We’ve talked about the meaning of success. We’ve talked about the differing opinions among the Green Bay Packers’ hierarchy and players of that meaning.
There’s really only one meaning of the word as it pertains to the Packers: the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.
Seriously. Look it up.
Mike McCarthy and Mark Murphy always like to amend that definition after the season. McCarthy sets the goal as a championship at the beginning of the season and then when the Packers fall short, he tells us how they still had a successful season.
Well, by what definition, Mike?
Certainly not by the definition of the actual word success.
After McCarthy last told us how successful the Packers were during the season, tackle David Bakhtiari came out and called the season a failure. We would agree. It was fun at times, but ultimately, the Packers failed to reach their goal.
Receiver Jordy Nelson also apparently agrees.
Nelson: To me it’s not a full success unless we win a Championship. #Packers
— ESPN Milwaukee (@ESPNMilwaukee) February 14, 2017
Nelson: It’s crazy to think it has been 6 years since we’ve been in the Super Bowl and we haven’t been back since. #Packers
— ESPN Milwaukee (@ESPNMilwaukee) February 14, 2017
What’s really interesting to us, is the players — many of them, anyway — seem to be on the same page. Add Aaron Rodgers and his “reload” comments to Nelson and Bakhtiari and there seems to be quite a bit of lament.
That another season has gone down the drain without a title.
And yet you find no such thing with management. All they do is point to the playoffs and say, we’re in them every year and therefore we are successful (amended). Part of it has to be that those guys have been around for years. They’ll probably be around for many years to come if they want to be.
The players, meanwhile, realize how short their NFL lifespans are. That gives them urgency, the want and need to do it now and a realistic definition of success.
The coaches, the GM and the president have no such thing. And why would they? They can all take their sweet-ass time getting around to another title.