Why Are These Men Still In The Building?

I have been sitting here (well, some of the time) watching the Green Bay Packers shuffle the deck chairs on their Titanic and wondering why the buffoons who used to call themselves the “I Trust in Ted” crowds or “Tedders” as I call them cheer the moves the Board of Directors made (I know President Mark Murphy said he made those decisions all by his little lonesome, but we all know that is just the latest from the Ted Thompson Fake News Division) concerning the front office and coaching staff. But I want to make clear to all of you that basically the same mind set that gave the Packers 1 Super Bowl appearance in 13 years with arguably the best 2 quarterbacks in NFL history is alive and well at 1265 Lombardi Avenue.

Tyrant Ted’s Legacy

The 13-year reign of Ted Thompson is finally over or is it? The irony of Thompson’s business style was he was hired to break up exactly what he eventually ended up becoming – one man rule.

Let’s look back to what brought Tyrant Ted back to Green Bay in the 1st place. Mike Sherman was the last of the General Manager/Head Coaches that had started with Curly Lambeau and ended the 1st time with Gene Rozani in 1953 when Vern Lewellen became General Manager. It started again when Vince Lombardi was hired in 1959 and ended the second time in 1980 when Bart Starr had his power over personnel removed when Dick Corrick was hired as Director of Football Operations. Tom Braatz replaced Corrick in 1987 and remained as defacto General Manager until 1991 when Ron Wolf was hired as General Manager. When Wolf retired in 2001 Mike Sherman was hired as the 1st General Manager/Head Coach since 1980 and it was his time in both offices that brought us Ted Thompson I. A combination of the disastrous signing of Joe Johnson in 2002 and the lack of playoff success (2-4), including the 1st playoff loss at Lambeau Field in 2002 (ironically Mike McCarthy has lost at Lambeau Field a total of 3 times in the playoffs - 2007, 2011,2013 and he didn’t get fired) brought Green Bay to a crisis moment and it was Tyrant Ted to the rescue in 2005 when Sherman was stripped of his General Managership. Sherman was fired the next season and Mundane Mike McCarthy was hired and the front office was set for the next 12 years.

The 1st 6 years of Tyrant Ted’s reign was magical. It started with the firing of Brett Favre after the 2007 season and a loss to Giants at Lambeau Field to the hiring of Mark Murphy as CEO and President in 2008 and ended in 2010 with Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews bringing the Lombardi Trophy back to Green Bay for the 1st time since 1996.

Happy Days were here again and the promise of a new Packers Dynasty was on the horizon with the best quarterback in football at the helm, but something went terribly wrong and the best way it came be described is by the phrase, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

I’ve Been To The Mountain Top…..At Least For A Day And A Half

It’s been an emotional nine days. The Packers savior – I’m not the savior – Aaron Rodgers couldn’t pull off another miracle and Brett Hundley, who is not a NFL starting quarterback who couldn’t beat anyone, but the da’ Bears, the 0-16 Browns (needed overtime) and the still disappointing Bucs even without Vinny Testaverde, even though both former General Manager (I love that) Ted Thompson and current (I hate that) head coach Mike McCarthy think otherwise., drove a nail into the season with two losses to the Vikings (ouch) by his second shutout (OUCH) and the Lions (ouch).

The season ended with a rout and then within hours word began to leak out of Thompson’s FAKE NEWS operation that Dom Capers was actually being fired. Could it be? Or were they just screwing with the Packers Backers who have been hoping for this moment since 2011? Mike McCarthy loves the man. He didn’t care if the defense sucked or gave up a chance to go to the Super Bowl three years ago because McCarthy had Rodgers to bail the team out. He didn’t care that the same problems kept popping up game after game, year after year, because he had Rodgers to bail the team out. He didn’t care…..

So I was trying not to get too excited, but it seems there is another force acting here since the Packers just had their eight-year playoff streak broken and even the “Tedders” had to have a scapegoat since they couldn’t blame their demigod Ted Thompson for putting together a lousy roster. However by the time I went to bed Sunday night Dom Capers was still officially the defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers.