Ding Dong McCarthy is gone

[bobblehead]

I want to steal Reich from the Colts instead.

Last offseason I predicted Reich would be the next good HC. I like him still, but man did he produce a stinker yesterday.

Sidenote. With MM now gone what do I have left to cheer for this year? (KUMEROW)

[mraynrand]

On a different topic, if Rodgers were tanking, he would have sat out those four weeks to heal his knee after the Bears opener. His rep would have taken less abuse and M3 might have been gone sooner.

not necessarily true. With Rodgers out, they have the standard built in excuse - how could Stubbers be expected to win without Rodgers. Or worse, Stubby wins without him and they can't possibly get rid of him. And they spent all that cash on Rodgers who can be replaced. (I don't think this would have happened, but you never know).

I think getting rid of Stubby was the plan all along, and the extreme roster turnover and the itchy trades and IR trigger fingers helped the process along. Stubby had to look bad to fire him and they made sure it happened. So it may be even far more unclassy than even CMI believes.

[bobblehead]

Umm my dude - do you remember the hot garbage ARod looked like pre-MM? Same could be said for Favre. MM gave Favre an additional 5 year window after everyone thought he was done, and MM made ARod into a star. Notice that once the rumors of a poor relationship with the coach began, ARod has looked like shit consistently.

Arod was a potential #1 overall pick and was on the bench for the one season he didn't have MM. Hot Garbage? Look, you are no different than most of us, you overstate things. Truth is MM was a decent coach. Like most coaches the game passed him by. He had the benefit of 2 HOF QBs at his back and he never actually won much outside of GB (was my critique when he got the job). Personally I think TT was a star and the only reason this team was so good for so long. Gutes nailed his first pick, but not liking much else he did so far. Like all things time will tell, but it was time to move on from Fat Mike.

[bobblehead]

Because it's classless.

Was it as classless as scapegoating TT and everyone around him after 2017? Was it classless to scapegoat Montgomery and trade him immediately blaming him for your own inadequacies and inability to use AJones consistently? BTW, Monty is turning in some nice games for Baltimore.

[bobblehead]

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/sta...96450201743361



Because it's classless.

There _has_ to be more to this story.

Like maybe Murph treated MM like he has been treating TT and everyone else? Remember the story about Fat Mike getting some random groundkeeper fired because the guy asked him if they were going to win the superbowl this year?

[bobblehead]

Unless McCarthy was being insubordinate or something, ya, it was a crazy calloused way to treat ANY employee who had done their level best for many years.

Like how MM treated a guy who changed positions to help fatty salvage a season ravaged by injuries to the position?

[bobblehead]

John Mara paid a kicker who was beating his wife. Well after they knew about it, they re-signed him to a contract. John Mara hung a coach out to dry when trying to bench Eli Manning and end his career streak on a decidedly non-classy note. I don't think Mara is the kind of guy from whom you take lessons in how to conduct yourself publicly.

Ted Thompson hired and fired players and coaches and refused to meet with the media. Ted did not care about the public spectacle of it. He let his coach take the heat every time.

Howie Roseman wasn't in charge of the Reid firing. That was Lurie. Lurie might have some scruples.

I have actually met Lurie on more than one occassion. Scruples isn't the word that comes to mind.

[mraynrand]

I'm going to track the success of Ted Thompson's draft picks from 2013 - 2018 around the NFL and ask whether Stubbers had the ammo he needed to win football games. Go though 'em in your mind - think of all the Thompson picks that have become monsters in the NFL for Green Bay or since leaving Green Bay.

Stubby will be successful again somewhere else. The NFL is the extreme socialism/redistribution of wealth league - they punish success, and Stubby/Packers got punished like a Kareem Hunt gf. Ted Thompson's meteoric decline as GM didn't help much. Nothing makes a competent coach so successful as several years of drafting all pro talent.

[mraynrand]

I have actually met Lurie on more than one occassion. Scruples isn't the word that comes to mind.

do you have some Lurid stories?

[bobblehead]

do you have some Lurid stories?

A long time ago I mentioned his wifes great quote. Something like "fans and owners always believe they are just ONE player away from the superbowl." Generally he is a douchebag who talks down to people as if he were royalty.

[Pugger]

Because it's classless.

But we don't really know what was going on in that locker room when the reporters and cameras weren't around. If the atmosphere was getting toxic what good would it do to keep MM around for the last 4 games seeing we are out of playoff contention?

[Patler]

Yeah, maybe, but us old guys r of an era where loyalty and shit mattered. Now, times r different, and everything is about NOW. I am actually excited again about the future, and only hope I live long enough to see another super bowl.

Yup, because NFL "teams" are no longer teams in the nostalgic terms we like to think of them. They are good size businesses with a lot more employees off the field than on, and business activities that go on year-around. They are no longer a team of players and coaches with a handful of supporting employees, and operations that go into hibernation for from January to July. (Heck, I still remember when the draft was during the season!)

