Let me pose these questions: if the Packers had Jim Bates as defensive coordinator the last five years they would have:
1)Been the bottom of the Central/North Division
2)Won the Central/North Division every year
3)Been middle of the road in the Central/North Division
4)Won the Central/North Division and lost in the playoffs
5)Won the Central/North Division each year and been a Super Bowl contender each year.
6)Been nearly unstoppable with a league-leading offense and a rock-ribbed defense.
Since Mike Sherman was the coach the last 5.5 years, the team finished out of the hunt at 9-7 his first year, and has been in the playoffs every year since then. With a tougher defense, they would have been near a dynasty. As it was, with a crappy defense, the team managed to win the division the last three years. They made the playoffs with Slowik in charge of the defense, for goodness sake. What does that tell you about the design and implementation of the offense? Who is in charge of the offense?
The Packers have won the Central/North Division title 2002-2004 and made the playoffs in 2001.
By the way...YOU would have answered #1 above, but the truth is to anyone with analytical abilities is #2, #5 and/or probably #6. Doubt it? Sherman's mistakes were on the defensive side of the ball. With Bates there, this team is poised next year to be a legitimate ***-kicker. If you don't believe that, then go to the Bears forum. They would love your Sherman-hating there.
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From Packers.com--(this is how you source stuff)
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The Present
After searching more than two weeks, Wolf surprised many NFL observers by naming Mike Sherman, the Seahawks' offensive coordinator and Green Bay's tight ends coach from 1997-98, as the Packers' 13th head coach, Jan. 18, 2000.
A quietly confident, 21-year coaching veteran, Sherman immediately promised to bring structure, discipline and team chemistry to the 2000 Packers. He also shared his long-time love affair with the Green Bay Packers and their tradition, dating back to his Massachusetts childhood, when he would read Lombardi's books on football each night before bed.
To his considerable credit, Sherman in 2000 surmounted multiple injuries, including Favre's prolonged bout with elbow tendinitis, and finished 9-7, inches from the playoffs.
Not easily turned aside, he persevered, through an 0-2 start, and even when the record slipped to 5-7 by the end of November. Sherman rallied his troops for a rousing finish, beating NFC Central rivals Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota and Tampa Bay (in overtime), to complete a December sweep. The only other Packers coach to win his last four games in his first year was Lombardi in 1959.
The Packers defeated more teams with winning records (six) than anyone in the league, went 5-2 against playoff teams and rediscovered the Lambeau Field advantage by winning their last five in Green Bay.
One month after that stirring finish, Wolf retired as the team's executive vice president and general manager, Feb. 1, and president Bob Harlan quickly named Sherman to replace Wolf. Sherman became the first head coach with the GM title since Bart Starr in 1980.
Wolf's impressive nine-year tenure included the team's first Super Bowl (1996) in 29 years, back-to-back NFC titles (1996-97), 101 total victories (including eight in the playoffs), eight winning seasons (1992-98, 2000), six straight playoff appearances (1993-98) and the NFL's best regular-season record (83-45) since the 1993 advent of free agency.
Harlan replaced Wolf with Sherman. Now with full authority over football, Sherman answered in 2001 by returning the Packers to the playoffs, improving his winning percentage to .656 (21-11), best ever over a Packer coach's first two years.
Behind Favre and explosive Ahman Green (1,981 yards from scrimmage) the Packers went 12-4, but couldn't grasp the division title, despite sweeping the division champion Bears.
The Packers knocked off the Niners in a Wild Card playoff, but couldn't get past eventual NFC champion St. Louis.
In 2002, Green Bay overcame its most injury-plagued season in recent memory to tie for the league's best record, 12-4. Despite injured starters missing 63 combined games, the Packers clinched their division, the inaugural NFC North title, on Dec. 1, earlier than any NFL team, and any other year in franchise history (four games remaining).
On offense, the Packers for the first time in their history did not return a starting receiver, after releasing Freeman and allowing Bill Schroeder to leave in free agency. Nontheless, Favre finished two votes shy of a fourth MVP, and Donald Driver emerged to lead a young receiver corps.
Defensively, behind Pro Bowler Darren Sharper, the team ranked third in the NFL against the pass and led the league with 45 takeaways, six more than any other team. What's more, for the first time since 1965, the Packers held at least a share of the league lead in turnover ratio (plus-17).
Michael Vick and the Falcons became the first team ever to beat the Packers (13-1) at home in the playoffs. (Note: the team was hideously slowed by injuries--net addition)
A return to the NFC Championship slipped painfully through the Packers' fingers in 2003. Donovan McNabb led the Eagles to a come-from-behind, 20-17 overtime win to end an emotional Packers run in the Divisional playoffs.
The loss snapped a memorable five-game winning streak. The stretch included changes to three of the most revered records in Packers history (Forrest Gregg's 33-year-old consecutive-games streak, broken by Favre; Jim Taylor's 41-year-old season rushing record, Green; and Don Hutson's 58-year-old career scoring mark, Ryan Longwell). One day after the death of his father, Favre turned in the best game of his career, throwing for four TDs in a 41-7 win at Oakland. Then, Green Bay captured an improbable division title in the last two minutes of the season, when Arizona upset Minnesota and the Lambeau Field crowd broke the news to the Packers. Green Bay was in position to pass the Vikings thanks to its 7-2 record after the bye.
Green spearheaded the best running offense in Packers history, as the club captured nearly every franchise rushing mark. Favre led the NFL in TD passes a fourth time to tie a league record, throwing 19 of his 32 scores with a broken right thumb.
Adding to the hallmark of Sherman's tenure, the Packers overcame more adversity in 2004 to finish 10-6, winning a third straight division title.
That adversity hit the team just before training camp, when vice president of football operations Mark Hatley died of a heart attack. Then, after a kickoff-weekend win on a Monday night at Carolina, the defending NFC champion, Green Bay dropped four straight. Not only did the Packers lose center Mike Flanagan and nose tackle Grady Jackson to injury, the team also endured its roughest start (1-4) since 1991. Then, in mid-October, offensive coordinator Tom Rossley entered a hospital for emergency heart surgery, and Sherman stepped forward to call plays.
But thanks in part to Sherman's emotional speech on the eve of a prophetic game at Detroit, the team answered with a 38-10 win, and kicked off a six-game winning streak. In fact, Green Bay went 9-2 down the stretch. Only the league's two best teams, Pittsburgh (11-0) and New England (10-2), had better marks over the season's final 12 weeks. Four of those nine wins came on Ryan Longwell's last-second field goals.
One year after erasing the franchise rushing record, most of the same personnel established the team marks for total offense and net passing.
The season's peak came on Christmas Eve in Minnesota, when the team captured the division title with a 34-31 win over the Vikings. However, just two weeks later the same Vikings avenged the loss with a 31-17 win in a Wild Card playoff at Lambeau Field.
On Jan. 14, 2005, Harlan restructured the team's football operations, naming Ted Thompson general manager, with full authority over football decisions.
