The LaFleur Era Has Begun or Has It Really?

It took 1 year, but the refurbishing of the Green Bay Packers is finally taking place. Like I said before the Packers move like a glacier under the leadership (or lack there of) of Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No. Evil CEO Mark Murphy and in the case of Head Honcho Ted Thompson and Head Coach Mike McCarthy, it took over seven years for him to recognize the deliberate deterioration of the Packers budding 3rd Dynasty.

Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are at a Crossroads

I think it would be safe to say if Aaron Rodgers played like Aaron Rodgers the Packers would be in the playoffs, despite the terrible leadership and play calling of Mike McCarthy and the terrible leadership and team building of Ted Thompson and his successor Brian Gutekunst. Rodgers had always overcompensated for those frauds Thompson and McCarthy, but for some unknown reason he hasn’t been able to do that this year for Gutekunst and McCarthy.

I’m Back and I’m Still Not a Happy Packer Backer

It’s been many, many weeks since I’ve weighed in on the sinking ship that is the 2018 Packers, but, at least, for today, I’m to give my 6 cents on what’s happened and is happening and what will happen.

Mike McCarthy has coached the Packers longer than anyone else since Curly Lambeau. The immortal Curly Lambeau won 6 titles in 31 years and the extremely mortal Mike McCarthy has won 1 in his 13 years as head coach. Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr were coach for 9 years and Mike Holmgren for 7 years and Mike Sherman 6.

One of the reasons I haven’t commented on the terrible play in general, the yearly rash of injuries and the terrible play calling of Mike McCarthy is because what I had to say was something I’ve been saying for years now and again after the “new beginning” during the offseason.

I wanted McCarthy fired years ago for not firing Dom Capers. Remember McCarthy kept Dom Capers on WAY TOO LONG after he became a liability. I was calling for Capers to be fired since the 2011 season and it took him 7 years to do so. The hallmark of a Capers defense is that in a crunch it will fail and it seems Mike Pettine’s defense isn’t much better.

FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS, PART 36

(this is one that is completely American made)

Simply stated there is NOTHING sublime these days, so let’s get right to the

RIDICULOUS:

On Nov. 6th it was announced that current/former Packers General Manager and chief cook and bottle washer Ted Thompson will be inducted in the Packers Hall of Fame next year on May 4, 2019 in its 49th induction.

 

Ted Thompson interviewed by Bagdad Larry about being selected to the Packers Hall of Fame

The official announcement was: “We are thrilled to present Ted as the 162nd inductee into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame,” said Tom Konop, president of Packers Hall of Fame Inc. “The Hall of Fame nominating committee, made up of some of the most respected football purists, pointed to Ted’s accomplishments of nine playoff seasons, and winning Super Bowl XLV, as part of his acumen resulting in this honor. His drafting of Aaron Rodgers was obviously one of the most important draft picks in Packers history. Ted was also responsible for assisting with the success of numerous coaches and scouts around the league. With his induction into the Packers Hall of Fame we are proud and honored that Ted will take his rightful place as part of Packers history forever.”

Most of Thompson’s great draft picks came in his first six years and all of the great accomplishments came during that time. The last seven years have been a major disappointment with no Super Bowl titles with that great draft pick Aaron Rodgers at the helm.

Ted Gutekunst And His Disrespect For Guards

Glancing at the Packers depth chart (however, I had to go to Ourlads.com because the new and improved Packers.com no longer posts a depth chart), I noticed (although I already knew) Lane Taylor and Justin McCray are listed as the starting guards. This got me thinking about how much disrespect former (and maybe current by proxy) General Manager Ted Thompson (BG: “He’s one of the best evaluators that has ever done this,”) had and has for the guard position and the offensive line in general.

