FIRED: Why Green bay packers has fired their head coach after Sunday loss to Arizona
When the Green Bay Packers fell 20-17 to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, there was widespread speculation that the loss would spell the end of Mike McCarthy’s term as head coach. Few expected the transformation to occur so rapidly. Only a few hours later, the Packers announced that McCarthy will be replaced as head coach by offensive coordinator Joe Philbin. McCarthy’s 13-year tenure in Green Bay came to a sudden and ignominious end with that shocking statement.
“The 2018 season did not live up to the Green Bay Packers’ expectations and standards.” As a result, I made the tough decision to remove Mike McCarthy as head coach, effective immediately,” Packers CEO Mark Murphy said in a statement, before thanking McCarthy for his service. “Mike has been a terrific head coach and leader of the Packers for 13 seasons, during which time we experienced a great deal of success on and off the field.”
While there is no doubt that McCarthy has had a successful tenure in Green Bay, it was clear that whatever had worked in the past was no longer working. As the losses mounted, it became clear that, unless a miraculous reversal, this was going to be McCarthy’s season. Following a home loss to a Cardinals squad that had won exactly two games, the Packers concluded there was no use in postponing the inevitable.
The decision came down to quarterback Aaron Rodgers, as it does with everything in Green Bay. Rodgers, a two-time MVP, has been one of the league’s greatest starting quarterbacks for the majority of his career, and the team has made the playoffs every year he’s been healthy since 2008. In all of those travels, he has only won one Super Bowl. While some of this can be attributed to the caliber of players he has surrounded himself with, there is a general consensus that McCarthy’s play-calling has been, at best, ineffective. The Packers were unwilling to make substantial changes as long as the Rodgers/McCarthy combination was consistently making the playoffs. The Packers, who have lost their last three games and are presently third in the NFC North, will not make the playoffs this year.
Only a few days ago, Sports Illustrated published a lengthy piece by Kalyn Kahler titled, appropriately, How It All Went Wrong in Packerland. The story highlights developing disagreements between McCarthy and Rodgers, particularly over play-calling. Rodgers, an extraordinarily clever player, is frequently given the go-ahead to run his own plays, which has led to increased conflict: “McCarthy might call the same play three times in a game, without the play actually being run as he called it.” And if McCarthy calls a play that Rodgers dislikes early in the game, it might dampen Rodgers’ mood for the remainder of the game.” To say the least, this is not a sustainable relationship, and when a Hall of Fame quarterback is still in his prime and his head coach is at odds, a team will side with the quarterback. Green Bay just cannot expect to identify and interview replacements for Aaron Rodgers.
Even if the two were on the same page, circumstances could have forced the team to make a change. This season was so poor that there was a general consensus throughout the league that the squad needed a fresh start if it wanted to maximize its chances of winning with Rodgers. The Packers have underperformed, and while McCarthy may not have been the cause, complacency can be deadly. The question now is where the club goes from here, assuming Philbin is only a fill-in and not a potential head coach prospect. They will have plenty of time to consider it.
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