This One Is For Ted

How many of you hated Ted Thompson?

If I had a dollar for every time I saw a negative Facebook status, or WisSports post about Ted Thompson in the last five years, I would probably have near 2000 dollars or even more who knows.  People were not ready for a  new boss in town who had different ideas than the others before him. I hope everyone who despised him sent Teddy a nice fruit basket telling him you are sorry.  

I liked being a part of a minority who trusted Thompson for the most part. I never once questioned getting rid of Brett Favre in 2008, and always told people 'there is a reason he has a job, and we do not.'  Thompson knew the future was bright for Aaron Rodgers and also started building a team around him.  On offense drafting guys like Greg Jennings, Jermichael Finley, Jordy Nelson, and James Jones started the movement. On defense, Thompson started over by signing guys like Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett then drafting A.J. Hawk, Clay Matthews, B.J. Raji, and Nick Collins.  Almost all of the key contributors to the Super Bowl team, Thompson had his hand in, which is not something you always hear about with general managers.

This will be always known as the team that Thompson built, and I hope he took sometime to reflect about all the decisions he made during his five years as General Manager. He never really listened to the fans, or the players because he knew there was a system to make this team successful. I hope people continue to sing his praises for years to come, but when they criticize him now, they will just go 'I know TT won us a Super Bowl BUT...'

Let's face it, he makes unpopular decisions all the time. Thompson does not care if the player is a fan favorite with the Cheesehead nation. If it doesn't make sense to keep him on the team, then he will not be on the team. I worry the first backlash might start if the Packers decide they do not need John Kuhn next year. Obviously, if it makes sense, they will keep Kuhn but I do think there is a potential that Kuhn will not be in a Packer uniform. Thompson doesn't care about making an unpopular decision, and that will always piss people off.  But you know does make those popular fan decisions?  Dan Snyder and Jerry Jones. Do they have a playoff win in the last decade by doing that?  Nope, no they don't.

As always,  in Ted I trust.

-Charlie.