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Cheesehead
After surfing around yesterday and witnessing the despair in Packerland, it struck me how much this reminds me of two previous times: post-Lombardi and the 1980's.
I think the Packers made a funadamental mistake(like they did in 1968) as they thought about the post-Holmgren era. When Lombardi stepped down, he named Phil Bengston as coach. This was, in essence, to keep the winning formula. Lombardi knew his vets were aging and soon to be gone and the team already was in transition with Taylor and Hornung gone and Grabowski and Anderson in the backfield, etc. He thought Phil could continue the winning based on his formula. Suffice to say, Phil wasn't up to the task. Why? For all of Lombardi's positives, he wasn't a good personnel man. He did find some winners, but overall, the folks behind the Hall of Famers were nothing special. It took a couple years of losing before the Packers turned to a new face-Dan Devine- who produced a playoff team. The fans were so wanting of championships that after a losing season, Devine was off to Notre Dame, and the team reverted back to trying to find a Lombardi disciple...Bart Starr...with one year of assistant coaching under his belt...to lead the team.(I was a cub sports reporter and was at the press conference when Bart Starr was named coach. There were rumors flying around that Don Shula wanted out of Miami and would come to Green Bay for the right price, but the tight-****** Packer BOD said no). When he didn't produce a winner...they turned to another Lombardi disciple...Forrest Gregg...who had gone to a Super Bowl...
he failed. Then Gregg's offensive coordinator at Cincinnati...Infante...failed.
Then Holmgren.
Except for Devine, the one tie-in is trying to relive the future through the past.
When Holmgren left, the team has largely been trying to do the same thing all over again. We had defensive coaches with the WCO
Rhodes), offensive coaches with the WCOSherman and McCarthy) all with direct or loose ties to Holmgren. We also now have a General Manager--TT or ROTTT as I will refer to him later--all trying to revive the past to build the future.
If you look at the current winning teams, most now don't use the WCO. Denver uses it, and obviously Seattle. But all the rest of the division leaders are using another form of offense. The trend now(once again) is toward defense. The Packers are woefully short there.
If McCarthy produces another stinker like this year in 2007, I don't expect him to fulfill his third year of contract. ROTTT will lay the blame on him and try to find another WCO disciple.
Perhaps it's time to change it all: one more year for Thompson and McCarthy, but failure to make the playoffs next year means the door for both of them. Bring in a defensive minded GM(I thought that was the case with ROTTT but not so). DUMP the WCO, and modernize the approach.
It's obvious the AFC has done so, now its time for the NFC to catch up.
Regarding ROTTT--I came up with an acronym for Ted Thompson...ROTTT
or Reign of Ted Thompson Terror.
I think the Packers made a funadamental mistake(like they did in 1968) as they thought about the post-Holmgren era. When Lombardi stepped down, he named Phil Bengston as coach. This was, in essence, to keep the winning formula. Lombardi knew his vets were aging and soon to be gone and the team already was in transition with Taylor and Hornung gone and Grabowski and Anderson in the backfield, etc. He thought Phil could continue the winning based on his formula. Suffice to say, Phil wasn't up to the task. Why? For all of Lombardi's positives, he wasn't a good personnel man. He did find some winners, but overall, the folks behind the Hall of Famers were nothing special. It took a couple years of losing before the Packers turned to a new face-Dan Devine- who produced a playoff team. The fans were so wanting of championships that after a losing season, Devine was off to Notre Dame, and the team reverted back to trying to find a Lombardi disciple...Bart Starr...with one year of assistant coaching under his belt...to lead the team.(I was a cub sports reporter and was at the press conference when Bart Starr was named coach. There were rumors flying around that Don Shula wanted out of Miami and would come to Green Bay for the right price, but the tight-****** Packer BOD said no). When he didn't produce a winner...they turned to another Lombardi disciple...Forrest Gregg...who had gone to a Super Bowl...
he failed. Then Gregg's offensive coordinator at Cincinnati...Infante...failed.
Then Holmgren.
Except for Devine, the one tie-in is trying to relive the future through the past.
When Holmgren left, the team has largely been trying to do the same thing all over again. We had defensive coaches with the WCO
Rhodes), offensive coaches with the WCOSherman and McCarthy) all with direct or loose ties to Holmgren. We also now have a General Manager--TT or ROTTT as I will refer to him later--all trying to revive the past to build the future.If you look at the current winning teams, most now don't use the WCO. Denver uses it, and obviously Seattle. But all the rest of the division leaders are using another form of offense. The trend now(once again) is toward defense. The Packers are woefully short there.
If McCarthy produces another stinker like this year in 2007, I don't expect him to fulfill his third year of contract. ROTTT will lay the blame on him and try to find another WCO disciple.
Perhaps it's time to change it all: one more year for Thompson and McCarthy, but failure to make the playoffs next year means the door for both of them. Bring in a defensive minded GM(I thought that was the case with ROTTT but not so). DUMP the WCO, and modernize the approach.
It's obvious the AFC has done so, now its time for the NFC to catch up.
Regarding ROTTT--I came up with an acronym for Ted Thompson...ROTTT
or Reign of Ted Thompson Terror.
