I feel like Rodgers had the good luck of getting drafted by us. I mean, only Packers fans can deal with that obsessive God complex he's got going on. Man, I hope he gets traded to the jets so bad. I think I'm going to take a darkness retreat to contemplate buying a Jordan Love jersey.

Eh, Bruce… it’s an argument, but we all see how fortunate we’ve been as Packer fans compared to fans of other teams around the NFL.

We’ve had 3 HOF QBs play for us. All 3 had incredibly long, distinctive careers.

1 of them won multiple Championships.

Fan frustration is driven by missed opportunities, and most of those involve the FO. Sorry, but that is true. Fans have every right to be frustrated. We’ve just spent months/years discussing many of those reasons.

Are the Packers not a corporation? If I wasted resources like the Packers FO has, I wouldn’t be in business.

You might want to poke a different bear.

Sorry I believe the organization has not done as good of a job. Yes personnel movement and salary cap issues are hard to over come, but it is your job as an organization to get better.

Speaking from an individual that has over 25 years of successfully managing multi-million dollar projects. BTW, if I "didn't do a good job" I would have been fired.

I used to blame Ted Thompson ALL the time for not doing "enough". As far as I was concerned, it was ALL Ted's fault the Packers didn't more SBs, especially up to about 2014 when he signed Peppers. But what I finally realized was Thompson was an excellent GM. If you have ANY doubt, just look at the Packers salary cap right now and tell me I'm wrong.

Ron Wolf came in and got Brett Favre. Ted Thompson's first pick was Aaron Rodgers. Gute waited a minute before drafting who he thought was the Packers NEXT great QB. He wanted to make his mark and I think it was a good plan until Murphy made the organization look like IDIOTS. Yup, ole Mark "we're not idiots" Murphy.

Maybe the franchise could have and should have won more. That's up for debate and opinion. Wolf felt he should have won more. Thompson ALWAYS had an eye on the future and what's BEST for the Packers future as well as right now. Gute has had to contend with a meddling Team President who wants to play owner and when you think about it, has done a pretty good F'ng job.

30 years of great football with only 5 seasons of losing records...FIVE! I'll also add that two of those have come with Murphy playing owner. Maybe they should have won more, but it's been a hell of a fun 30 years of Packers football. Now, if Murphy would get the hell out of the way, I think we could have another 10 plus with Jordan Love.

Get out of the way Mark!

No Sense ? -
It's about how to collect Lombardi Trophies.
Competitive year in and year out?
IT Looks/Seems more like Contentment!
Did they give them everything they needed?
The fulfillment of what was needed,
Was less than Inspirational.
How many years did we put our hopes on drafting?
And you only have to look at the firings
to know the coaches and FO were at odds.
Throw in the busts. And you found your answer.

We all can find something to complain about. We can definitely find things to nit pick and complain about.

My biggest complaint about Thompson is the same thing that Ron wolf criticized himself for. That he didn't provide enough weapons for their HOF QB's.

Before 2010, Thompson stacked the WR position. They had Driver, but then he add Jennings, Jones and Nelson. The reason the offense became as good as it did was because they invested heavily into the WR position. They put the weapons around the QB. Then they drafted Cobb after the Super Bowl. And after that they drafted Adams, 3 years later. After Adams, they didn't use a 2nd round pick or higher on a WR until last year when they took Watson.

There is a reason why they won the Super Bowl. Yes the defense was great that year. But the offense had invested a lot of picks into the WR position. They just haven't been doing that since the Super Bowl. They have spent 3 high picks on the position since then. Cobb in 2011, Adams in 2014, and Watson in 2022. That isn't enough!

Regardless of who the QB is this coming year and moving forward, they have to get back to investing higher picks into the position more often!

Thanks for sprinkling a hefty dose of the reality of how football plays out on the field, on a topic that slithers out from under a rock every offseason following a Packers season which ends short of a championship.

Engaging in bipartite competition with the expectation that if you don't triumph, someone in the front office needs to be fired about it is like saying while you were driving and someone plowed into the side of your car, the manufacturer needs to get rid of the guy who green lighted making that model vehicle.

Totally agree. And I've been saying it for years.

"Should has no place in football!" neither does "luck". If you rely on luck you'll get it, except it will be the bad kind.

Who hires and retains coaches?

Would the fans of the 49ers have been "satisfied" with "only two" championships with Montana and Young? "Should" the Chiefs' fans be "satisfied" and rest on their laurels now that they just got their 2nd with Pat M?

Did Vince or Curly stay "satisfied"?

Stay "satisfied" and NEVER win another championship. If the FO ignores the fans dissatisfaction, does that mean they're "satisfied"?

TGIF! I also put that on my twin brother's shoes to remind him:

"Toes Go In First"

About the Packers: I wouldn't trade all those moments for nothing. It adds to my life. Yep, those other moments that rip your heart out a bit, still teach you about something bigger than football. I like the characters, their stories, reliving the rich history of the Packers. Getting excited about the future, the draft.

