*Two years after he co-founded the Packers with Curly Lambeau, George Calhoun began writing a piece called The Dope Sheet, which served as the official press release and game program from 1921-24.
Honoring Calhoun, the first publicity director, the Packers are running this weekly feature as their release, which is being made available to fans exclusively on Packers.com.
A complete edition of the Dope Sheet is available each week during the season in PDF format, located in the Packers.com Game Centers.*
SEASON AT A GLANCE: The Packers finished strong, winning their final four games to conclude Mike McCarthy's first season as Head Coach with a .500 record (8-8). Green Bay narrowly missed clinching one of the NFC's six playoff berths and finished No. 7 in the conference standings.
-The Packers were 5-1 in the NFC North, which tied Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, Baltimore and Carolina for the best division mark in the NFL.
-In the final league rankings, the Packers finished ninth on offense (23rd in rushing, eighth in passing). Green Bay finished 12th on defense (13th against the run and 17th against the pass).
-In turnover ratio, the Packers concluded the season with a zero margin, the team's best total since it also finished even at the end of 2003.
PERCENTAGE POINTS FROM POSTSEASON: Mike McCarthy kept his team in contention for the 2006 playoffs until only seven hours remanined in the NFL's regular season. The Packers were the final NFC?team officially eliminated. How close were they?
-In the final analysis, four tiebreakers and mere percentage points were needed to dub the New York Giants, not Green Bay, as the conference's final playoff seed.
-Four NFC teams - the Giants, Packers, Rams and Panthers - finished 8-8. Carolina and St. Louis were eliminated based on their 6-6 conference records, leaving the Giants and Packers (each 7-5).
-New York and Green Bay also finished even in the next tiebreaker - common games; both were 1-3 against the Eagles, Seahawks and Bears, thus inducing the fourth tiebreaker - strength of victory.
-That's where the Giants held the critical edge. And at 2:47 p.m. CST?Dec. 31, both the Texans and Panthers won their early games, allowing the Giants to clinch with an insurmountable lead in strength of victory.
-Later that night, at the conclusion of all games, the Giants (.422) had edged the Packers (.383) by the slimmest of margins.
VACANCY AT OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR: With offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski leaving to become the head coach at Boston College, McCarthy has a major opening to fill on his staff. He said he will look at candidates both inside and outside the organization, and he expects to make the hire within the next couple of weeks.
-McCarthy said he's spoken to several people about the position, but he declined to go into specifics. Ideally, he'd like to find someone with knowledge of the zone-blocking scheme Jagodzinski brought to the offense this year, but he's also looking for a good person, a good teacher and a good leader.
-"It's a position of leadership, so those are qualities you're looking for in that position," he said. "And really, I'm more concerned about fit more than anything, because of the direction that's already been established with our offensive staff. I'm very comfortable with the operation we have there, the personalities we have there. With me calling the plays, I'm obviously very involved there. We have a lot of things in place, but it's my responsibility to look at every possible option, and that's the way I'm going about it."
FAVRE DECISION ON TAP: McCarthy said he, General Manager Ted Thompson and quarterback Brett Favre talked before Favre headed home to Mississippi, and he and Thompson told Favre they'd like him to come back next season.
-As he has the past couple of years, Favre is contemplating retirement but hasn't made up his mind and said he plans to discuss it with his wife Deanna and his family. McCarthy and Thompson didn't set a timetable for Favre's decision, but McCarthy feels it will come sooner this year than last, when Favre waited until late April.
-"Brett more than anybody doesn't want to draw it out," McCarthy said. "I just felt it was important for Brett and Deanna to get away from here, take the emotion out of the decision, look at the facts on both sides of the ledger and make a 100 percent committed decision. And from our conversation, I think that's what he's in the process of doing."
{sportsad300}-McCarthy said he doesn't think he'll talk to Favre any more about it or try to lobby him to return. Because this offseason doesn't contain the uncertainty last offseason did, when a new coaching staff was coming in, tweaking the offensive system and trying to rebound from a 4-12 campaign, McCarthy said Favre knows where everything stands. He added that he and Thompson aren't going to make any promises regarding offseason acquisitions to entice Favre to return, and he doesn't feel that would factor into Favre's decision anyway.
-"Ted Thompson and I both sat down with him, told him what we thought about him as a player - pure player evaluation, nothing to do with what he's accomplished in the past, where we felt he was at today - and we told him we wanted him back," McCarthy said. "So with that, he talked about some of the things that he was thinking through. He knows exactly how the organization feels about him."
-Favre did not have the minor ankle procedure he was expected to undergo on Jan. 1, and McCarthy did not know when that would take place. Favre's ankle has calcium build-ups or bone spurs that have caused him discomfort for several years and can be cleaned out with a minor arthroscopic surgery.
-"I guess this is Year 7 in a row that he has not gone through with it," McCarthy said. "It's really up to him."
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: When asked who he thought was the team's most improved player in 2006, McCarthy singled out rookie offensive lineman Daryn Colledge.
-Colledge, a second-round draft pick out of Boise State, entered training camp as the starting left guard, lost his job after the first preseason game but then worked to regain it early in the regular season. He ended up starting 15 games -14 at left guard and one at left tackle in Miami when Chad Clifton was ill - and is a candidate for all-rookie honors.
-"You look at Daryn, what he went through in training camp, and I clearly thought out of our young players he was most improved and battle-ready," McCarthy said. "I was very impressed with his performance."
HEALTHY TEAM: McCarthy said no one on the team needs major surgery in the offseason.
-Cornerback Charles Woodson, who played through a shoulder injury much of the year, is not planning to have surgery at this point and is hoping rest will help his shoulder heal.
-Favre's ankle is the only other potential procedure being discussed at this point, and there are others in a wait-and-see mode.
-"We're an extremely healthy football team," McCarthy said.
