With the lingering disappointment of the Packers' second loss to the Vikings and Brett Favre adding fuel to the fire, the heat on the Ted Thompson-Mike McCarthy regime reached a new all-time boiling point following the team's loss to the lowly Buccaneers in Week Nine.

In the wake of a stunning defeat that put the Packers' playoff hopes in serious jeopardy, the local media is suddenly showing no mercy, with loud cries for the firings of both Thompson and McCarthy appearing in print like never before.

Team president Mark Murphy wasted no time issuing a vote of confidence in his GM and head coach a few days after the loss to Tampa Bay. But if the Packers fail to make the playoffs for the fourth time in Thompson's five years on the job — and the third time in McCarthy's four years — there is no denying the pressure that will be put on the team to make a major change at the top.

In the meantime, as was the case in 2008 when the Packers finished 6-10 despite a plus-39 point differential, the '09 statistics so far paint a very perplexing picture, with surprisingly impressive numbers showing up for a team that has been so obviously mediocre.

One would normally suspect a team with an offense ranked seventh in both total yards and points and a defense ranked fourth in total yards at the season's midway point to be well on its way to a postseason berth.

But this is a far from normal team, which daily observers believe has come up terribly short in three specific areas — the offensive line, special teams and the pass rush.

The Packers' biggest problem by far has been the offensive line, and the prospects for improvement the rest of the season are not very promising.

With C Jason Spitz having been placed on injured reserve and OTs Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher having had trouble staying healthy, there is little reason for optimism.

One potentially encouraging development could be the emergence of promising rookie T.J. Lang at either right tackle in place of Tauscher or at left guard in place of Daryn Colledge, who, put simply, has been mostly awful up to now.

It's also worth pointing out that both ORG Josh Sitton and Scott Wells, who has replaced Spitz at center, have held their own much of the time.

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