When a business determines that it must move on from one of its top executives (or really, any employee, for that matter, but especially a top executive) it should act immediately. Nothing good can happen from waiting for a month, but the situation can deteriorate significantly.

All Packer employees now know the organization is embarking on a new course. They are not left to wonder what is going to happen. All employees, and especially the players can deal with that reality while they are together and engaged in the primary "team" activity. Players can prepare for what will be a major change in their careers while they are together.

In recent years we have seen NFL assistant coaches, coordinators and players dumped unceremoniously during the NFL season. There is no reason head coaches should be any different. It happens in other professional sports all the time. Football is merely catching up to the reality already experienced hy head coaches and managers in professional hockey, baseball, basketball, etc.

McCarthy didn’t lose his job this year, he lost it last year but was given an opportunity to keep it by showing that the dismal performance in 2017 without Rodgers was an aberration. Instead, he proved that his “fix” was ineffective even with Rodgers. In 2017 he showed he was unprepared to play without Rodgers, and showed an inability to adapt on the fly. This year, he showed an inability to adapt even with Rodgers.

In 2010, McCarthy did a masterful job rallying the team to overcome a string of injuries and setbacks to win a Super Bowl. Expectations were justifiably high. He had a young QB, a lot of young players and had shown an ability to come up with good game plans for games they weren’t expected to win. I wrote in 2014 that McCarthy had significantly damaged his reputation with team leaders. He was significantly outcoached at the end of the NFCCG, after three consecutive years of lack-luster playoff performances. He has done nothing since then to reclaim his reputation that was earned in 2010.

McCarthy lost the team. Players were no longer “buying in” to his program. They had doubts. Firing him as soon as the decision was made was the right thing to do for the organization, and will be meaningless to McCarthy’s career or reputation. I commend Murphy for making a decision and acting on it quickly. Delay would cause only deterioration, not improvement.

As someone wrote above, doing it differently (in season firing) doesn’t necessarily mean it is doing it wrong. It has absolutely nothing to do with "classiness." When you make the decision, you act on it. In this case, nothing was to begained by delaying the decision.

[call_me_ishmael]

Arod was a potential #1 overall pick and was on the bench for the one season he didn't have MM. Hot Garbage? Look, you are no different than most of us, you overstate things. Truth is MM was a decent coach. Like most coaches the game passed him by. He had the benefit of 2 HOF QBs at his back and he never actually won much outside of GB (was my critique when he got the job). Personally I think TT was a star and the only reason this team was so good for so long. Gutes nailed his first pick, but not liking much else he did so far. Like all things time will tell, but it was time to move on from Fat Mike.

Aaron was beyond terrible his first pre-season and his first regular season. It took two years of MM before he became the ARod we know.

"Potential #1 pick" - you are who you are. He wasn't Andrew Luck. He was picked #24 because he was not a sure thing, had jacked up mechanics, etc.

Was it as classless as scapegoating TT and everyone around him after 2017? Was it classless to scapegoat Montgomery and trade him immediately blaming him for your own inadequacies and inability to use AJones consistently? BTW, Monty is turning in some nice games for Baltimore.

Do two wrongs make a right? Based on your political posts, it does appear you think it does. That said, I disagree with your assessment on MM here anyway.

But we don't really know what was going on in that locker room when the reporters and cameras weren't around. If the atmosphere was getting toxic what good would it do to keep MM around for the last 4 games seeing we are out of playoff contention?

That is grounds for termination at the end of the year. I am highly sure those same things happened with Reid and Coughlin too. They still got to finish their season and mutually go their separate ways.

[mraynrand]

In 2010, McCarthy did a masterful job rallying the team to overcome a string of injuries and setbacks to win a Super Bowl. Expectations were justifiably high. He had a young QB, a lot of young players and had shown an ability to come up with good game plans for games they weren’t expected to win. I wrote in 2014 that McCarthy had significantly damaged his reputation with team leaders. He was significantly outcoached at the end of the NFCCG, after three consecutive years of lack-luster playoff performances. He has done nothing since then to reclaim his reputation that was earned in 2010.

It's interesting to compare the response by Stubby to that 2014 NFCC game to the response by Pete Carroll to the next game. Pete may actually end up recovering and rebooting from his team's disastrous decision to throw on the goal line in the Super Bowl. Stubby never recovered from the Bostickler. But he had help. Similarly, 'cheat experienced the same failures as Stubby, losing to the same Giants teams in '07 and '11. But that organization found a way to recover. Packers however, just steadily declined. But, I repeat: Stubby had help in the decline. It's not all on him - thus the change to Gute from TT first. This was a 'show us' year for Stubby and a lot of players, and all the moves by the GM/org tell us that they weren't too impressed with what was shown to them.

[pbmax]

Interesting theory. Could be.

I hear Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern mentioned. He seems like a U-rah-rah college coach who would have to retool for pros. But he does win without benefit of a football factory, so he's smart.

I would not be happy with that hire.