I know we appear to be at a crossroads. I hope there is a plan in place...I just want to know there is a plan in place. I haven't seen it yet...waiting for it to clear up a bit.

Currently, as it stands...I know I am blessed and there are so many other topics in life that require more time and attention. I just want to get excited about an upcoming season again and believe that the players are giving it their all as a team. That is all I ask...give it all you got on the field and coaches/FO hold yourselves and the players accountable to field the best team you got while also remembering you are representing the Green Bay Packers and WI and Green Bay. Maybe bring back "boring" to Green Bay and less glitz and glamour.

GPG!

This is nothing but Packer front office propaganda. Being a writer for a fan site doesn’t mean that you are a shill for Murphy. Are you shooting for a job at Packers.com? That is where you belong if this is what you intend to write.

Bruce, good job and doing it knowing you were going to take a lot of hits.
The luck word is thrown around so much that I wonder if people understand what's behind its implication. Is it luck when a team keeps their starters healthy for the SB and lose to a team that is using UDFA as a pass rusher? Because the Steelers were pretty healthy compared to Green Bay in that SB and lost.
On the other hand...I saw Kapernack running like crazy against the Packers and being chased by a limping OLB. GB lost that game.
Football is a great game because of the complexity of the team. You can't figure on making it to the playoffs with all your starters from week 1. You have to plan on backfilling as you go. Sometimes you guess right and have the right bench to fill in and sometimes you don't . To me, the difference isn't the player availability, its how you coach with what you have. You make the adjustments and keep the team competitive. THAT is what we have not seen from MLF's staff yet, because we haven't seen his full offense implemented and run.
Bottom line, is it luck or coaching anticipating your roster weaknesses and planning ahead to scheme for upcoming opponents? As an example....I personally think they need more line talent on both sides of the ball, but haven't seen any adjustments to cover their deficiency in that area during games. That's not bad luck, its bad planning.
Just MHO...

31 years would put the start at the 1992 season. At that point there are 3 teams that have won 3+ Super Bowls, Dallas, Denver, and New England. However, I don't think people care as much about the number of wins as they do about appearances. In 31 years of HOF QB play the Packers have 3 total appearances. They had opportunities to make more appearances but squandered those multiple times.

If you don’t know the reasons I conclude that you don’t read the content here. It starts with Murphy’s decision to subsume the TT role into his and the resulting series of bad to awful coaching decisions, through perhaps the most egregious surrender of control and future cap for a run back post Adams and cap with a roster seemingly built for Rodgers successor. Murphy’s record is in fact Rodgers’. The Murphy LaFleur contribution was to essentially waste that by not giving him the tools to help him overcome his weaknesses and then not knowing when they had blown it.

Seriously, at this point, I’ve no interest in a fuller rehash. If you don’t at least recognize the nature of the criticism then you either aren’t looking or don’t want to hear it and are oblivious to the weaknesses last year and heading into this year and the lack of options to address them in an era of continuity after a very poor season on a large number of levels, off field and on.

Under no reasonable standard has this team delivered on the talents of Favre and Rodgers in succession as anticipated at any point during those decades, here and among league peers. Further, As of today, this team is not in a logical or promising position for the next few years and has taken a dramatic step back in terms of organizational checks and balances that undid what helped to return us to contention thanks to Harlen and Wolf.

We have no cap. We are led by a cusp of 40 QB coming off a bad season. He doesn’t want and won’t still be playing through a rebuild but his main outlet wanted out. It’s at least plausible that he’s no longer as physically capable as he was in 2020, but perforce he will have to carry this team. He’s about to be paid vastly and suck up our cap till the second half of the decade along side a very young roster around him at skill positions and knowing that we now have to rely on draft and develop almost exclusively to add to that and thus probably a peak 2/3 years out.

But that’s not the half of it, there are myriad questions about coaching talent and decisions on both sides of the ball, about motivation skills, the most insipid offensive design in years and uncertainty over who drives what on top of pre and in game tactical questions and personnel usage …

Yes this team is just the epitome of a rationally managed team with a great off field staff, coherent roster and a tidy future. Take off the blinkers. Turn on critical faculties. There are so many reasons why this team is in its worst hole since Favre arrived. All of them compound.

Yes, I am thankful that my team has had TWO HOF QB’s in a row! I also appreciate the fact that In almost every year we have had a winning record. With winning records our draft position has almost always been low. And when I reminded myself that it was low I also reminded myself that it’s not just for the first round but also for every round after that. As other have noted I find some fault with the FO not drafting some players. But by and large they have done ok. And that other teams sure have done worse. We hold this team to a high standard so disappoint will be inevitable. GPG!

