Mark Murphy, "No one can match the Patriots, but we're pretty close"

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http://www.espn.com/blog/green-bay-...ers-next-gm-why-mark-murphy-isnt-ready-to-say

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- It’s easy for Mark Murphy to say it now after a run to the NFC Championship Game, but the way the Green Bay Packers president physically recoiled in his chair when asked whether he ever considered making a coaching or general manager change when they were 4-6 and on a four-game losing streak sure was convincing.
During an interview this week, Murphy was emphatic in his support for coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson, both of whom faced heavy criticism during the season.
"You don't make decisions like that in the middle of the season," Murphy said. "You see the season play out and obviously things changed quite a bit."
What’s more, Murphy made it perfectly clear that he likes the direction things are headed under the only coach and general manger he's worked with since being put in charge of the team in December 2007.
"The turnaround in the season, for me, gives me confidence in the organization and certainly the work of Ted and Mike that I think a lot of organizations at 4-6, I think it's hard to keep things together," Murphy said. "And to be able to turn the season around the way we did was something I think everybody was very proud of."


Under Murphy, Thompson and McCarthy, the Packers have played in four NFC title games but have gotten to -- and won -- just one Super Bowl despite having a Hall of Famer in Brett Favre and a future Hall of Famer in Aaron Rodgers as their quarterbacks.
Rodgers is often compared to Tom Brady, who will play in his seventh Super Bowl for the New England Patriots on Sunday.
"No team in the league matches up to New England, and they've achieved a level of consistency in the modern era that others haven't," Murphy said. "But I’d say we're pretty close to them. It's not something that we’re ashamed of and I'm excited for the future. I don't think the future of our organization has been closed. I think we have a chance to be very good for a number of years into the future."
A week earlier in his season wrap-up press conference, McCarthy said "we had a successful season, but we did not reach the ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl."
When asked how Murphy viewed the season, he said: "I hope it's not to the point where you can only have a successful season if you win the Super Bowl."
Murphy also praised Rodgers for his leadership and said even he was a little skeptical when the quarterback expressed confidence that the team could run the table when it was 4-6, not necessarily believing they'd win eight in a row and reach the conference title game.
"When you get in a position in the NFL where you're winning like that you just want to keep it going," Murphy said. "That's what was disappointing. I felt like we had the momentum coming off -- that win at Dallas was one of the best wins certainly in the time I've been here. To not be able to see that through was disappointing."
He said the way the Packers lost to the Falcons in the NFC title game, getting blown out 44-21, was "disappointing."
It was after the loss at Atlanta when Rodgers appeared to put the onus, at least in part, on Thompson to take better advantage of the window to win another Super Bowl when he said: "We've just got to make sure we're going all-in every year to win."
When asked about Rodgers' "all-in" comment, Murphy said. "We all want to win, and he really wants to win as well. In my mind, what he's achieved [already] is pretty remarkable. I think this year, although we didn't get to the Super Bowl, I think he really added to his legacy and the way he played, kind of putting the team on his back, run the table and the confidence and leadership he showed.
"Hopefully we'll continue to win. But you don't want to put so much pressure on him or the team or the organization that we have to win this year. Our goal every year is to win the Super Bowl. We've been very fortunate to have a legitimate chance every year to compete at a high level."
However, Murphy said he would never tell Thompson to be more active in free agency in order to "win now." Rather, he said Thompson knows he has "all the resources he needs."
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The Packers have been to ONE SB under MM/TT compared to SEVEN for the Patriots who've won FOUR. This kind of attitude is why the Packers have become a perennial playoff loser. Absolutely disgusting attitude from the leader of this franchise. Like I've said before, I think the guy only cares about $$$.
 
Tell me another team in this league that has been more successful - had winning seasons - than us other than NE in the past 10 years? This is probably what Murphy is talking about. The stretch NE is on is historic. They have dominated the league for several years now not unlike what we did in the Lombardi era. But to scold Murphy for speaking about our success, which is better in this parity driven league than only one other franchise, indicates how spoiled this fan base has become. It is disappointing to not make the SB this year but only one team is gonna be happy by the time this SB is over on Sunday.
 
