Oh Say It Ain’t So

I don’t know if it was as easy for you as it was for me, but the firing of Mike McCarthy was easy as pie (by the way where did that saying come from? I have made pies and cakes and it is a lot easier to make a cake than a pie) for me. I was so ready to NOT see that chubby fellow hidden behind his play sheet on the sidelines calling plays I predicted he would call, which predictably failed most of the time, especially after a timeout. I didn’t miss him at all. Not at all. I wonder how many others felt that way. Joe Philbin has revitalized Aaron Rodgers in particular and the offense in general. I also don’t miss Dom Capers up in his perch but for an entirely different reason. Mike Pettine sits in Capers seat and the Packers defense fails just as often as Capers’ defense did. It’s as if Dom just had a makeover.

But now word has come out that the Packers have interviewed two coaches. Before I mention their sorry names I want to make a comparison. When Ted Thompson was promoted and put in charge of tutoring his bastard son Brian Gutekunst the Packers didn’t miss a beat – the Thompson Beat I mean.

Gutekunst seems to have an obsession with signing tight ends (just like Thompson last year). Coincidence? I think not. Gutekunst loves undrafted free agents (just like Thompson). Coincidence? I think not. Gutekunst cuts veterans who want money (just like Thompson). Coincidence? I think not. When Gutekunst signs veterans as replacement he prefers players who are cheap like those who haven’t played much, been mainly on the practice squad, been hurt many times before, etc (just like Thompson). Coincidence? I think not.

Now the Packers have begun their search for a new head coach and the first two coaches they interview are two losers. I would rather have Mike McCarthy back than to sign Chuck Pagano or Jim Caldwell.

Pagano was fired by the Colts after missing the playoffs for 3 straight seasons with one of the best young quarterbacks in the league Andrew Luck (who missed Pagano’s last year with an injury and the team posted a 4-12 record with a backup quarterback – sound familiar). The main knock of Pagano is the game’s passed him by (sound like anyone we know?).

Pagano's best seasons were his first 3 with the Colts when they went 11-5 each season, but Pagano missed the majority of the 2012 season with leukemia (Bruce Arians went 9-3 and Pagano 2-2). Then the Colts went 8-8 the next 2 years and then 4-12 when Luck missed the entire season.

Caldwell has failed as a head coach everywhere he’s been. The Colts (2009-11): He went from 14-2 to 10-6 to 2-14 when Peyton Manning missed the season and he had to use a backup quarterback (sounds familiar). He went to the Lions (2014-17: He went from 11-5-0 to 7-9 to 9-7 to 9-7. When he wasn’t a head coach he was a quarterback coach (sounds familiar).

I can’t believe this is where Mark Murphy is starting. The Packers don’t need a loser retread. The Packers need a young dynamic head coach with new ideas (i.e. Sean McVay).

I still say Mark Murphy allowed the Packers to fade from a Super Bowl winner to a perennial also-ran, allowed Ted Thompson to run the Packers with no supervision, allowed Ted Thompson to stay on way too long, as recent as two years ago praised Ted Thompson as the best general manager in the history of the game who could stay in his job as long as he wanted to, allowed Ted Thompson to waste the prime years of Aaron Rodgers, who allowed Mike McCarthy to keep Dom Capers instead of forcing him to fire him, allowed Ted Thompson to keep Mike McCarthy way too long, allowed the Packers to accept mediocrity and allowed the Packers to begin the next Wilderness Years.

I bet we will find the local kiss ass media think these are great choices for the next head coach. I see things as they are. They are losers and if either one is hired the Packers are losers too because they Aaron Rodgers has only one more head coach left in his Packers career and Mark Murphy better get it right or the Packers are doomed to be a joke like they were in the 50’s and in the 70’s and 80’s.