Here’s the situation. Brian Gutekunst and Russ Ball have been patiently waiting in the wings for half of their careers. Gutekunst has been in the Green Bay Packers’ front office for 20 years and Ball has been in various NFL front offices for 27 years. Suddenly, team president Mark Murphy hands them the keys to an enterprise that is beginning its 100th year in a dog-eat-dog world of NFL football.
They must have been dreaming and planning for this moment for many years. Their ascendency comes at a time when the Packers, over seven years’ time, have fallen from the top of the heap to a team with a losing record.