You'll have to forgive a set of the Milwaukee/Green Bay/Madison media for their personal foul against the NFL's Packers. Seven weeks into the season - not even halfway through - the media keeps on inculcating some of these players with premature ideas of winning the NFC's North Division and advancing into the playoffs as one of the conference's so-called teams to beat.
Six games into a 16 game season, the only destination reporters should be asking the Packers about is Denver. Let the Broncos be uppity over altitude, let not the Packer media be such over results to this point.
For a statistician's sake, how do some reporters have reason to be asking players where this team could be in early January? The Packers just may win the division this year, but is it worth talking about at this point, with ten consecutive weeks to play games?
The Packers have indeed been a good (lucky?) team to this point, and they are 9-1 in their last 10 games dating back to last season. But the deficiencies of this team - and its remaining schedule - are certainly sufficient to cause concern.
Starting this Monday, Green Bay has back-to-back games against AFC West teams, neither of which will have losing records when they play host. To boot, the two teams, including Kansas City, call unwelcoming stadiums home.
In Denver, Green Bay is going up against the riding-high Broncos, winners of a big game against Pittsburgh last week and contenders in a division up for grabs. It does not get appreciably easier the following week, when, at Arrowhead, the Chiefs will be coming off a bye week and won't be more than a game out of first place.
What about the rest of the NFC North? Why are the Packers even being asked about winning the division if they're a single, solitary game ahead the second-place team, which they still have to play two times?
True, the Detroit Lions are not exactly inspiring fear yet, even at 4-2. But the Lions get all of Dallas, Denver and Kansas City at Ford Field, opponents the Packers will be traveling to oppose.
And find someone who has counted the Chicago Bears out of the race. However bland the offense is, Brian Griese is proving he still has something left. The defense is not as bad as it was for thier game against Minnesota, as it showed against Philadelphia last weekend. Moreover, teams can kick away from Devin Hester, but they can't stop the offense from giving him the ball.
Week 8 is going to be very telling, with these two teams squaring off at Soldier Field. The visiting Lions want to make a statement that they're for real - if you can say that about a team with hopes pinned on Jon Kitna at quarterback. The Bears are looking at a major deficit to erase should they lose a fifth game.
Meanwhile, the relative novelty of a first-place Packers team, with all its faults, has some in the media astir. I see two big questions that Green Bay has to answer in the upcoming week.
First, can the team establish anything approaching a running game? Brett Favre, getting no younger, is on pace to throw more passes than he ever has, and that trend should stick unless, as head coach Mike McCarthy believes, the runs start to produce yards. All the Packers need is enough on the ground to gain a defense's respect, which is far from the case at the moment.
Second, and maybe even more important, can the team stay clear of season-changing injuries for a whole 10 weeks? Players were calling last week's bye a blessing to catch up on health, so what's to happen after six more weeks? Particularly, Al Harris and Charles Woodson have to stay in good condition.
With those two questions unanswered this early in the season and with all the other variables in play, other questions and topics don't deserve to be considered when the Packers haven't yet proved themselves.
If you think that it is too early to crown an NFC North champion, or believe that Brett Favre's arm will fall off if the Packers do not develop a running game, e-mail Jon at bortin@wisc.edu.
