Actually, there is some validity to nearly every one of those things and plenty of blame to pass around for a team that is 6-12-1 since Rodgers’ injury early in the 2017 season. But after watching Green Bay muddle through the first half of 2018 with a hit-and-miss offense and a young, error-prone defense, there is one problem with the Packers I think overrides all others: Their roster is so depleted that what many thought was a one-year fix is really a two- or three-year fix.

The Packers no longer have elite-level talent. They are short on playmakers and depth and pretty much everything in between. Brian Gutekunst replaced Thompson after last season and was charged with reversing the talent drain, but too many things are wrong with this roster to make it right in one year.

Fans want the Packers to be competitive every year as Rodgers’ career window begins to close, but the roster is so thin that even had Gutekunst gone all-in this season there still would have been gaping holes to fill. That’s why he resisted the temptation to trade draft picks for veterans hoping that a player or two might put the Packers over the top. Such thinking was pure folly given the current roster.