I catch myself doing this all the time, and once in a while I am able to reflect upon it and come full circle in my thinking.

Sitting in a cold tree stand last night, listening the to the wind howl and a baron woods for the most part, my mind was wandering about many topics.. the economy, home budget adjustments, how to pay for Christmas.. then as I became tired and frustrated with that.. my mind moved to football and more directly, this Packer team.

No stat sheet or internet available, I started to reflect upon the early 90's and more in the crosshairs, 1992-1995.

I remember the 1992 season as being on of great joy.. coming off a coaching tenure of excitement yet frustration in Lindy's group.. sometimes coined the Cardiac Pack.. the 92 season was a breath of fresh air, new coaching fundamentals, a guy on the sideline that was a tyrant yet brought a game plan that you could see that worked on offense. They finished, as I looked it up this morning 9-7.. but progress..

Fast forward to 1993.. could they take the next step.. Favre was named the starter for good, holes and depth being filled in; including a major one in Reggie White.. but in my mind I remember being a little let down with the team, expected more. Again.. I thought yesterday, knowing Favre and Holmgren never had a losing or 500 season.. that it must have been the same.. yep 9-7 but a step.. the playoffs.

But the year that I distinctly remember is 1994.. I remember Sean Jones being added.. Paup becoming a threat in the pass rush and White coming off a strong year.. expectations were very high for that growth we were waiting for.. and it was an up and down year.. we progressed a bit but Favre has great year but we were still losing games.. I remember being frustrated that year.. why weren't we taking the next step.. year three of this coaching staff.. year four of this GM and the team is not elevating.. yes Brett was growing into a full blown star.. but the team was average in the standings..

Then it came.. the Falcon game with all the chips on the line.. we needed a win to have a chance at the playoffs that year.. disappointing for a team that should have grown... and guess what.. you knew.. right then that this team, this collection of a brass nutted GM.. a fiery yet players coach and a band of players was going to get it done someday.. you just knew it. I was there.. it was electric an atmosphere I have ever been in.. amazing, I wish I could have bottled that energy.. speechless for the most part yet today.

We went on to get crushed by the Cowboys in the playoffs that year.. a trend that would be familiar to us by that time.. but there was something about that Atlanta game.. an under performing team breaking through..

1995 we took that step in growth that we striving.. it ended short that year but we were on our way, the window opened to the Superbowl than cold but thrilling day in Milwaukee against Atlanta...

Why bore you with these wandering thoughts of a cold and twisted mind.. we are only in the fourth year of Ted's control and third of a bright and creative coach in Mike... might not have the noted fire of Holmgren but just as dynamic of an offensive mind.

I bore you because back then, before they became legends and Superbowl champs, that crew of Wolf, Holmgren, Favre, White and others.. had disappointments, underachieving seasons and games.. just as this group is going through today..

Will this group make that next leap?

Will they have a signature game yet this season?

We don't know.. I wish we did.

But that is part of the reason we love this game.. you never know what is going to happen..

Think back to 1994.. or post season 1995... things didn't look all rosy then at times either...

It is a good thing we had patience... Superbowl 31 was in the waiting for that patience.

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I think the team is on the verge of making a leap. I'm just struggling to have optimism in which direction that leap is going to be in.

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Pack,

I see what you're saying, but this is not the same situation at all.

First off, Ted Thompson has been here for FOUR YEARS already...by the 4th year...Wolf had already had his SB trophy.

Also, Wolf was adding a butt-load of good, solid, veteran FA talent along the way...same can't be said for TT.

Third, and most importantly, this team was 14-3 last year for a reason, and that reason was BF. This was to be the year that the Packers were supposed to make a run for the SB, if Ted knew anything about building a championship team, like Wolf did, instead of merely being a collector of talent. Instead of making that run, this team has clearly regressed....and why? Because Ted Thompson wanted to rush his pet project, AR into the fray while the guy who got you there was willing to come back and help you take a crack at it again. And what does Thompson do? In a classless (and gutless) move, he locks him out of the locker room and mumbles some nonsense about the "train leaving the station". Well, it seems to me that the train has left the station and is piled up on the tracks, somewhere...

