Part of the reason the Green Bay Packers were able to dominate the NFC North for so long dating back to the early 1990s came from their power structure. It was simple. The GM controlled the roster and football operations. The head coach ran the locker room and everything on the field. Nobody got in anybody else’s way.
It’s a method that has worked for a quarter century, but now one the team seems to have abandoned. Now team president Mark Murphy has split the power between three men according to Tom Silverstein of Packers News. One being GM Brian Gutekunst, another being director of football operations Russ Ball, and finally, head coach Matt Lafleur.
Each man has their own considerable say in how their departments are run. Neither seems to have direct authority over the other. All report to Murphy who himself doesn’t run the football operations directly. Silverstein asked several sources about this new hierarchy and they believe the Packers are just asking for trouble.
Basically winning cures everything. The Packers better hope they win this year because if things go south again in 2019, it could create some serious tension in the building as each man tries to seize further control of the situation.
“There are skeptics of the organization’s direction, and it’s easy to see why, given the lack of a decisive leader with years of NFL experience in charge of the entire football operation. Maybe Murphy is the smart one, but the way things transpired after (Ted) Thompson’s demotion suggest not all the pieces are going to fit together the way he believes.
Speaking with current and former members of the organization, agents and friends for some of those employees and people who do business with the Packers, nearly 20 in total, there are concerns that the organization is headed down a faulty path.”
The problem is many claim that Ball, not Gutekunst has closer ties to Murphy. That obviously puts in the GM in an awkward position because he doesn’t have control over the message the team is trying to send, inside or outside the building. That creates confusion, and confusion is never a good thing when football teams are involved.
Part of the reason for this? Ball was originally Murphy’s pick to be GM. However, head coach Mike McCarthy wanted somebody more experienced in personnel. So rather than making a firm decision, Murphy compromised by hiring Gutekunst. Yet still kept Ball in a power position.
Now nobody knows who is really in charge. It’s weird to say that about an organization that was considered a model for the NFL for so many years.