Now You Tell Me Ted Thompson Isn’t Still Running The Packers

It’s been almost 7 months since Head Honcho, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, Executive Vice President, General Manager and Director of Football Operations Ted Thompson, who ran the operation like President Donald J. Trump runs the country by being accountable to no one, transitioned to Senior Advisor to Football Operations and Director of Player Personnel Brian Gutekunst was promoted to General Manager, but not as Executive Vice President and/or Director of Football Operations. Instead Vice President of Football Administration/Player Finance Russ Ball was promoted to Executive Vice President/Director of Football Operations.

So January 7th the 3-headed Ted Thompson monster had been cut in two and one more important thing happened when President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Murphy’s small balls only grew 2 sizes that day instead of the 3 The Grinch’s heart grew when he finally saw the light.

The President of the “In Ted We Trust” cult and Ted Thompson’s chief ass kisser wanted his power back after 12 years of having his subordinate ignore him daily by having Gutekunst, Ball and Head Coach Mike McCarthy report directly to him instead of the previous arrangement of those men reporting to Thompson alone. However, in a sign Murphy hasn’t dealt with his Thompson man-crush issues evidently Thompson still reports to no one.

So with this new structure in place and a new man in charge of personnel decisions I was hoping the Packers, who had gone extremely stale and chaep under the Ted Thompson II Regime, were going to go a different direction after the front office shakeup. But it seems it was just cosmetic because the leadership of Gutekunst and Ball looks a whole like the leadership of King Ted the Terrible.

THOMPSON’S FAKE NEWS operation is working overtime in Packerland

Ted J. Trump

I was researching a future column about Aaron Rodgers and tight ends with all the hype about the signing of Jimmy Graham and I came across a very disturbing item on Packers.com that shows that Ted Thompson is still in charge or Brian Gutekunst is just a chip off the old lying block.

I was looking up the stats for the tight end positions and when I got to last year’s stats I found much to my surprise that Lance Kendricks was the leading tight end with 18 catches followed by Richard Rodgers with 12 catches and Emanuel Byrd with 2 catches. However and evidently I am wrong I thought the Packers had another tight end on the roster or maybe it was just a nightmare because he was the premier free agent acquisition by the best general manager in the history of the NFL and he ended up being cut and sued for spite.

Does anyone remember Martellus Bennett? Evidently the Packers front office doesn’t. He started the first 7 games and had 24 catches for 233 yards and no TDs or at least I thought he did. However, it seems the Packers front office is allowed to scrub his stats from the official records as if he was never on the Packers roster. However, they haven’t completed their rewriting because he still appears on the all-time roster and in the transactions. But when they remember he is still there that might be next.

The Packers Punting Game Is In The Hands and Feet Of Babies

Friday the Packers solidified (let’s hope) its kicking game with the signing of 5th round draft pick (#138) punter J.K. Scott and 7th round draft pick (#239) long snapper Hunter Bradley and the cutting of last year’s punter Justin Vogel, which added to not offering a tender to long-time long snapper Brett Goode means the Packers will begin the 2018 season with rookies in 2 of the 3 critical kicking positions without any fallback position in the case both or either fail.

This seems like a  classic Ted “one of the best talent evaluators that have ever done this” Thompson move like leaving no viable backups for the offensive line or just undrafted free agents as backups for the secondary, so it just proves that Thompson is still running the Packers show and not his personal puppet Brian Gutekunst. When will we ever get rid of him?

Post Draft Analysis

2018 was supposed to be a new beginning with Executive Vice President/General Manager/Director of Football Operations Ted Thompson pushed out after 13 seasons at the helm and a brand new younger General Manager taking over in hopes of revitalizing the Packers after seven years of atrophy following the team’s fifth Super Bowl appearance and fourth Super Bowl title falling from Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers to the “Just Good Enough” Packers where the front office was “just” happy to make the playoffs each year before having the playoff streak of 8 snapped last year when the loss of Aaron Rodgers showed the talent level of the next 52 plus 10 was not even average in the NFL. Sorry for the long sentence.