It also seems like many people in Packerland are continually making excuses for Ted Thompson as to why we are still rebuilding in his FOURTH YEAR as GM of the GB Packers....

Why was Mike Sherman ushered out when all he did was get in the playoffs for a guy who is continually "rebuilding" the Packers in the hopes for some pipe dream that will never be realized?

What is the time-table for Ted Thompson to bring home a championship....2015? .....2020?

And why does he get such leeway when Mike Sherman did not? (I'm not even a MS fan....but his record is better than TT's is so far).

When do some fans start to see the writing on the wall...???

And also, after FOUR YEARS, why isn't there more of a sense of urgency amongst some fans around here?

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if you honestly believe Ted Thompson is to blame for every poor decision made, that's cool with me - i really don't know if he's completely to blame or not. i'd venture to guess that NOBODY knows exactly who made which decisions except for the packers board so constantly blaming one person for ANYTHING is dumb.

what i do know is that no one can predict injuries in any given season nor do i believe that a team can be 100% covered in key positions - no WAY would salary cap allow that.

patience is a virtue for a reason, guys. this is not life or death - i love my packers & i'm willing to see where this team, GM, & coaching staff leads us. and yes, even if that means we have a couple "lean" years.

That right there cost you a lot of credit in your post. BIG TIME.

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Zero,

I'm not a Mike Sherman fan by any stretch, but you have to admit that Ted Thompson has been rebuilding for some time now, and to introduce a new QB and say that you are "still" rebuilding is stretching the bounds of believability, imo.

I just don't think that TT's philosophy of hoping to hit on all your draft picks is going to work, in the long run.

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Sherman had a great team, and underachieved with it.
Thats fact.
Now all the good players from those teams are gone, and you HAVE to rebuild.
Thats fact too.
NO team stays on top....and with Sherman, we never even made it to the top.

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Roddy,

It was 14-4 or 13-3 if you don't want to include the playoffs, not 14-3. How many times are you going to get that wrong? It's literally in every other post you make, it's unbelievable. And are we really going to have the whole Sherman debate come up again? I thought that was dead years ago. As Cheesey said he underperformed. He made blunder after blunder as GM, and brought in almost no one of value. Most of the players he had that were any good he inherited from Wolf and the rest of the team corroded from the inside, finally revealing itself with our 4-12 year. He was also an absolute coward of a coach and there's a reason why he's not getting another head coaching job in the NFL. And the whole point of Pack's original post was not to make an excuse of it being rebuilding but to point out we had extremely frustrating years leading right up to our Super Bowl victory and that's exactly what this year has been, frustrating. We've had moments of brilliance followed by sheer stupidity. We've run into humps we thought we passed, just like in '94. Pack's whole point is that we may just need one signature game (maybe Carolina tomorrow?) to turn this season and this team around.


Pack, great post +1.

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dude wtf?

YOU stated only REASON we had a 14-4 record ( you forgot the 4) was cuz of Brett

Fine..then you state this





Mike Sherman WITH Brett Favre NEVER got to the NFCG
...Even tho people SAY MS did what Brett wanted in free agency


But you will not bash MS cuz he got to the playoffs..

But Ted Thompson got to the NFCGG, and your going to bash him??????

Do you not see how fing stupid that sounds???

Sherman inherited a team assembled by Ron Wolf, how dare you give him any credit for the work of another man. Then you want to blast Ted for having to rebuild what Sherman drove into the ground?

We were getting into the playoffs not by talent, but by skill and weak division. We were ousted fairly quickly too. Even a HOME loss in the playoffs!

We were a team that was long in the tooth and no depth because our GM (Sherman) couldn't draft talent if he was spotted a Hall of Famer.

I also blame Sherman for a lot the poor games by Brett. He refused to man up and COACH his QB. Instead he coddled him and let him do things others couldn't.


Ted is a good GM when it comes to drafting. He's fairly well signing free agents too, BUT he doesn't have the 'IT' factor to pull off the BIG ones. Atleast that's what I fear.

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