Everyone outside of Packer HQs who has watched this team over the last month and a half knows that it's a stale, broken team. The million dollar question is who is going to step up and make some changes. Let's look at the key players:
MM: He's a good man and a hardworking coach. But he's loyal to a fault and not the sharpest tool in the shed. It took an epic special teams meltdown before he finally did what everyone knew was necessary years ago - fire Slocum. And then he made an uninspired hiring of Zook when other better candidates were available. He's stuck with Capers despite meltdown after meltdown on the defensive side of the ball. He inexplicably stepped away from the one part of this team that was elite and handed duties off to guys over their heads. He's been extremely successful in the past decade, but it's very telling that despite his success, the league doesn't appear to value his assistant coaches at all. Only one has been hired as a head coach, and he may never work in the league again. To this day, he's insisting all is well with the Packers. Short answer, he's not going to make any changes on his own.
TT: Another good man and hard worker who made the brave and outstanding decision to draft Rodgers and then stick with him over a wishy washy Favre. But he hates the spotlight and is notorious for just trusting the system. Values draft picks more than anything. Rarely dips his toes into free agency even though it's worked wonderfully for them when he has (Woodson, Peppers). His system of draft, develop, resign your own has proven successful, but it's become his entire mantra. One of the reasons he and MM work so well together is they stay out of each other's business. Rest assured he's not pressing the panic button and doing anything out of the norm. Probably reacts to this latest loss by attending a D II football game in North Texas to scout.
Mark Murphy: No idea what this guy does. Last night was probably the moment he's been working for the past five years. What he does now is anyone's guess. Probably working on identifying an Applebee's to honor Longwell's return to Green Bay or thinking about how to honor Woodson when he retires. Has played zero role in the success of this franchise and will most certainly defer to TT and MMs wishes.
So who does that leave to bring about the needed changes? Either one of those guys will need to surprise us, or Aaron Rodgers makes some noise.
It's interesting that during all the nostalgia at halftime yesterday, the guy who I kept looking at was Ron Wolf. I miss that guy, and this franchise needs it's Ron Wolf right now. He always had the biggest balls in the building. Unafraid to acquire guys like Robinson or Jackson knowing how important they would be for a title team. Unwilling to watch injuries decimate a team and getting a guy like Rison when there were no weapons. Able to tell his handpicked coach to STFU when he was complaining about his salary and responsibilities. And always shrewd to pull off a trade, like when he robbed Ahman Green from Seattle.
This franchise needs Ron Wolf right now. I truly hope someone plays that role, and soon. Because as great this run has been for the last 20+ years, it will be very disappointing if one of the best QBs to ever play the game only gets to one Super Bowl.