However, the “Big” change was only cosmetic. Ted Thompson wasn’t fired or retired he was just bumped upstairs as a senior advisor The “New” General Manager Brian Gutekunst was not new he was actually Thompson’s assistant and Russ Ball, another Thompson assistant, was also promoted to Director of Football Operations as CEO Mark Murphy restructured the front office to take Thompson’s 3 jobs and move the power into the himself, Gutekunst and Ball.

Pre-Draft Analysis

The roster former General Manager Ted Thompson left the new guy left a lot to be desired if the Green Bay Packers are to return to the Super Bowl while Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback.

The “Tedders”, who worshipped Ted Thompson and the local kiss ass media who are just as delusional still can’t see the forest for the trees and for some delusional reason think the return of Aaron Rodgers is the only thing that needs to be done this season to return to Super Bowl contention.

I hate to break your bubble (actually I love to break your bubble) the Packers haven’t been in the Super Bowl for the last seven years when Rodgers was the best quarterback in football and Jordy Nelson was one of the best wide receivers, Eddie Lacy was one of the best backs, Clay Matthews was the best pass rusher, Tramon Williams and Sam Shields were the cornerbacks, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was an up-and-comer and Josh Sitton and T. J. Lang were the Pro Bowl guards.

None of that except for Rodgers is still happening, but what is is that Ted Thompson and his cheap-ass ways turned a budding Super Bowl dynasty into the “Just Good Enough” Packers built around failed top draft picks and undrafted free agents. Ted Thompson and his enablers have wasted the prime years of the best quarterback in the game and will never see another Super Bowl unless the current management cuts the ties to Thompson and takes some chances.

What Murphy and the LOCAL KISS ASS MEDIA Has Wrought

Ding, Dong, The Ted is Dead. Ding, Dong, The Dom is Dead. Those two refrains should be enough for any Packer Backer to be dancing in the streets and for most of us we are, if for no other reason that Dom Capers’ wide open in the middle, laid back pass coverage and “No Tackle” zone defensive is really gone.

However, in the infinite wisdom of the Packers Brain Trust (I have my doubts about the brain part) Ted Thompson wasn’t fired or retired, but given a promotion where he could and probably will be influencing the moves “new” general manager Brian Gutekunst will be making this offseason, including the upcoming draft. I have acid indigestion over the thought that the man who gave us a team that needed overtime to beat the 0-16 Browns is still wielding influence.

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.

The Packers Have More Problems Than Dom Capers

I’ve been the Grand Poobah of the “Fire Dom Capers” movement since 2011 and there are a lot of us, despite the “I Trust In Ted” crowd FAKE NEWS campaign that all’s right with the Packers, but after what happened five weeks ago it’s obvious my second ‘day’ job of being Head Honcho of the “Fire Ted Thompson” campaign is the more pressing and important job of them all.

The “Tedders” have allowed Mr. Ego and his cautious approach to running the most prestigious franchise in the history of sports, the Montreal Canadians and Boston Celtics aside, to put the Packers on a course for a third era of “Wilderness Years” joining the 1948-58 era and the 1968-1991 era.

FAKE NEWS – Thompson Style, Part Infinity

The Curious Case of Benjamin “Marty Bennett” Button

The marquis free agent signing by General Manager Ted Thompson, who for the first time since 2012 jumped into the free agent market was tight end Martellus Bennett even though the most pressing needs were on the defensive side. CURIOUS.

However, this great signing has turned into a nightmare of mythic proportions with the Packers claiming subterfuge by Bennett and Bennett is claiming his right to be injured, which has happened every week to the Packers with a vengeance this season, so why now turn this injury into a national incident. VERY CURIOUS INDEED.

The Complete Collapse of the Murphy/Thompson/McCarthy/Capers Era

I remember when…..The Packers won the Super Bowl, the Packers had the No. 1 quarterback in all of football (a Collinsworthism) and the Packers were ranked No. 1 in the NFL.

