The struggles of the Millennial Green Bay Packers fan

I’ve spent 24 years on this earth and have only looked at the Green Bay Packers as winners.

My elders constantly remind me that the Packers only made the playoffs twice between 1968 and 1993.

I should be thankful I live in this era, right?

The Packers have made the playoffs 15 times since 1994. Have appeared in three Super Bowls with two victories. They have won 10 divisional titles, including the last three years consecutively.

But why do I feel like we haven’t won anything in so long?

I am considered a Millennial.

Born into the technology era, where we want everything yesterday. Unfortunately, the NFL is not a process you can rush. There is no code to be made or mobile device to buy that can help your team win the Super Bowl every year. I didn’t have to suffer through the Bart Starr and Forrest Gregg coaching reign. One year of Ray Rhodes almost made me go completely insane. The Packers have spoiled this generation.

I fondly remember Brett Favre running around like a kid in the Super Dome after uncorking a bomb to Andre Rison. I almost cringe every time I watch a highlight of John Elway doing the helicopter for a first down in that Super Bowl XXXII moment. And who has forgotten about Howard Green? He’s the guy that blasted Ben Roethlisberger, which led to the last great highlight of Nick Collins‘ career as a Green Bay Packer. People waited 29 years between Super Bowl appearances, while I have three lifelong memories over a span of 14 years.

The spoiling doesn’t just start and finish with Super Bowl appearances.

I’ve only been subjected to one changing of the guard at the quarterback position – Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers (I was too young to remember the “Majik Man”).

Unless you are a 49ers fan that went from Montana to Young, I don’t know if you could get any better results? Countless teams have been searching for decades for one quarterback with the potential to be in the Hall of Fame, we’re on our way to having back-to-back entries.

It can’t be that easy… can it?

Ron Wolf believed in an offensive coordinator from San Francisco named Mike Holmgren, and then traded a first-round pick for a backup quarterback from the Atlanta Falcons (Brett Favre). The actions of Wolf put the title back into “Packers News.” After Wolf departed, Mike Sherman underachieved with the cast that he was handed, but we were still winning.

Then came Ted Thompson.

Thompson’s first selection as a general manager was a kid that fell down the board, Aaron Rodgers. The next season he took a gamble on an offensive coordinator from – where else? – San Francisco. He had just coached the lowly thirty-second-ranked offense, and his name was Mike McCarthy. It wasn’t too much later and the title was once again back to where it was all started, Green Bay.

Why is winning so difficult?

I don’t actually mean on the field, but the fact that the Packers have been so successful, but why does it seem like the last Super Bowl title was moons ago? The early 90s team had the Dallas Cowboys, the Achilles heel of the Packers. Once they got past the Cowboys, they won the title. The 49ers are acting as the Achilles heel of the current team. If history repeats itself that would naturally mean that once the Packers get over the hump of the 49ers, they’ll head back to the big dance.

The 2014 NFL Draft has come and gone and the anticipation for the upcoming season is already beginning to amp up. With three more playoff victories, Mike McCarthy can tie Mike Holmgren for the most wins in Green Bay Packers playoff history. That means if the Packers can earn a first-round bye, it would lead to another Super Bowl victory.

So that’s where my bar is set.

I believe in history repeating itself and I believe in trends.

I’m a Millennial.