Andrew Quarless is stared down by Aaron Rodgers after lining up in the wrong spot. The tight end likely earned a minus for that gaffe. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Green Bay - Sometimes, the challenge isn't just to win.

It's maintaining a championship level of play even when the opponent isn't.

The Packers take this bye week off not only with the comfort of being 7-0 but also knowing they didn't lose a game they were supposed to win.

In those seven victories, the Packers haven't always been able to rely on their opponents to push them - not when four sit with losing records. So, the team has turned inward and made life tough with a meticulous and sometimes harsh grading system in which there is no such thing as an A for excellence or a C for average.

It's either pass or fail.

"We have a different grading system obviously than the people outside of our meeting room," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "It's based on the performance of every individual. Based on the level and the standard that we can play this game, we're playing above average right now. And I think that's very exciting because we feel strongly as a football team our best football is in front of us. It's clearly evident when we go through the grades and corrections."

The Packers' show-no-mercy grading system takes form soon after the game, usually on Sundays. Position coaches break down game film and grade every player on every play. The player is awarded a positive or a negative mark on every snap.

A "plus" means the player did everything right; a "minus" means they messed something up. Wrong technique, wrong gap, wrong route - any of these can earn a player a strike.

The overall objective, the Packers say, is to be on the plus side at least 80% of the time - and in some cases, as high as 90%.

"Anything less than 90, that's bad," defensive end Jarius Wynn said.

Where the Packers distinguish themselves is the ruthless nature of the grading. A Packer can earn a minus on a play even if the outcome was good.

Drop the running back for a loss? It could be a negative.

"If you're out of your gap, yeah!" end Ryan Pickett said. "They'll tell you, 'good job' - but you'll still get a minus. Oh, yeah."

The touchdown tight end Jermichael Finley scored at Chicago in Week 3 - despite running the wrong play - went through major scrutiny in the grading process.

"I can't remember if he had a minus or not. He might have had both," tight end Andrew Quarless said. "He scored, but it was a miscommunication - and the quarterback is always right.

"They're real, extra critical. The grades are based on a number of things. Technique. What did you accomplish? Your goal on the play. Did you make the play? As little as a fourth-step backward on a blocking play - that could be a minus."

The grades for receivers take it a step further with two marks: one plus or minus for running the right route or following the assignment; another plus or minus for the technique or the finish.

"If I'm supposed to run a three-step slant, I get a plus for running my assignment. I did my right thing," receiver Jordy Nelson said. "Now, if I did a three-step slant, which is correct, but he pushes me or I take a bad angle or have a bad catch, I might get a minus."

It depends on the position coach, but touchdowns or big catches often earn receivers a break and a favorable grade even if there was an imperfection. But the mistake is still acknowledged.

It's been said that quarterbacks coach Tom Clements is a tough grader of Aaron Rodgers, but many Packers say that's typical of all the assistants.

So much for resting on Super Bowl accomplishments. But it was that championship Feb. 6 that might have made the grading even tougher on the 2011 Packers. A few veterans dispute this and say the grading has been consistent during McCarthy's tenure.

But others swear it's gotten tougher.

"They're going to critique you more because you won," defensive end C.J. Wilson said. "They grade you really hard because we have a chance to be great."

"Whenever you have success, you raise the bar even that much more, and I think that's what has been going on here," fullback John Kuhn said. "Even though we might be doing well and getting victories, we raise the bar and try to do even better."

Of course, the coach and player don't always see eye to eye. The coach thinks a player should have been able to get lower, stretch farther, wrap up better. The player wonders whether the coach has forgotten how tough it is to bleed and sweat down after down. And so, debates rage over grades.

"Sometimes you might make a good play in the backfield, but you got reached. And you back-doored it," Pickett said. "You make a tackle for a loss and they'll be like, 'Great job! Again!' But . . . you got a minus on that play. Because you did the wrong thing."

Pickett, an 11-year veteran, shakes his head in awe of the tough grading. "You can't argue it. 'Come on, Coach?' No. You let it go," he said.

Defensive line coach Mike Trgovac isn't one for giving guys anything in grading.

"I got a negative, and I did pretty good on one play," Wilson said. "I had an assisted tackle, but because I didn't have my hands right, I got a negative. But I like that in a coach because he's trying to make me do better. He never lets off you."

Center Scott Wells hasn't always accepted a tough grade from line coach James Campen, but he speaks up only because he wants to get better.

"That's how we're able to all get on the same page," Wells said. "We're expected to execute as close to perfect as you can. We know that perfection is difficult, but that's what we're chasing.

"The expectations are high, as they should be. And they're high from the players. The expectations are high from the top down."

McCarthy oversees all of the grading and pushes for consistency throughout his staff as a way to get the players sharp.

"You can't let emotion play into it," McCarthy said. "It happens sometimes. A guy plays 99 plays in a row at a high level, and then he has one mistake and it's a critical mistake and, 'Oh, it's a losing performance.' That's why we watch it together, and everybody grades it. Then we go back to the team meetings, and everybody presents their grades."

That might be the best attribute of this team after all - the players generally welcome the high standards.

"It's hard to be perfect, but you want to be perfect every single play. That's the only way you can get better," rookie tackle Derek Sherrod said.

"It's tough when you have a team that does well; it's hard to stay on the ball," guard Josh Sitton said. "But the coaches do a good job of keeping things the same every week. The schedule is the exact same. We're going to walk through X amount of plays every week no matter who we're playing.

"They grade pretty tough every play. And I don't think we'd want it any other way. Most of the time we're our toughest critics. But when we need a little kick in the (expletive), they're there."