The Wisconsin State Journal was reporting in the days leading up to the Packers’ selection of Brian Gutekunst (whose name I can’t yet pronounce) as their new General Manager that the Packers had an interest in hiring Seattle General Manager John Schneider.  As reported by The Wisconsin State Journal and The Seattle Times, Mr. Schneider, a Wisconsin native, had an out in his Seattle contract until 2016 that would have enabled him to go to Green Bay if he wished.  That right was eliminated from his current contract, and Seattle reportedly rejected Green Bay’s request to interview Mr. Schneider for the GB GM role.  After that, GB CEO Mark Murphy turned to Mr. Gutekunst.

Mr. Gutekunst may, despite his lack of experience as a General Manager, prove to be an excellent choice for the role; that said, the team clearly had an interest in Mr. Schneider, who already has an excellent track record as a GM.  Given the rumblings about former Packer GM Ted Thompson’s performance that predate the expiration of Mr. Schneider’s last contract, let us hope that we don’t find that Mr. Murphy lost a better GM because he waited too long to pull the plug on Mr. Thompson.  Of one thing we can be sure:  if Mr. Thompson had been in Mr. Murphy’s position, such a delay is not a mistake that Mr. Thompson would have made …

This has been such a sad year for us Packer faithful that there hasn’t been much to write about.  However, to add insult to injury, I read yesterday that Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt – formerly a ballyhooed Badger – made the NFL’s all-rookie team; meanwhile, the Badger linebacker that Green Bay selected when it could have selected Mr. Watt – Vince Biegel – spent most of the year injured and didn’t – at least to me – create much impact when he was on the field late in the season.

Time will tell.  Perhaps, Mr. Biegel – assuming he’s healthy — will outshine Mr. Watt starting next year; but if he doesn’t, and Mr. Watt continues to shine, that’ll be a blown pick on the scale of Ron Wolf’s selection of Terrell Buckley instead of Troy Vincent in the 1992 draft.  I’ve always felt that the Buckley pick – leaving the Packers with a hole in secondary that Troy Aikman exploited for several years, until Mr. Wolf drafted Craig Newsome in 1995 – cost the Packers an earlier Super Bowl Championship in the Favre era …

I put forth my last post as a noncontroversial maiden effort at blogging after our son and daughter-in-law were kind enough to get me set up; following the Packers is a great diversion from all of the issues our nation faces today.  As to Brett Hundley:  in what is the slimmest of silver linings to the dark cloud of Aaron Rodgers’ injury, the playing time he’ll get over the rest of the season will at least enable the team and we Packer faithful to see whether he has what it takes to be an effective NFL quarterback … 

Hoping for the best tomorrow!