Thompson’s Tight End Obsession

(Obsession is a sign of Alzheimer’s)

With all the problems with the Packers defense coming into the season you would think Packers General Manager Ted Thompson would have spent the offseason focusing like a laser to provide the Aaron Rodgers led offense with the last piece of the puzzle – a competent defense – to finally leap that last hurdle to seriously make a run for the Super Bowl and not just the playoffs.

FAKE NEWS – Thompson Style

The reports coming out of 1265 Lombardi Avenue are that Packers General Manager Ted Thompson and/or his personnel department tried to sign Brian Hoyer, but somehow the rascally Bill Belichik and the New England Patriots beat him to the punch and signed him to replace Jimmy Garappolo as the backup to Tom Brady. I don't believe a word of it.

But let's say it did happen then I can see just 1 reason or maybe 2 Hoyer might choose the Patriots over the Packers. The first could be Thompson only offered him a 1-year incentive laded contract instead of the 3-year contract he received from Belichik. The second could be he wanted to win and the Packers are going nowhere.

I can see the first happening, but the second doesn’t fit with Hoyer’s past. He wants to play and he would have taken over for Brett Hundley next week if given a chance and had a chance to work with the great receiver corps of the Packers and possible Offensive Rookie of the Year Aaron Jones for the next 7 games to show he still has a future as a starting quarterback.

It is also possible McCarthy informed him that Brett Hundley is the man and he would only be a hedge against him being injured. However, that didn’t happen because McCarthy said after not confirming the report by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network that the Packers tried to sign Hoyer, "From the time Aaron's been injured I've never once been involved in a conversation about bringing in a veteran quarterback. From the Minnesota to here today, the direction that we're going with the quarterbacks is Brett Hundley and the guys we have here."

I would tend to believe McCarthy on this because he is completely contradicting what the back channels told Rapoport. So I think the back channels (directed by the puppet master TT) were self-serving to get the pressure off Ted Thompson for not bringing in a veteran quarterback because no General Manager worth his salt would make a trade or a signing without discussing it with his head coach.

Thompson Fiddles While The Packers Are Burning

My suggestion to Packers General Manager Ted Thompson to sign quarterback Brian Hoyer fell upon predictably deaf ears. Thompson is an arrogant man, who only follows his own advice and even, in my opinion, turns down any advice he gets from the Packers fans across the nation just because he didn’t think of it and he feels the “Great Unwashed” are ignorant at best and are against him at worst.

So instead of solidifying the quarterback position after the Packers went from having the best quarterback in the league to one of the worst quarterback rooms in the NFL with half a season left he kept the status quo reaffirming his own genius.

Bill Belichik, who has been head coach and basically the general manager of the New England Patriots since 2000 has been to 7 Super Bowls during that span and won 5 making the Patriots a bonafied dynasty.

On the other hand, Ted Thompson has been general manager of the Packers since 2005 and has led the team from Title Town, USA to 1 Super Bowl making the Packers a bonafied disappointment and a team that never lived up to its potential led by 2 of the best quarterbacks in the history of the league.

Speaking of Belichik he took my advice and signed Hoyer. Anyone surprised at that? I’m not. The cream rises to the top and the turds (I mean curds) sink to the bottom.

GET OFF YOUR ASS, TT

The NFL Trading Deadline is today at 3 p.m. Packers time and there is one casualty of the other 31 teams trying to help themselves (while Packers General Manager Ted Thompson has spent the last 4 days holed up in his ivory tower office with his “finger up his ass” (a phrase my father used) in solid belief his “Do Nothing” way is the only way to lead the Packers to the Super Bowl) that the Packers could use to save their season while they wait for the indispensible man to return from injury.

The New England Patriots traded backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers for a 2018 2nd round draft pick. As a result of the trade veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer was released. I feel he is perfect for the Packers for many reasons even Ted “Beavis” Thompson and Mike “Butt-Head” McCarthy could agree with.