I see what you mean. After all if rolling the dice with Rodgers last year had worked, there would be no complaints. If your goal is the Super Bowl, you're either a hero or a goat, there is no in between. I think the front office has done a good job of giving the team a chance, but ultimately its the players and coaches that have to come through in the playoffs. Look at all the mistakes by players in 2014. The front office can't control that, but often they shoulder the blame. That said,,,if the front office kicks the can down the road with Rodgers again, and it fails, I think we can all start pointing fingers.

I inherited being a Packers fan from my parents in the 70's. They were still high on the glory years of the 60's so we lived for Packer Sundays. It was tough in the 70's and 80's. The few times we beat the Bears was the best we could hope for. No Packer fans thought of Superbowls back then. So the last 30 years have been fantastic. Sure there's always going to be decisions to complain about. And nobody is satisfied with losing. But it's so much better than most of the teams out there. Would you rather be a fan of the Lions or Browns, or even the Bears? They're had very little to cheer for in the last 30 years. We'll always want more, but we also need to be pretty thankful for the success we've enjoyed.

Murphy, TT, & MM cost us at least two Super Bowls...

Murphy, Gutey, and MaLF cost us at least one Super Bowl and maybe two...

Poor Coaching and poor coaching decisions are squarely on the FO too IMO. They're ultimately responsible for the Coaches they hire.

The NFL is tough enough, it's even tougher when you're stupid, and make stupid in-game decisions.

This is silly, of course it’s fair to criticize the front offices (plural). As if Gute can’t be questioned for picking a backup QB in the first round after we were one win away from the SB the prior season, because Thompson won the SB 10 years earlier… It’s almost a completely different front office! Why give Murphy and Gute credit for what was accomplished in the Harlan/Wolf or Thompson eras?

The article is based on the last 31 years. That's convenient. Why not write about the FO performance over the last 53 years? Include the 70's and 80's in your analysis. What would the conclusions be?

My analysis on the FO is focused on the performance of Acting GM over the last 5 years...Mark Murphy.

Was Ron Wolf a better GM than Murphy? How about TT?

MLF, Ball and Gutey all get to mess in each other's sandbox with Murphy micromanaging their jobs, making weak decisions while playing Jerry Jones with monopoly money.

Management by Committee fosters a bureaucratic culture, can kicking, feet of clay, and lack of a core strategic vision/direction and bold tactics to implement it.

Murphy seems intent to linger as Acting GM for another 2 years. The problems in the football operation will continue to pile up until he get the gold watch.

Careful Bruce. Talking facts and common sense to a certain element of the Packers fan base will lead you to the wrath of the 'fire everybody' crowd.

If the Packers don't win every game 50-0, throwing for 800 yards and running for 400 then it's time, to them, to 'fire everybody'. You even fire the maintenance people because they didn't clean the floors well enough. You fire the entire board of directors, all the managers. Then you hire the legion of folks willing to uproot their families and move to a city that is smaller than some of the neighborhoods in larger cities. A city of a good climate only 5 months of the year. A city with a minimal minority presence. And if they don't win by 50-0 etc. the next year you fire everybody again, and again, and again.

The fire everybody crowd think the Packers operate in a vacuum and can do anything they want any time they want without consequence. The Packers, to them, have an unlimited amount of cap space and should be able to sign any free agent any time they want and if they don't do so, then fire the GM immediately.
Hall of Fame quarterbacks are a given destiny to them, and if the team can't find one on a quarterback tree then everyone should be fired immediately.
I think you get the idea, Bruce. It's a good idea to point out the facts as you did, but it will likely fall on deaf ears. It's easier to simply yell 'fire everybody', for some.

I do agree with most of your points. However, I also agree with those who say we DO NEED a change at the top. Mark Murphy should have never changed the hierarchy structure and put his nose into football operations. Wolf and Thompson were successful with the structure we had.

Murphy has to go and the structure has to change back.

This post makes no sense. You can be grateful for all the regular season success and still be critical of the front office. Not getting to the Super Bowl since 2010 is extremely disappointing. There are many reasons, but mediocre drafting and a lack of aggressiveness are two big reasons. The last two Super Bowl winners traded for players during the season. Meanwhile, Gutekunst holds onto draft picks like he can't bear the possibility of not drafting more Josh Jacksons, Jace Sternbergers, Oren Burks, Amari Rodgers, etc.

As fans, sure we can show gratitude from the entertainment perspective for participating in a winning franchise the last 3 decades, but from the business side, the scarcity of these opportunities must be measured. Everyone is graded, everyone is accountable. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Bruce you are correct that execution on the field has had moments of profound impact on the end goal--Lombardi trophies. Trying to dilute fingerpointing of past failures in a positive light, however, is like a whore defending her pimp, i.e. the oppressed defend their oppressor. It's a loser's mentality, and one I'm certainly not willing to accept or compromise. I side with the voice of a beloved ghost "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." If you take comfort in trying to remember the almosts and the have nots, more power to you.