Saw a chart that showed the 49ers had 59 games missed due to injury by eight core players (excluding Aiyuk). They are being celebrated (rightfully so) for prevailing despite that kind of adversity. What would the total be for this year’s Packers from the two-deep depth chart of the original 53? It’s got to be right up there. Not looking to make excuses, but to maybe add context to a season gone awry. Maybe the issue is more when they started piling instead of total number. Still my team! GPG!

The definition of core guys can be murky, but below is my list of the eight most prominent players absent the longest, with number of missed games in parentheses, playoff game included, but Week 18 not included if the player was healthy enough to play: Tucker Kraft (10), Jayden Reed (10), Elgton Jenkins (9), Lukas Van Ness (8), Zach Tom (7, incl. one snap in CLE), Christian Watson (6), Devonte Wyatt (6), Micah Parsons (5). That’s a total of 61, including the playoff game, 56 without. Beyond that, other core players missing games were Nate Hobbs (7), Matthew Golden (3), Dontayvion Wicks (3), Quay Walker (2), Aaron Banks (2), Love (2, incl. concussion game), Josh Jacobs (1), Evan Williams (1).

Morning guys, looking ahead to next season, do you see anyone on the current roster who can bring some grit when the team needs a pick-me-up? That guy whose day isn’t done until his uniform is dirty and a little bloody. That guy that no one wants to be on his bad side (coaches don’t count)?

I’ve seen a lot of questions like this, and it makes me wonder if the most significant injuries took too many of these types of guys away, along with their high-level playing abilities.

First, Mike great responses Monday to the questions related to LaFleur’s future. With that said, there were 12 playoff games, six teams won, six teams lost. However, only one losing team “collapsed,” and only one losing team’s HC called his team disheveled and that they lacked composure. Doesn’t that concern you? It does me.

It was a strong self-indictment, and if I’m LaFleur, of all the concerns to process about my team and how the season ended, this would be the top priority to address. Because becoming “disheveled” and lacking “composure” absolutely will hinder any pursuit of a title.

Jason from Naperville, IL

Packers fans in IL here. I watched the game with my 10-year-old son, and it gave us time together and a historic night. This might sound a little crazy, but I think a potential turning point in the game was when Love overthrew Watson right before half. It looked like he beat his man and it would’ve been a TD. If you had to pick a single play that might have had huge implications in the results, what would it be?

There are too many options, but forced to pick one, I have to go with fourth-and-8 on the second of Chicago’s three TD drives. Caleb Williams made an otherworldly throw between multiple defenders while falling to his left. Just an insane play. If the Packers get that stop and the ball back in Bears territory, leading 27-16 with 5½ minutes left, I believe I’m getting on a plane to Seattle Friday. It wasn’t a carbon copy, but it’s the closest thing I’ve seen in a playoff game to Rodgers-to-Cook in Dallas.

I have to disagree with Spoff that the Bears ended up not being the favorable matchup we all envisioned. 21-3 at halftime shows it was the right matchup. Whether play calls or execution are to blame, the Packers had the Bears’ number and just needed to continue pummeling them in the second half. I can’t help but hear Dennis Green in my head yelling, “They are who we thought they were, and we let ’em off the hook!”

Oh, I hear you. My point was more that the Packers became the most favorable matchup for the Bears – a team that had blown multiple late leads against a team that set the NFL record for wins when trailing in the final two minutes.

Ryan from Centre Hall, PA

Sure, I guess I get wanting to blame someone, but I don’t know how people can say losing that game was on Jordan Love. He certainly played well enough to win, especially considering in the second half he had almost no time to settle in the pocket and the ground game disappeared.

That was only the third time in playoff history a QB threw four TD passes with no turnovers and lost. Putting that loss on Love is about as obtuse as it gets.

Scott from East Helena, MT

What I saw happen was that Ben Johnson knew how LaFleur would adjust and he took the bait. The Bears’ halftime adjustments took the Packers out of their game. That led to the defense being worn down and the dominos fell. The only question is, who takes the blame?

It was Dennis Allen doing the baiting, not Johnson, but the point holds. Lots of folks asking where the screens and short throws were to beat the blitz, and those are valid questions. As is typical with this offense, I think the Packers wanted to make the Bears pay for the blitzes by gashing them with the explosive play – which is how they beat them at Lambeau – and they kept hunting it, to their detriment. The pass protection wasn’t up to the task, and Love wasn’t given enough quick outlets or hot reads to throw the ball into the shorter areas vacated by the blitzers. The result was four wasted possessions. I’ve seen so many submissions critical of LaFleur “not having a killer instinct,” but on the contrary he might’ve been too eager for the kill shot, similar to the deep ball in Denver that got picked off and turned that game around.