On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers decided to dismiss Mike McCarthy of his coaching duties following their 20-17 home loss against the Arizona Cardinals.
Packers fire head coach Mike McCarthy: https://t.co/Rfk2FKIb44 pic.twitter.com/YTln1eoG0R
— NFL (@NFL) December 3, 2018
Mark Murphy, Packers’ team president, made the move ending the second-largest tenure of any head coach in Packers’ history.
The only coach to last longer than McCarthy was Curly Lambeau.
McCarthy won a Super Bowl and finished his tenure with a .618 winning percentage. During his time in Green Bay, McCarthy had nine winning seasons and took the Packers to the playoffs in each of those seasons.
Why Now?
“I think we all would have preferred to make the change following the season,” Mark Murphy said. “We’ve been in these situations with Mike before. Obviously, you think back to 2016, we were 4-6, all of our efforts were in turning the season around. I really think if we had gotten a key win here or there, things would have changed. The way the season unfolded, we were never able to get that win and quite honestly the performance on Sunday night to me made it very clear that a coaching change was needed.”
Front Running Replacements
- Josh McDaniel: Patriots OC- McDaniels is a leader when it comes to operating on offense. He has helped lead Tom Brady to multiple Super Bowls and he’s been on the side of Belichick for many years. McDaniels biggest questions moving forward would surround the Packers’ defense.
- John DeFilippo: Vikings OC- DeFilippo has a very nice resume built up over the last few years and with the Eagles struggling on offense, people are starting to point the fingers at Filip and Frank Reich as the issue in Philadelphia. If Minnesota can make the playoffs and perform well on offense down the stretch, expect DeFilippo will get plenty of consideration.
- Eric Bieniemy: Chiefs OC- The common belief around Bieniemy is that if you were to put Rodgers in his system than the result would be lots of points per game. Although Bieniemy has only been the OC for a single year, he has been with Andy Reid over the last six seasons serving as the running backs coach.
Up Next
The Packers host the 4-8 Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Green Bay should use this opportunity to get this back on track and leave the McCarthy drama in the past.
If the Packers can manage to get a win against the Falcons, then they will only be one game behind the Vikings in the NFC North.