The Green Bay Packers have gone through wholesale changes following a disappointing 2017 season that saw them lose Aaron Rodgers to a broken collarbone en route to finishing with a 7-9 record.
General manager Ted Thompson has been relieved of his duties. Offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett and quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt were fired. And defensive coordinator Dom Capers joined a bunch of coaches on that side of the ball to be axed.
Even then, head coach Mike McCarthy remains. Not only that, he was apparently given a contract extension during the team’s ill-fated 2017 campaign.
This begs one major question: What if McCarthy himself is the problem in Green Bay? Here’s someone that turned a 7-9 season into a fall-guy philosophy on many different fronts, making Cris Carter proud in the process.
And now, as his coaching staff and the team’s front office is in flux, apparently McCarthy isn’t willing to change a darn thing about his role.
#Packers coach Mike McCarthy says he will call the plays in 2018. Will add a new OC, but talking to Edgar Bennett about a new role
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 4, 2018
That’s about as grand as it gets. Oh, but it gets better.
"You can't mandate leadership. If you do, it's fake, it's phony and it falls apart." McCarthy on the locker room.
— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) January 4, 2018
We’re not even 100 percent sure what that means. “Mandate leadership?” Is he calling out leaders within the locker room for not showing said leadership, all the while sending multiple coaches who were under his leadership packing? Is he doing so while ignoring his role in the team’s failures this past season? It seems like a cop-out in the most obvious way.
There’s little doubt that Ted Thompson’s draft struggles were a major issue for the Packers in recent seasons. His strategy has even come under attack from none other than Pro Bowl safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, who Thompson himself selected in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
The idea of drafting to develop rather than to produce has led to a situation in Green Bay where the team simply lacks the necessary depth to overcome injuries.
Then again, what has McCarthy done in recent seasons to help his young players produce? No objective football observer can conclude that his team’s offense lacks in the talent area. Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson have each turned in Pro Bowl seasons in the past.
Fellow receiver Davante Adams just recently signed a large extension, a clear indication that what’s left of Green Bay’s brass is high on his talent level. Rookie running back Jamaal Williams turned in a stellar first season, tallying 746 total yards in the final eight games. These were all solid additions for the front office, previously led by Thompson.
Despite this, Green Bay finished the 2017 regular season ranked 20th in points scored. Losing former MVP Aaron Rodgers for nine games to a broken collarbone was the biggest issue here. He’s obviously one of the biggest difference-makers in the game.
But coming in a close second was McCarthy’s inability to get the most of talented players not named Aaron Rodgers. Young quarterback Brett Hundley was among the worst starters in the NFL when on the field. So, the logical end result here would be to fire Alex Van Pelt as quarterbacks coach, right?
Well, that’s until we realize McCarthy himself is defined as a quarterback whisperer. He wasn’t. And the emergence of Aaron Rodgers to Hall of Fame status is less a microcosm of McCarthy’s abilities and more a representation of what Rodgers himself does on the field.
We’re not sitting back here saying McCarthy should have been fired. We’ll leave that up to a suddenly disgruntled fan base in Green Bay. Instead, it’s all about him not taking full responsibility for issues that have arisen with the Packers since their last Super Bowl appearance back when President Trump was merely a reality show host.