GM is the kind of job that a lot of people can do successfully just by going with the flow. The exceptional case is when somebody applies stupidity or whatever and screws things up. Luck or circumstance or one decision that turns out great can make a GM's reputation and that of a whole slew of his "descendants" for decades. Arguably, Aaron Rodgers MADE the reputation of Ted Thompson as well as the reputation of Schneider and Dorsey and the rest of them. I'll stop short of saying Ted lucked into getting Rodgers, but he certainly was presented with the circumstance and made the obvious decision at the time. Other than that, he has been pretty mediocre. The most similar thing I can think of to the Aaron Rodgers phenomenon is the coin flip where the Bucks got Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul Jabbar. That and the trades deriving from it kept the Bucks near the top for over 20 years. The only difference is that instead of trades parlaying a team into continued success after the big lucky break, it has been personnel people getting considered for jobs based on Ted's success.

Who among us, though, given a full time effort and a staff of scouts, couldn't roll the dice and make adequate draft picks, negotiate and sign our own players (or not), maybe go after and get (or not) other people's free agents or off the street?