The Green Bay Packers incredible ineptitude on display last Thursday certainly has to raise questions about so-called offensive guru Mike McCarthy. It is easy to become a guru when you have players like Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers under center. Winning games with the likes of Matt Flynn, Scott Tolzien and Seneca Wallace is quite different, and so far McCarthy has not been able to do it.
Since losing Rodgers to injury the whole team has taken a major step backwards. The defense is easily the most poorly coached unit in the league. How else do you explain Dom Capers trying to substitute Johnny Jolly on a play in which the Lions are trying to hurry up and spike the ball? McCarthy has stuck with Capers way too long and now it could cost both of them their jobs.
And that doesn’t even factor in special teams, which were abysmal once again against the Lions. Former Packer Jeremy Ross burned the Packers repeatedly with returns but of course the one time the Packers actually did tackle him they stood over him talking trash. Really? No discipline at all.
Back to the offense. I have seen that kind of futility since the days of Jerry Tagge in the 70s. Until James Jones’ 56-yard reception in the final minute the Packers were only a couple of sacks away from being in the negative for the game. How can McCarthy not have a better game plan than that against a team he plays twice a year? It’s shocking.
With or without Rodgers the last four games the Packers’ playoff hopes are pretty much over. General manager Ted Thompson should watch these last four games in evaluation mode and it should be the players and coaches under the microscope. If we find that Rodgers is healthy enough to play and McCarthy still shuts him down, as some reports indicate he will, then McCarthy should absolutely be fired. This isn’t the NBA, the NFL doesn’t tank games.
My guess is McCarthy stays with a short leash and Capers goes bye-bye. Packers’ Nation would revolt if Capers returns. We see the product he puts on the field every Sunday and none of us would be employed very long if our results were that consistently poor. And by no means should Winston Moss replace him. The whole staff needs to go and the offices fumigated.
The Atlanta Falcons come to town Sunday in a game that was supposed to be on Sunday Night Football until both teams flopped this year. If Rodgers is out again I would hope that McCarthy has the common sense to go back to Tolzien at quarterback. It was painfully clear Thursday that Matt Flynn can no longer play football. He has no arm and seems to have a mental block when it comes time to throw. He just won’t release. At least Tolzien still has some upside and should get better. But without the desperate situation in Green Bay neither would probably have been on a NFL roster this year.
We’ll find out Sunday if there is any pride in the Packers’ locker room. I’m not getting my hopes up.