
It was Janurary 4th, 2006 and the Green Bay Packers had just finished the season with a 4-12 record. Ted Thompson sat in his office with former Packer GM Ron Wolf and they started the discussion about who the likely candidates were to replace the recently fired Mike Sherman. A few names were brought up, but the #1 guy on the list was a guy from San Francisco. His name was Mike McCarthy and he was the offensive coordinator at the time for the San Francisco 49ers. Nobody had ever heard of this guy and every Packer fan in Wisconsin wanted to know why Ted Thompson was so interested in him! Well, 4 days later, Ted Thompson sat down with Mike McCarthy to interview him and immediently fell in love with him. It was a match made in heaven! While introducing Mike McCarthy as the next head coach of the Green Bay Packers,he stood at the podiem and announced that he had a 5 year plan and he promised to bring Packer fans another Super Bowl win.
Well, here it is five years later and Coach McCarthy has a worse resume than Mike Sherman did as a Packer Head Coach. Mike Sherman won 3 NFC North Titles in a row from 2002-2004 and had an overall record of 57-39. Coach McCarthy's 5 year record, as the Packer coach, is 48-32 and that only includes 'ONE' NFC North division title! So, one may ask themselves, "why isn't Mike McCarthy on the hot seat?" Shouldn't McCarthy be held to the same standard as Mike Sherman? Well I'm here today to make it clear that I absolutely think McCarthy should be held to the same standard! Thompson had a 5 year plan and if the Packers don't win the Super Bowl this year, those 5 years are up and he can't bring McCarthy back! The fans expect and deserve more out of thier head coach and if Thompson is too stubborn to fire his own coach, then HE needs to go as well! I believe the Packers will lose this week in Atlanta and Packer fans should expect McCarthy to be cleaning out his desk, first thing Monday morning!
Good question Jamie. I was fairly certain that if the Packers failed to make the playoffs that McCarthy was done. Since they did overcome some adversity and are coming off a huge road playoff win (first since 1997) I believe his job is safe for one more year. Unfortunately is as good of a year as any for the Packers to rise out of a very weak NFC and, although they could prove us wrong, I agree with you that Atlanta beats them this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it why you guys think McCarthy's job may be in jeopardy. He is TT's pick and if he fires him, it is admitting he made a mistake, which he has shown in the past that he will not do. I think he is a good coach, but a lousy OC, that being said, TT will not fire a coach who is in the playoffs for his second year in a row, especially with all the injuries he has dealt with. Enjoy the playoffs instead of trying to find every negative thing you can jump on. You guys are to young to remember the 70's and 80's when the Packers sucked every year. Just enjoy and be glad we are not the Titan's.
ReplyDeletePackerbacker, you didn't address the point I was trying to make!! Over the same amount of time, Sherman has almost an identical record as McCarthy while having more division titles! Wht gives?
ReplyDeleteI don't think Mike McCarthy is a strong coach but he does get results. I think the problem with Mike Sherman was he had some major talent and never did anything with it in the playoffs. He lost the Packers first ever game at Lambeau. He just wasn't a guy to motivate a squad. He had Favre towards the end of his prime, and as most Packers fans have forgotten, Favre was damn good and carried a lot of Packers teams on his back. Rodgers isn't at that point yet. And while talented, I'm not sure he'll ever get to that point. I feel like the Packers a different run organization now(ask Trescher) and Thompson probably feels McCarthy is good for the young player he has to keep sticking in.
ReplyDeleteI don't quite understand how McCarthy got his job? He was Offensive Coordinator for a team that was ranked 29th in the league on offense. Maybe it was his lazy eye that Thompson fell in love with :) He must have given a great interview and Thompson must have thought he would be good for all his young talent. Next year if the Packers are playing with a full deck and they don't make the playoffs or get beat in the 1st round then you might see a change.
Packerbacker you are correct! Ted and Mike are both doing great now. Yes, they both do things that make us wonder at times but we are here now, two games away from making the Superbowl and only good positive thoughts are needed!
ReplyDeleteI am old enough to remember the 70's and 80's where as our other reporters are might know nothing about those 70's and very little about the 80's.
I think you will agree that ever since the "MAJIC" year of 1989 things have been pretty awesome in titletown, relativly speaking.
It would suck to be a Titan or Viking fan. Not bad to be Chiefs fan, but truly wonderful to be a Packer fan these days!
By the way if Packerbacker another alias for Trescher :)
ReplyDeleteJamie, the only thing I can say about your main point is that expectations were high when Mike Sherman was here. When Mike McCarthy came it was rebuilding time. We are now about to see the results of the past years.
ReplyDeleteTrescher I agree with your point. The expectations were very high for Sherman! And why not, you had Favre playing at a high level. Its pretty much like when Manning and Brady play, there is always a shot at the Super Bowl.
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ReplyDeleteAaron Rodgers is now at that point where the Packers will now have a shot every year but Mike McCarthy will get two more opportunities after this one before his job status would com into question. My god, Jeff Fisher has been in Tennessee for what, 16 years? and the TITANS have NEVER won a Super Bowl.
ReplyDeletePackerbacker is not an alias for me, he is another true Packerfan who knows his stuff.
He might agree with my take that says Brett Favre was a solid Regular Season quarterback but a poor playoff quarterback. Yes, he won one Superbowl but when you look back at all that talent, that team should have won at least three championships but #4's gambling gun slinging ways kept that from happening. Also the 2003 and 2007 playoff losses were games directly thrown away by Brett Favre. He should have quit after the 2002 season. The running game in 2003 was so awesome, an average conservative quarterback might have taken that team all the way.
Mike how can you say Packerbacker knows their stuff? They basically had one paragraph. You just latched onto him because he is a Packers fan. If anything he is as one sided as you when it comes to the Packers. I do agree about Jeff Fisher though, 16 years and only 1 Super Bowl appearance. I'm not ripping on the Titans at all, but I am surprised he has lasted as long as he has thats all. His team definitely quit on him down the stretch. I watched the KC game and they were sleepwalking through that game. I thought he should have been fired and they should have brought some new blood in.
ReplyDeletePackerbacker is actually a guy Jamie and I know from school. He is a smart Packer fan.
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