I wasn't because I was not born, but I was talking in relativity to how the NFL runs today. 70s in 80s was a "football inferno" (Dante's inferno had 9 levels, eh?). That was about the NFL's lack of parity. "Football hell" is talking about how you get stuck in the middle of the pack and never get out.
Originally Posted by: The_Green_Ninja
Hey, you get cut a little slack because you weren't around then, but, trust me, the 70's-80's Packers were the epitome of football hell. No question. Dan Devine. Bart Starr. Forrest Gregg. Lindy Infante. Oh my GOD!!! Just saying those names and thinking of their coaching tenures brings back a LOT of pain...
However, I understand your point. Teams who find themselves good enough to draft lower every year, but never good enough to reach the pinnacle always seem to find themselves in a kind of mediocre wasteland, and that is tough to crawl out of. Our talent, for the most part, is lesser end of scale, bereft mostly of the "high impact" players that improve your team and your standing, your chance of winning it all.
From my perspective, those are the times when some high stakes poker needs to be played. Try a key trade to bring in a stellar, proven talent at a position of need. Trade up in the draft to nab that high quality player. Something has to be done to break from the mould of "draft and develop." The "drafting," to me, has been just OK, but I am not seeing the "develop" portion of the equation working. At all. Who on our team is really improving?
That is on the coaching.
Our strength and conditioning staff have been an utter and complete failure - for years - unchecked. Our defensive coordinator looks to be slipping big time. Our OL coaching has been sub par. Our STs have been horrible in coverage. Our Head Coach is letting all of this go by, as if it is out of his control, not to mention, he is showing himself to be OK with putting an unprepared team onto the field, and OK with failing to devise winning game plans.
I also feel the rigid "draft and develop" philosophy has kept us from adding key FAs that could help us get to the next level. Why is it so important to re-sign your own players when they continually fail to get the job done, or in a Brad Jones scenario, are unproven and have marginal positive impact? Make a trade. Sign a player. I don't care, as long as the team, overall, improves. We have not seen that since Charles Woodson was signed. Some poor decisions have been made with many of our players in filling out what appears to be a roster with gaping holes at key positions, mostly on defense.
That is on the GM.
I think the bigger point here on this topic, is that Ted Thompson has to break from some of his long-time held beliefs and
start adding better talent through other means at his disposal. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how he thinks he can stick to this "draft and develop" mantra and hope to realize success. Add to that, it is kind of foolhardy, when you consider a couple of his key players from our 2010 SB winning season were FA signings, in Pickett and Woodson. Take those two players away, and the guy wins nothing…
Ted should be on his coaching staff too, for failing to provide the proper player development.