The Off-Season Has Begun With A Whimper And Not A Bang

I'm Mad as Hell And Nobody's Listening to Me

With CEO Mark Murphy and GM Ted Thompson firmly entrenched I will then say it's time for Mike McCarthy to go. After 10 seasons he's gotten complacent. He complained at the end of the season he didn't know why there was so much negativity about the Packers when they were 10-6 and in the playoffs for the seventh straight season.

Mark Murphy Happy How Things Are Going

Packers fans have expected more since Bob Harlan hired Ron Wolf in 1991 to end the Wilderness Years.

Ted Thompson Smiling After Another Successful Season

However, late in the season when criticism of the Packers was getting to McCarthy he didn't understand that the Packers were the worst 10-6 team in the league having limped in the playoffs on a two-game losing streak and having lost 6 of its last 10 games. It was the same thing back in 2002 when the Packers were the worst 12-4 team in the league and lost in the Wild Card round when Michael Vick and the Falcons handed the Packers its first home playoff loss in team history.

Mikes McCarthy Happy He Found His Scapegoats

However, Thompson and McCarthy were happy with the 10-6 record despite starting 6-0 and extremely happy with the seven-year streak of playoff appearances, despite the Packers being bounced out in the first game three times (2009, 2011, 2013) and in the second game three times (2012, 2014, 2015).

Dom Capers Laughing at His Haters

However, since Thompson won't fire McCarthy I will move on to firing Dom Capers. People this year say he did a great job and the Packers defense kept the season going when the offense failed. I will agree, but only to a certain extent.

The two losses to the Cardinals sums up what a good Capers defense is. One that can be blown out and one that almost always fail in crunch time. Last year the season ended with a long TD pass in the overtime and this year with a long almost TD pass in overtime.

But, Capers being fired won't happen either since McCarthy has a bromance with Capers and as long as McCarthy is here Capers will be defensive coordinator. So with Murphy not firing Thompson and Thompson not firing McCarthy and McCarthy not firing Capers then the most I could hope for is all the assistant coaches are fired.

But, it seems that won't happen either. McCarthy seems to have settled on the people he thinks are the reason the Packers offense sucked this year when he fired tight ends coach Jerry Fontenot and running back coach Sam Gash.

Jerry Fontenot Not A Happy Man This Week

It took McCarthy only a couple days to snag one of the fired Browns' coaches Brian Angelichio to replace Fontenot, who had been an intern coach in 2006 before becoming assistant offensive line coach in 2007, running back coach in 2011 and tight ends coach in 2012.

Brian Angelichio Tight End Guru

Angelichio seems to be a tight end guru having coached at Tampa Bay (2012-13) where he developed Tim Wright, an undrafted free agent, who caught 54 passes for 571 yards and 5 TDS in 2013. With the Browns he developed 4-year journeyman Gary Barnidge, a Panthers castoff, into the third best tight end in the league this season with 79 catches for 1,043 yards and 9 TDs.

Sam Gash Joined Fontenot's Misery

Gash has coached the running backs for the past two seasons. I commented during the season that Gash was MIA when Eddie Lacy was having his up-and-down season, so I don't have a problem with him being shown the door. Don't let the door knob hit you on the way out Sam.

Gash replaced Alex Van Pelt when he was moved to quarterbacks coach replacing new Giants Head Coach Ben McAdoo when Tom Coughlin hired him to be offensive coordinator.

Ben Sirmans Happy To Be Hired After Being Fired

McCarthy has already replaced Gash, too, and his choice Ben Sirmans from the Rams who fired a few weeks ago. He's a former assistant coach at Boston College and Michigan State before spending the last four years with the Rams.

With the Rams he was very good coaching rookies. This season Todd Gurley led the Rams in rushing with 1,106 yards and 10TDs. In 2014, Tre Mason led the Rams with 765 yards and 4TDs. In 2013, Zac Stacy led the Rams with 973 yards and 9 TDs. And in his first year with the Rams Steven Jackson rushing for over 1,000 for the eight consecutive season in his last year with the Rams.

So if James Starks is allowed to go in free agency then Eddie Lacy had better hope they don't draft a running back too high or his days will be numbered.

I'm surprised the entire offensive coaching staff wasn't fired. Former running back Edgar Bennett was elevated to offensive coordinator from wide receivers coach when Tom Clements was elevated to associate head coach/offense. With that move Van Pelt was given the wide receivers to go with the quarterbacks this year.

The passing game has been screwed up after Week 3 and I think Clements, Bennett and Van Pelt let the players down and should have been released. I also think that the offensive line coached by James Campen, a former Packers center, since 2007 is part of the problem, too, so he should be replaced.

Finally with the perception the Packers defense was strong this season I have no hope for any changes beside McCarthy ordering Capers to move Clay Matthews back to outside linebacker. So all the assistant coaches will be back unless they decide to leave and we'll just have to suffer though Capers' eighth year asleep at the wheel.

Pretty Much Sums It Up For Me

Finally, I will make my predictions for this week. I think the Broncos defense will be too much for Brady to overcome. I think the Panthers-Cardinals game will be shootout and................the Cardinals win.