One of my favorite post-game press conferences is former UCONN’s men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun after a loss to Providence. Calhoun says in the presser, “If you want me to say I fucked up, I fucked up.” It’s a great quote. Why? Because it’s universal and it’s him deferring the attention of the loss to him, the coach, and not the players. Do you know how great it would be to hear Mark Murphy say that he ‘screwed up’? That all of what happened in the last few years of ‘his fault.’ And that would be taking a ‘step back for the good of the organization.’ None of those words have been uttered out of Murphy’s mouth. Instead, he says in his fireside chat that the Rodgers’ situation has ‘divided the fan base’ creating this false narrative. It’s Murphy, once again, pushing the buck.

Murphy should step up to the plate and own all that has happened. He should acknowledge that Aaron Rodgers should have been spoken to about the Jordan Love draft pick. Murphy should note that they have to reevaluate how they treat their star players and not treat everyone the exact same (Okay, no one would say that exactly, but you get the point). Murphy is trying to create a Team Rodgers and Team Love thing that does not exist at all. Rather, most fans want Rodgers back with the select few who think he’s acting like a petulant child. Most people are somewhere in-between.

This made the headlines and made Murphy’s life so much easier. People can debate that versus talking to him. If you want to get knee deep in the mud, you could say this is Murphy taking a veiled shot at Rodgers who talked endlessly about the fans. No one should be talking about division, rather, working on how Murphy loses his job. There’s no reason this guy should be running the Packers. The front office follies start with the head of the snake and that head needs to be ripped off. If he cannot hold himself accountable three months into this thing, why is he running the show? Murphy wants to act like he’s the owner of the Green Bay Packers. The only one. But in reality, there are millions. At some point, the power-hungry nature of Murphy has to relent, right?

Like 2008, this will define the next decade of Packers’ football. It’s important that the Packers make the right one, and that it is not one driven by ego. Green Bay could get it right and have another era of success. Although if football history has taught us anything, it is hard for lightning to strike twice. Love is nowhere near ready like Rodgers was in 2008. If that’s the final outcome, so be it, but it’s asking a lot out of the young quarterback.

We’ll see what the results of this end up being but know that Murphy will skirt any responsibility.

Charlie