I was part of covering the Green Bay Packers when Ted Thompson was hired as their General Manager.  Packer fans had no clue who the guy was, but had heard some negative things about when he was at Seattle.  When he picked Aaron Rodgers as his first pick (24) in his first draft, Packer fans went nuts.  "We've got a quarterback" they howled. 

The first year under Thompson's supervision was a disaster, leading to the dismissal of Head Coach Mike Sherman following the season.  Thompson went out and hired Mike McCarthy, the offensive coordinator for the San Fransisco 49ers.  McCarthy had been involved in some pretty underwhelming teams in New Orleans and San Francisco and wasn't a sexy choice.  The guy looked and talked like he should be operating a big rig, not coaching a football team.

The first season under McCarthy was terrible and Packer fans screamed bloody murder.  Thompson, who keeps himself out of the public eye, was deemed to be too aloof to run a successful franchise. McCarthy was a horrible coach they said.  Most important of all, Brett Favre was beginning to get upset.  Thompson traded him away in July of 2008 and the Packers fell to 6-10.  The Ted haters were out in full force now.  And they wanted his head on a spit.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the execution.  The next season, the Packers went back to the playoffs and the next season the Packers won the Super Bowl.

Over the course of his tenure in Green Bay, Thompson has been a rock.  Enduring criticism early for his drafting no name players and his handling of the Favre situation, Thompson turned a deaf ear towards everyone.  In the end, he was right in drafting Rodgers, right in dumping Favre and pretty much hit home runs with a majority of his draft picks.  The bottom line is Ted Thompson, despite all of the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth over the years by Packer fans is good at his job.

Enter Phil Emery.  A career scout, Emery has never generally managed an organization.  So much has been made of his real role, is a he a manager or a glorified scout?  Is he really more powerful than head coach Lovie Smith or is he just a pawn?  Will he be better at building through the draft than former GM Jerry Angelo, or will he draft duds that will waste the teams time?  Will he be committed to getting help for Jay Cutler, or will he buy into Angelo's (and perhaps Lovie's) logic that the Bears are fine at wide receiver and that J'Marcus Webb is a legitimate NFL left tackle?

All of this remains to be seen.  Emery's first task is to build an organization with scouts who will evaluate players to Emery's specifications.  Then, he'll deal with free agents and contracts.  Then, following the next season, he'll deal with Lovie.

The bottom line to all of this is Bears fans need to be patient.  Back in the early days of Ted Thompson's reign in Green Bay, the fans were openly hostile.  They didn't understand draft picks like Nick Collins, Brady Poppinga, Greg Jennings, Jason Spitz, Desmond Bishop, Mason Crosby, Jordy Nelson, Jermichael Finley, Matt Flynn and the countless other mid and low round picks that have turned into contributors for the Packers.  The Packers are a team that builds through the draft, though the organization that Thompson built and now heads.  The organization that beat the Bears four times in the last year.

Emery's vision is that of Thompson.  To build through the draft.  To hit paydirt on low and mid round picks.  To evaluate players and watch tape and then re-evaluate and watch more tape.  To not be the public face of the team, but to be the football equivalent of a gym rat, constantly improving and tweaking personnel   This is what make Thompson good at what he does and hopefully, in a couple of years, Emery's name will be mentioned in the same conversation.

It seems that Ted Phillips mission was not to beat the Packers.  It was to join them.