I respectfully disagree with you, pugger.
You are just like Murphy, TT, and MM if you think this was a successful season. No season is successful unless you win a championship.
It's like giving your son or daughter a participation ribbon for getting 4th or 5th place in a sports event. Kids need to feel the disappointment of losing and not think its ok to lose all the time. They need to want to get better.
We as Packer fans want to be the best. We compare ourselves to the best. As we all should. This organization and now its leader have just said it's ok to lose in the playoffs every year. It's ok to give up 36 points per game every year in the playoffs. It's ok to win 1 SB in 26 years when you have had two of the best QBs to ever have played in the NFL. It's ok to just be a little bit above average every year.
Murphy compares us to New England and says we are close to them? What an absolute joke! We have 1 title in 26 years. They have 4 titles in 16 years, possibly 5 titles. We have had the opportunity to dominate for 26 years and we have not gotten it done.
I refuse to look at this organization with ggg(like many Packer fans do. I don't think of myself as spoiled. I think myself as being a relentless competitor that wants to be the best. Unfortunately, I wish this organization had more of those qualities.
 
The Packers have had arguably two top 10 QBs of all time back to back and have two championships to show for it. That's the reality. You can't compare us to most franchises because they haven't had that much good fortune. If the Packers had an average, or even above average QB then making the playoffs every year would be a success for sure, but they don't. They have one of the best QBs(you could make a case the best ever in certain aspects) to ever play. The expectations should be a SB trophy every year, not another playoff loss. Rodgers raises the bar, period.
 
The two posts after Pugger cover my viewpoint about expectations very well. At the risk of DHH(, I'll once again address the other issue Pugger mentioned that seems to always be a part of this discussion - spoiled. My viewpoint is that spoiled means getting whatever one asks for, with the key being that 'it' is something valued by the spoilee. As addressed above, the Packers have been in a long period of having the single most important element in winning a SB and have started multiple seasons as the favorite, or at least the top handful, to win it all. Packer fans want a Lombardi, know it's right there, realize it won't be forever, and hence have NOT gotten everything we asked for. What we have gotten is the string of winning seasons and playoffs appearances, which would certainly have been nice for Cleveland fans, et. al., but just isn't what we expect to see, so I argue that we're not a spoiled fanbase.

Because this forum is what it is, I'm sure there won't be the nitpicking there is elsewhere, so I don't think we'll see posts about feeling it's terrible not to win the SB EVERY year. Heck, if 2014 had ended the way it looked like it would, us Negative Nellies (Nancys ?) probably wouldn't even be discussed 'failure'. Along those same lines, I feel confident that the analogy of the rich kid will be taken at face value. If, as we Packer fans have been, a kid is living in the penthouse, he's going to be upset if the temperature isn't quite right, as opposed to the kid in Cleveland, who'd love to have a roof over his head. Is the rich kid spoiled because he's been raised in the penthouse? Better off, sure, just as finishing each season in the playoffs. Spoiled, I just don't see it.
 
I'm not saying just getting to the playoffs is good enough and I doubt Murphy would say likewise. The SB is the ultimate goal of every team. What NE is doing is remarkable. The league today is parity driven. It is more difficult to keep your team together and if you have a winning season almost impossible to draft real difference makers unless you wheel and deal and sacrifice future drafts to move up or trade away draft picks to another team. I don't believe for a moment this organization doesn't want to be the best. The lone thing we don't do that I criticize them for is not taking advantage of every avenue to improve the roster (FA). But other than that we have made the playoffs consistently. You can bitch about that but don't you have to make the playoffs first before you can appear in a SB? I'm not being glib here. It takes some luck to win a SB. Take the NFC participant this year. They are probably the healthiest team still standing. Had our defense not been gutted in the back end and our main pass rushers trying to play one handed who's to say we would be in Houston this weekend instead? I understand the frustration I have a hard time imagining management is satisfied with sitting at home this Sunday. With our MASH unit of a defense we came within one game of the ultimate goal. It isn't like we missed the playoffs altogether and our future is bleak as we circle the drain.
 
