Green Bay's Success Continues to Hinge on Continuity in Coaching, Front Office

What happened earlier this week in the NFL hasn't happened in Green Bay in close to a decade. I'm talking about the purging of head coaches and general managers throughout the league in an event called "Black Monday."

In terms of head coaches who were terminated by their organizations this past week, Mike Smith got a pink slip from the Falcons, as did both Marc Trestman of the Bears and Rex Ryan of the Jets. Plus, head coach Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers mutually agreed to part ways, while head coach Doug Marrone opted out of his contract with the Bills.

The Oakland Raiders are still figuring out what they will be doing with their new head coach, although there is a chance that interim head coach Tony Sparano might keep the job.

Head coaches weren't the only ones who were given cardboard boxes to get their things out of their office, as a number of general managers also were shown the door.

There were a couple of two-for firings.

The Bears fired general manager Phil Emory as well as getting rid of Trestman. The Jets did likewise when they fired John Idzik along with Ryan.

There still may be more firings to come in the near future.

But not in Green Bay.

When Ted Thompson took over the Packers front office in 2005 as executive vice president, general manager and director of football operations, he closely studied the job that then-head coach Mike Sherman did in 2005.

The team finished 4-12, and quarterback Brett Favre had his worst year ever in the NFL. Plus, it was an awkward work environment for both Thompson and Sherman. Sherman was both head coach and general manger from 2001 through 2004.

President Bob Harlan saw that those two duties were not working properly, so he hired Thompson to run the front office. Sherman had not been a bad coach, as the Packers were 57-39 under him for six seasons. The team also won three NFC North titles and made the playoffs for four of the six years he was coach.

But the Packers were just 2-4 under Sherman in the postseason, and between that and the clumsy partnership of Sherman and Thompson, it was time to part ways.

Thompson fired Sherman in early January 2006 and less than two weeks later hired Mike McCarthy to become the new Packers head coach.

What a wise decision that turned out to be for Thompson, as McCarthy is still leading the Pack and has built himself a very solid legacy.

In the nine years McCarthy has coached the Packers, the team has gone 94-49-1 in the regular season. That also includes five NFC North titles, including four straight from 2011 through 2014.

The Packers have also made the playoffs on seven occasions, including six straight times going into the postseason this year.

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

The Packers are 6-5 in the postseason under McCarthy, which includes a victory in Super Bowl XLV.

Time will tell how the Packers will do in the 2014 postseason, where the team is the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs and will host at least one game at Lambeau Field.

McCarthy is tied for fourth (along with Sean Payton of the Saints) in the NFL in terms of the longest tenure as head coach. Only Bill Belichick of the Patriots (hired in 2000), Marvin Lewis of the Bengals (hired in 2003) and Tom Coughlin of the Giants (hired in 2004) have been with their teams longer.

Just look at the NFC North. Since 2006, when Thompson hired McCarthy to coach the Packers, the Vikings have gone through three head coaches (Brad Childress, Leslie Frazier and current coach Mike Zimmer), the Bears have gone through two (Lovie Smith and Marc Trestman) and are looking for a third, and the Lions have had three (Rod Marinelli, Jim Schwartz and current coach Jim Caldwell).

It appears that the marriage between Thompson and McCarthy will last awhile longer as well.

Thompson signed a contract extension earlier this summer with the Packers that looks like it will keep him around until 2018.

About three months later, McCarthy did the same thing, as he too signed a contract extension to stay with the team.

Thompson was very pleased that he was able to keep the partnership he had developed with McCarthy around for years to come.

"We are very happy to extend our relationship with Mike," Thompson said in a statement. "Over the past nine years, he's provided great stability and consistency to the Packers organization and our community as an excellent coach and leader. He's a good man and we look forward to the future with Mike as our head coach."

The bottom line is that the Packers have put together a great legacy and a solid history of continuity in the NFL over the past 20-plus years. It started when Harlan hired Ron Wolf in 1991, who then brought in Mike Holmgren as head coach in 1992.

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Wolf also hired a young scout by the name of Ted Thompson in 1992. One of Thompson's first duties under Wolf was to evaluate a first-year quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons whom Wolf was possibly interested in trading for.

That quarterback was Brett Favre. Thompson gave Wolf a thumb's up after looking at tape of Favre, and a trade was consummated in February 1992.

Coincidentally, Thompson's first draft pick as general manager of the Packers was quarterback Aaron Rodgers in 2005.

Thompson was part of the front office in Green Bay through 1999. He worked in various capacities as he was mentored by Wolf. During that time, the Packers went to the postseason six times and also won Super Bowl XXXI.

Thompson moved on to Seattle where he was vice president of football operations but then returned to the Packers in 2005 to run their front office.

Since 1992, the Packers have only had three general managers and four head coaches. The team has won 234 games versus just 133 losses and one tie in that time in the regular season.

In addition, the Packers have won 11 NFC Central/North titles during that period.

The Packers have also advanced to the postseason 17 times over that time and have won two Super Bowls.

Not a bad track record, huh? And a lot of it is due to the continuity in the front office and also with the coaching staffs.

Yes, the players have also had a big role in the Packers' success over the past two-plus decades, but it was the front office that brought them to Green Bay and the coaches who honed their skills, which made them perform better.

The Packers should be a model for all other organizations in the NFL. That is, if they want their teams to win on a consistent and long-term basis.