything that could have gone wrong did. Unfortunately, all of the minor issues we have had this year stacked up and culminated into quite the humiliating performance. I don't want to overreact, but at what point do we address the elephant in the room? ML's pressers are all the same talk about penalties, poor execution, and bad play-calling in critical moments. Whatever he is doing to fix the problems are not working. He may need a new approach. GPG!

That's coaching, finding the right approach to get the most out of your players. When LaFleur said after the game, "We've got to evaluate everything we're doing right now," I believe him.

Larry from Green Bay, WI

Aaron Banks is by far the biggest overreach that Gute has made. A $77M gamble that has blown up. The O's running game is worse with him in there and his pass blocking is suspect at best. What are your thoughts?

My thoughts are Banks can't stay healthy, and it's one factor of many within a very spotty, inconsistent offense.

Scott from Reno, NV

At the midpoint of the season I think we can say we know the Packers' identity – they play down (or up, as the case may be) to the level of their competition. Is Brandon McManus's injury impacting him and, if so, why not ride the kid until he's healthy?

McManus hasn't mentioned his injury being a factor. All I know is his two misses inside 45 yards the last two games have looked exactly the same, hooked wide left from the right hash.

Kyle from St. Charles, MO

Sigh. Yet, somehow we're still leading the North.

Long way to go, and things got considerably tighter now, but this was a missed opportunity of massive proportions.

Ben from Bismarck, ND

In the current NFL when the opposing QB throws for 102 yards, zero TDs, and one interception, you should be able to find a way to win 100% of those games if you want to consider yourself a Super Bowl contender. Sunday's loss needs to be the wake-up call this team needs or the second half could get ugly fast. Especially the way the rest of the division has been playing.

This division is going to keep beating up on itself I figure. I get what you're saying about the passing stats, but this defensive effort left a lot more to be desired than, say, Cleveland (at least to me). When everyone knew the Panthers were going to pound the ball with Dowdle, he ripped off runs of 29, 13, 21 (nullified luckily by illegal formation) and then 19 with the game on the line. He had a nifty combination of patience and power, and the leaks evident in the run defense in the first half last week in Pittsburgh, before the Steelers abandoned the run, showed up to a greater degree.

Brian from Trego, WI

Did the Great Pumpkin take revenge against LaFleur for dissing on Halloween during his pre-game presser?

Good grief (said in my best Charlie Brown voice).

Mark from Westminster, CO

And the NFL has a new record, a booming 68-yard FG. This sure feels like the "Steroid Era" in Major League Baseball with the surge in home runs back in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. So, is it really the ball?

According to those in the know, yes. I've heard special teams coaches say they believe being able to work over the K-balls has added 5-7 yards.

Ben from Luxemburg, WI

Yikes. Packers look lugubrious for good reason. How is this humbling going to help the team going forward towards a stronger finish?

Lugubrious coming from Luxemburg, eh? A game like that should induce a full reset. How each player and coach uses it is up to him. What happened has to make a team better. Make it worth something, not a total waste.

Joe from Bozeman, MT

Mike's comment about CB being a tough position to play got me thinking that it might be the toughest position to play in all of sports. The receiver (often the fastest player on the team) knows what route he is running and a lot of the time the CB is traveling backwards. Not to mention when coming up in the run defense they have to take on an offensive lineman who outweighs them by over 100 pounds. I know you've always said that QB is the toughest position in sports. 1A and 1B for me.

Fair. QB is the most difficult position based on how much has to be processed mentally, and quickly, to be translated into physical execution. Corner has the physical challenges you mentioned plus the mental requirement to let the bad (stuff) go and just keep getting after it.

Kyle from Los Angeles, CA

Micah Parsons mentioned that teams need to decide whether to use a four-man slide or a five-man slide when defending him. Could you please explain that to this humble reader?

At the snap, offensive lines will "slide" their protection to one side or the other to provide help against a particularly tough matchup with an edge rusher. If all five slide, then it's usually a running back's job to pick up anyone coming off the edge opposite the slide direction. If four slide, then the backside tackle is staying home on that opposite edge and the back picks up anyone that comes through the gap between the sliding linemen and stay-at-home tackle.

Andy from Wisconsin Rapids, WI

There is not enough characters allowed for all of my thoughts, but you both hit grand slams about officiating on "Unscripted." Long story short, all we all want is transparency and honesty. Especially now, not only with penalties or not, but the expedited reviews, ball spots, or any subjective calls and/or fines received or not should be, at minimum, explained. It's a bad look, absolute minimum. Especially with the gambling fiasco the NBA is currently dealing with in the background.

If the process is reasoned and sound, then it should stand up to public scrutiny. The lack of transparency is an implicit suggestion it wouldn't.

Craig from Laramie, WY

I appreciated the discourse over officiating pertaining to the hip-drop call on Parsons. I still don't know "what constitutes a catch" when it comes to some of the player-safety calls. But my question is, is a fine mandatory if a player-safety foul is called? I have thought fines were indicative of egregiousness more than correctness of a given call.

That is true for some personal fouls, but I wasn't aware of any hip-drop violation not constituting a fine.

Ben from Avon, IN

How da heck is Arizona at Dallas the Monday night game and not Kansas City at Buffalo? The schedule maker needs to be fined for this!

I'm sure that's a matchup CBS prioritized in the schedule-making process. It might've even been its top choice of any game not to lose to primetime.

Dave from Gwinn, MI

From Ed Policy's mailbag, "What if the Packers introduced a new alternate uniform that is not based on a historic uniform, but is inspired by one of the most unique and defining pieces of Packers history? Stay tuned..." We all know the Insiders have marvelous inside information, so would you please spill the beans on that one?

First I've heard of it, honestly. It piqued my curiosity as much as yours.

Steven from Balsam Lake, WI

You're telling me it's already been NINE YEARS since Vic retired? Oh my. Time must fly because we're having so much fun here.

Something like that.

Jon from Tallahassee, FL

Good morning: In response to Mike from McFarland, sending comments funny enough to get posted on the in-game chat has been the central preoccupation of my life for more than a decade, starting with an LOL from Mike himself when I referenced the jelly of the month club when he took over a game, still in the Vic era, IIRC. I've only had maybe two since then, but you gotta respect the process, week in week out, let the game come to you, and ball out, man. It's huge. Just trying to help the team.

You need to get out more, Jon.

Johnny from Madison, WI

Starting to feel like prior weeks have little to no bearing on the week at hand. Someone should really come up with a saying to encapsulate this phenomenon. And then repeat it as a mantra to remind us.

LOL.

Mike from Montpelier, WI

"Spoff the fixer," huh? Is he off to the NBA?

Yikes.

Richard from Madison, WI

So, a personal question for the both of you. Now that you've achieved widespread name recognition and built up an immense reservoir of good will among your fellow Wisconsinites, while demonstrating calm common sense and adept facility with the English language, any chance you'll move on to a career in politics?

I can see it now: "Spoff the fixer" on my campaign posters. Happy Monday.

HAVE A QUESTION?