Half Empty said:
The two posts after Pugger cover my viewpoint about expectations very well. At the risk of DHH(, I'll once again address the other issue Pugger mentioned that seems to always be a part of this discussion - spoiled. My viewpoint is that spoiled means getting whatever one asks for, with the key being that 'it' is something valued by the spoilee. As addressed above, the Packers have been in a long period of having the single most important element in winning a SB and have started multiple seasons as the favorite, or at least the top handful, to win it all. Packer fans want a Lombardi, know it's right there, realize it won't be forever, and hence have NOT gotten everything we asked for. What we have gotten is the string of winning seasons and playoffs appearances, which would certainly have been nice for Cleveland fans, et. al., but just isn't what we expect to see, so I argue that we're not a spoiled fanbase.

Because this forum is what it is, I'm sure there won't be the nitpicking there is elsewhere, so I don't think we'll see posts about feeling it's terrible not to win the SB EVERY year. Heck, if 2014 had ended the way it looked like it would, us Negative Nellies (Nancys ?) probably wouldn't even be discussed 'failure'. Along those same lines, I feel confident that the analogy of the rich kid will be taken at face value. If, as we Packer fans have been, a kid is living in the penthouse, he's going to be upset if the temperature isn't quite right, as opposed to the kid in Cleveland, who'd love to have a roof over his head. Is the rich kid spoiled because he's been raised in the penthouse? Better off, sure, just as finishing each season in the playoffs. Spoiled, I just don't see it.
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I suspect a lot of the angst we feel is because we are really not over that loss in Seattle 2 years ago. To come that close and then lose it that way is gut-wrenching and depressing to the max.

I am still optimistic we can win another ring before Rodgers retires. If he stays healthy he still has 4/5 (or more) good years ahead of him. When Aaron plays like he is capable of all we really need is an average defense. Even with our favorite DC ;) we can assemble a defense that is good enough. With Mr. Rodgers and his magic we don't need the 85 Bears to win it all.
 
Truth is perspective. Whenever you come close to something and fall short there comes a period of review on what could we have possibly done to get that one extra edge that would have made the difference. Making the playoffs every year and not achieving a championship becomes excruciatingly painful. When nothing is done differently in pursuit of the goal and a different outcome is expected? Well, that's the definition of insanity. So we are left cheering for our 'competitive' team that is being led, by definition, by an insane front office.

This year felt different to me because expectations were out the window at 4-6, but never really felt like we were Super Bowl bound. We knocked Dallas out of the playoffs and that was more than I, personally, expected. BUT over the last 25 years of mostly stellar QB play in a league geared to passing offenses we have fallen short of reasonable successes. Don't tell me about how good the Patriots are because they were incredibly lucky also, one example=Tuck rule. Don't want to turn this into Billacheat posting though. Back to the Pack.

TT's refusal to employ the advantages of FA and the reverence shown Wolf/Holmgren/Harlan just don't add up. Both of those chapters of Packer history only brought home ONE trophy. Yes, I grew up in the wasteland of the late '60s,70s and 80s. This is just a different form of disappointment.
 
What a do-nothing disappointment Murphy has turned out to be. To have possibly the greatest QB to ever play and may end up with only one SB is not acceptable, imo. To just sit there every year and watch Ted draft terrible defensive players and do NOTHING in FA is beyond frustrating to me. I agree with posters that opine all they care about is filling seats and making moolah. They seem to be quite fine with being steady and competitive and that's all. I don't get it. sh))

If Aaron doesn't play out of his mind, the Packers don't have a chance. That's on Ted. MM and his coaching staff should have been given an extremely short leash after that debacle in Seattle. But the organization just sits there and does nothing. Get off your comfy sofa and earn your salary Mr. Murphy! The fish rots from the head down.
 
Wolfman said:
What a do-nothing disappointment Murphy has turned out to be. To have possibly the greatest QB to ever play and may end up with only one SB is not acceptable, imo. To just sit there every year and watch Ted draft terrible defensive players and do NOTHING in FA is beyond frustrating to me. I agree with posters that opine all they care about is filling seats and making moolah. They seem to be quite fine with being steady and competitive and that's all. I don't get it. sh))

If Aaron doesn't play out of his mind, the Packers don't have a chance. That's on Ted. MM and his coaching staff should have been given an extremely short leash after that debacle in Seattle. But the organization just sits there and does nothing. Get off your comfy sofa and earn your salary Mr. Murphy! The fish rots from the head down.
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Well said.
 
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