Envious

Vince Lombardi's Grandson Joe

I watched with a heavy heart as the news came down about the spate of firings started with Joe Philbin formally of the Dolphins on Oct. 5 and Vince Lombardi's grandson Joe - the offensive coordinator with the Lions - (along with offensive line coach Jeremiah Washburn and assistant Terry Heffernan) on Oct. 28 left me wanting more.

 

This past week since the debacle at Mile High my mood turned to envy when the Titans fired head coach Ken Whisenhunt and the Colts fired their offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton. And later the Lions continued their purge, which will include the head coach Jim Caldwell eventually, with firings of Team President Tom Lewand and General Manager Martin Mayhew.

 

We haven't even reached the halfway point of the 2015 season and already a team president, a general manager, two head coaches and two offensive coordinators were shown the door. I wish a certain defensive coordinator had been added to the list this past week.

 

Mark Murphy 'I'm not in charge

However, the Packers don't have a strong owner (the Packers Board of Directors and/or fans) or an impulsive President (Mark Murphy) and General Manager (Ted Thompson), so making changes during a season will not happen under this current regime. Sadly any cajoling on my part falls on deaf ears, especially Thompson's ears, who doesn't listen to anyone. Thompson knows best and the TITs allow him to continue to ignore outside influences.

 

Bob Sanders - maybe it was the red hat

Mike McCarthy is also one who doesn't make changes unless incompetence continues over many seasons. It took him two years to fire the previous defensive coordinator Bob Sanders, who shouldn't have been elevated in the first place when Jim Bates quit after not getting the head coaching job. He had one good year - his second - out of four. His hallmark, so to speak, was collapsing in the fourth quarter and at the end of the first half. Sounds familiar?

 

Shawn Slocum 'damn that Bostick'

It took McCarthy five years to fire special teams coach Shawn Slocum, who was special teams assistant the previous three seasons. Sounds familiar? Before McCarthy made a decision me and many other have been clamoring for for many seasons he fired Slocum's assistant the season before. So you can see McCarthy hates to fire any coordinator unless he absolutely, positively has to. And then he takes a year.

 

Under that pattern defensive coordinator Dom Capers will have been retired a year when McCarthy finally decides to fire him.

 

Nothing much has happened concerning the defensive deficiencies this past week. In fact the only news coming out of 1265 Lombardi Ave is that nothing is happening about contract talks with the team's best defensive lineman Mike Daniels. I can take this as being dissatisfied with the play of Daniels or Thompson doesn't do negotiations this early in the season. I'm guessing it's more the latter than the former, but who knows?