As a fellow old-timer who was a young Packers fan when Lombardi arrived in Green Bay, I not only appreciate the historical perspective McGinn provides, I lived it. Because of Lombardi’s historic success, I became addicted to the Packers and was as dedicated a Packers fan through the “dark ages” from Lombardi’s departure to Ron Wolf’s arrival as I am today. Here’s a revealing sentence from McGinn’s piece: “In the 24-year span from Bengtson to Infante, the Packers won 42.3% of their games, posting five winning seasons and making the playoffs twice.” Packers fans went from watching Lombardi’s Packers win five titles in seven years to two playoff appearances in 24 years. Devine’s Packers lost to the Redskins in the ’72 playoffs and the Packers scored their only playoff win of that period in the ’84 season so they were 1-2 in the playoffs during that time. During that horrible span the Packers had as many winning seasons in 24 years as Lombardi’s Packers had titles in his nine years. That’s how bad it was. Just as was the case in the decade plus pre-Lombardi, the Packers were a laughingstock. NFL coaches threatened players with being traded to Green Bay. McGinn ends his article by imploring Packers fans to appreciate the team we will witness today. I’ve attempted the same thing on this forum: For many Packers fans, these are your ‘good old days’.
What is most remarkable to me is for as great as Wolf, Holmgren, and Favre were in the 1990s, there is every reason to believe their achievements will be exceeded by Thompson, McCarthy, and Rodgers. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the man who made it all possible: Bob Harlan. Bob certainly made mistakes but his monumental decision to change the structure of the organization so one “football man” would be in charge led to the hiring of Ron Wolf. And Harlan’s return to that formula with the hiring of Ted Thompson as VP/GM continued this renaissance. I can hardly believe my luck in being able to witness this after seeing the Lombardi Packers.
BTW, I disagree with FrankRizzo: In my opinion Bob McGinn is not just solid. He is one of the few great writers covering individual NFL teams. I remember when he began covering the Packers: What stuck out to me about his writing was his objectivity. He’s been doing an annual column in which he uses a color-code rating system to evaluate the quality of the Packers’ roster vs. the division for quite a while. He gets the input of personnel people from around the league to get their perspective on the Packers’ talent. I love that kind of reporting but I think that attempt at objective reporting rubbed some Packers fans the wrong way. He has league-wide sources who trust him and he is extremely well respected in his field. The fact he uses unnamed sources also annoys some Packers fans, but not me. I appreciate being able to read those opinions which would not be said publically. No opposing GM or personnel man would give his honest opinion of the Packers' talent if he knew his name would be tied to it. I've been reading McGinn so long I trust him to relate those opinions. In the current information age that may not seem so important, but there was a time when newspapers were by far the number one source of information on the Packers and news generally. Another facet of McGinn’s reporting I really appreciated early on was his coverage of, and emphasis on line play. And now, his rating and analysis of each game is must reading for me. His experience and connections within the organization and outside it bring a great perspective to the season. No, I’m not related to him and have never met him. It’s my unsolicited opinion that having access to all McGinn writes is worth the price of subscription to those who can afford it.