Green Bay Packer fans should consider the success of the team during general manager Ted Thompson's era and be thankful he helped deliver a Super Bowl to the franchise.
The Packers announced yesterday that Thompson will no longer serve as general manager and instead will be senior adviser to football operations.
Having been a life-long Packer fan - 50 years - and having written countless columns about the team in the last 30 years has given me perspective on the ups and downs of the program.
The Packers didn't win a Super Bowl in my lifetime until I turned 31. I was born in the late 1960s - just after the Packers won Super Bowl II, which was part of five straight NFL championships for the team.
I grew up in a strictly green-and-gold household during a period in which the Packers were perennial losers. This is when shipping a veteran player to Green Bay in the NFL was a punishment.
Then entered Ron Wolf in the early 1990s, whose partnership with and professional relationship with Mike Holmgren, launched a winning era of football for the Packers.
It's important to note the work of Bob Harlan, who from an organization standpoint, has history with the team dating back to 1971 as assistant general manager and eventually led the team to 13 straight years (1992-2004) with a .500 record or better as chairman and CEO. Harlan hired Thompson in 2005.
Thompson's first draft pick as GM was Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers has had a Hall-of-Fame career for the Packers. Rodgers is coming off an injury, but when it comes to players on the field, he's still Green Bay's most valuable player.
Green Bay has won 13 league championships, the most in NFL history, with nine of those coming before the Super Bowl era and four being Super Bowl titles.
Packer fans should consider how successful the team has been since 1994. We've been spoiled with 19 playoff berths and two Super Bowl victories in 23 seasons.
To have balance of opinion on what the Packers are doing or what they have done, it's important to have witnessed a truly awful period in Green Bay. This includes the 1970s and 1980s. Between 1972 and 1994, the team just had one playoff berth during the strike-shortened season of 1982.
There currently are four NFL teams who have never played in a Super Bowl - Cleveland, Detroit, Houston and Jacksonville. Both Minnesota and Buffalo have lost all four of their Super Bowl berths to date. There are 13 teams in the 32-team league who have never won a Super Bowl - the six aforementioned franchises and Tennessee, San Diego, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Carolina, Atlanta and Arizona.
Winning championships in the NFL requires great leadership, coaches, players, facilities and fan bases. There are great teams in huge cities that don't fill all the seats for their preseason and regular season games. Green Bay has a unique ownership arrangement and a fan base that buys virtually valueless "stock" to help pay for capital projects.
The expectation of success in Green Bay is huge. This year, the Packers struggled after Rodgers missed several games with a broken collarbone. Packer fans proved they are much like other professional sports enthusiasts and started calling for coaches to be fired. Recently, fired defensive coordinator Dom Capers was the biggest target.
Job stability in the NFL revolves around winning and functional relationships. The pay is so high for executives, coaches and players that financial stability isn't supposed to be a concern. The average salary for assistant coaches in the NFL is in the middle six figures. Well-connected coaches or executives don't need to worry about their income or next job.
Thompson's performance as general manager over 13 years saw the team go 125-82. Ultimately the team, due to Thompson's leadership, won a Super Bowl.
The Packers have talent on their roster. Thompson has not traded any of the team's key draft picks in upcoming seasons.
Green Bay has improved facilities and operations greatly under Thompson while winning. Thompson's success as a general manager can be especially appreciated by fans who lived through two decades of almost continually losing seasons in the 1970s and 1980s.
- Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
The Packers announced yesterday that Thompson will no longer serve as general manager and instead will be senior adviser to football operations.
Having been a life-long Packer fan - 50 years - and having written countless columns about the team in the last 30 years has given me perspective on the ups and downs of the program.
The Packers didn't win a Super Bowl in my lifetime until I turned 31. I was born in the late 1960s - just after the Packers won Super Bowl II, which was part of five straight NFL championships for the team.
I grew up in a strictly green-and-gold household during a period in which the Packers were perennial losers. This is when shipping a veteran player to Green Bay in the NFL was a punishment.
Then entered Ron Wolf in the early 1990s, whose partnership with and professional relationship with Mike Holmgren, launched a winning era of football for the Packers.
It's important to note the work of Bob Harlan, who from an organization standpoint, has history with the team dating back to 1971 as assistant general manager and eventually led the team to 13 straight years (1992-2004) with a .500 record or better as chairman and CEO. Harlan hired Thompson in 2005.
Thompson's first draft pick as GM was Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers has had a Hall-of-Fame career for the Packers. Rodgers is coming off an injury, but when it comes to players on the field, he's still Green Bay's most valuable player.
Green Bay has won 13 league championships, the most in NFL history, with nine of those coming before the Super Bowl era and four being Super Bowl titles.
Packer fans should consider how successful the team has been since 1994. We've been spoiled with 19 playoff berths and two Super Bowl victories in 23 seasons.
To have balance of opinion on what the Packers are doing or what they have done, it's important to have witnessed a truly awful period in Green Bay. This includes the 1970s and 1980s. Between 1972 and 1994, the team just had one playoff berth during the strike-shortened season of 1982.
There currently are four NFL teams who have never played in a Super Bowl - Cleveland, Detroit, Houston and Jacksonville. Both Minnesota and Buffalo have lost all four of their Super Bowl berths to date. There are 13 teams in the 32-team league who have never won a Super Bowl - the six aforementioned franchises and Tennessee, San Diego, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Carolina, Atlanta and Arizona.
Winning championships in the NFL requires great leadership, coaches, players, facilities and fan bases. There are great teams in huge cities that don't fill all the seats for their preseason and regular season games. Green Bay has a unique ownership arrangement and a fan base that buys virtually valueless "stock" to help pay for capital projects.
The expectation of success in Green Bay is huge. This year, the Packers struggled after Rodgers missed several games with a broken collarbone. Packer fans proved they are much like other professional sports enthusiasts and started calling for coaches to be fired. Recently, fired defensive coordinator Dom Capers was the biggest target.
Job stability in the NFL revolves around winning and functional relationships. The pay is so high for executives, coaches and players that financial stability isn't supposed to be a concern. The average salary for assistant coaches in the NFL is in the middle six figures. Well-connected coaches or executives don't need to worry about their income or next job.
Thompson's performance as general manager over 13 years saw the team go 125-82. Ultimately the team, due to Thompson's leadership, won a Super Bowl.
The Packers have talent on their roster. Thompson has not traded any of the team's key draft picks in upcoming seasons.
Green Bay has improved facilities and operations greatly under Thompson while winning. Thompson's success as a general manager can be especially appreciated by fans who lived through two decades of almost continually losing seasons in the 1970s and 1980s.
- Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
