Well, the Green Bay Packers aren’t even at the halfway point of their season and the Mike McCarthy watch has already begun – at least in some circles.
I’ve never been a fan of McCarthy. In fact, last season when everyone was blaming defensive coordinator Bob Sanders for the Packers failures, I suggested they look a little higher up the food chain. We even gave a helpful list of five potential replacements for McCarthy – three of which were hired by other teams – and another list of coaches that are better than McCarthy.
This season it’s been more of the same from our man Mike – too many penalties, no sense of urgency or fire, can’t win the big game. I’ve been on record as saying McCarthy needs to go, but I haven’t uttered a word about it this season.
Frankly, if the Packers make the playoffs, I don’t think there’s any way general manager Ted Thompson will fire McCarthy, and this team is still in the playoff race. Putting McCarthy on watch prior to the halfway point of the season is jumping the gun a little bit, in my mind.
Still, that isn’t stopping anyone. The Sporting News published a list of franchises with potential head coaching vacancies in 2010. Below the obvious – Cleveland, Oakland, Jacksonville – sit your Green Bay Packers.
The team didn’t insert in the Brett Favre trade a term requiring the Jets to give up three first-round picks if Favre were traded to the Vikings because Green Bay wanted to save Brett from the embarrassment of being beaten twice by his old team. The Packers feared precisely what has occurred this year — a two-game sweep by a divisional rival with Favre at the helm. Depending on the whether the Packers make the playoffs and whether the Vikings finish with fewer than four losses, a house-cleaning could occur. And if the job becomes open, Jon Gruden’s perpetual scowl could become a smile, if only for a moment.
There you go. The first mention of Gruden potentially coming to Green Bay.
Gruden has a sharp football mind and, apparently, a pretty large pair of balls, if you’ve noticed how he always sits with his legs spread wide open during Monday Night Football. Those are two things McCarthy doesn’t have.
Beyond Gruden, there will be several big name coaching entities on the market who may find Green Bay attractive – Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan, and The Walrus aka Mike Holmgren, among them.
While any of those guys would be more exciting than Mike McCarthy, it’s a little too early to start planning next season’s Super Bowl trip. The Packers organization still has at least nine more games of McCarthy-induced nonchalance to endure.
If the Packers make the playoffs, which is a goal within reach, that number may just increase to 26.
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Last updated on September 11th, 2013 at 05:01 pm
I didn’t like McCarthy or Thompson to begin with. But after watching them get one play short of the Super bowl in 2007 I had to give them an opportunity to prove my initial opinion wrong. Unfortunately, I’m right back were I started. I’m not giving Thompson any points for drafting Rodgers, anyone would have been smart enough to see the value in that pick. Where would this team be if you added Sean Payton and Randy Moss, and had kept Daron Sharper and Ryan Longwell?
Yeah, letting Sharper go is one of the blunders that never gets mentioned – though the guy was asking for a kings ransom.
I can’t see Mike being fired if they make the playoffs or even if they go 8-8 with no wild card. I think Ted would redeem himself if he fires Mike unless there is some sort of dramatic turn around in play calling and leadership the rest of this season (yeah right). It’s hard to support Mike no matter what happens. From an organizational perspective McCarthy is not doing what needs to be done to nurture and develop young talent, nor is he the leader that the veterans need to be inspired. As a GM, Ted either knows how to run a football team or doesn’t. What he does with McCarthy will be telling.
That would be the only benefit to a bad season, is that it could get McCarthy fired. The guy has absolutely no intensity or fire and it shows in his team.
oh please oh please oh please!!!! i beg of you god…. please let mike mccarthy get the boot pleaseeeeeeeeee!!! ill never ask you for another favor again!!
Darren Sharper is a big play waiting to happen, for the offense. I’d take Nick Collins any day over him. The Vikings had one of the worst pass defenses in football every year that Sharper was there. Sharper may be the most overrated player in football, now that TO has given up the position. Sharper has built a career on taking cheap INTs off usually tipped balls for TDs. He has given up FAR more than he’s scored.
The whole Randy Moss thing is one of the worst ideas still repeated like it isn’t exactly that. The year Moss was available, 2007, the Packers had the deepest WR core in football, were #1 in YAC, and reached the NFC Championship game. Someone tell me why we needed Randy Moss again? Let’s see: leader of the WRs- Donald Driver or Randy Moss? Tough choice.
Ryan Longwell, according to him, has never missed a kick that was his fault in his career. I have two words for that jackass- Chris Jacke.
I do wish TT had gotten Sean Payton though. MM is a meathead. Always will be. When TT gets rid of him, he should say, “There were some things in our house we needed to clean up.”
Take him out Thomspon and The big guy Crappers what a joke
They have won the last game of the year with the staff we have now!!!!!!!!
You lose to The Bucs and ur season is over thats it period!