Writers weigh in on potential replacements for Mike McCarthy as Green Bay Packers coach
The hot-seat feeding frenzy has begun, with many fans and writers thinking this will be the final season for Mike McCarthy as Green Bay Packers head coach.
The Packers fell to 4-6-1 on Sunday night with their loss to the Vikings, seemingly taking them out of the playoff conversation, though a faint pulse remains.
Ryan Glasspiegel of The Big Lead offered six potential replacements for McCarthy. If the Packers do indeed move on, their head-coach opening will likely be one of the most attractive jobs out there, if not the most attractive in the 2019 NFL offseason.
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His candidates include Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, who is reportedly set to part ways with his current franchise this offseason. Harbaugh’s parents, Jack and Jackie, lived in the Milwaukee suburb of Mequon for several years.
Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley, an offensive innovator who is perhaps the trendiest name from the college ranks, was also mentioned.
Patriots assistant Josh McDaniels, a former head coach in Denver who briefly accepted the Colts head-coaching vacancy last offseason before returning to New England, is another top offensive mind. Darren Hartwell of NBC Sports previously connected McDaniels and Packers, and Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports also wrote about the many options facing McDaniels
The Big Lead also mentions Dabo Swinney of Clemson, Matt Rhule of Baylor and New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr.
Though not mentioned in the article, it could be noted that Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald, who was mentioned during last offseason’s search for a Bears head coach, was hired by Packers president Mark Murphy when Murphy was NU athletics director in 2006, although there's no indication Fitzgerald would leave the college ranks.
Sports Illustrated: McCarthy hasn't ignored innovation
Should it be a slam dunk that the Packers move on from McCarthy?
Andy Benoit of SI.com writes, “Debunking the myths of Mike McCarhty, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense,” pointing out that McCarthy has tried a number of new innovations the past two months to jumpstart his team, and those changes have gone unnoticed.
“In fact, this season, McCarthy’s offensive scheme has evolved dramatically. Early in the year, it was mostly just the simple spread formations that propagate isolation routes —that’s the unimaginativeness McCarthy has been dogged for over the years. Most likely he played this way because it accommodated Rodgers’s sandlot tendencies. It worked when the Packers had the right veteran receivers. But with an aging Jordy Nelson gone, James Jones long gone, and Randall Cobb either out injured or not looking like himself, the Packers this season have had to rely on callow, rookie receivers who are not yet capable of getting open on their own or finding the defense’s soft spots when Rodgers extends plays.”
On the flip side, Eric Edholm of Pro Football Weekly notes how decisions on fourth down hurt the Packers cause against the Vikings.
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