After surprisingly getting canned by the Packers midseason, Mike McCarthy had remained conspicuously quiet. Until now. If you haven’t read it yet, you should check out Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com‘s recent interview with McCarthy. McCarthy finally dished on everything related to his firing, and expressed his displeasure with how it was handled. McCarthy was apparently blindsided by the decision to fire him midseason, and said it “couldn’t have been handled any worse” by Green Bay’s management.
Notably published just one day before the explosive reports of dysfunction within the organization from Bleacher Report, McCarthy downplayed any tension between him and Aaron Rodgers. All McCarthy did to acknowledge a potential strain in their relationship was saying “to think you can be in a relationship that long and not have any frustrations, that’s unrealistic.” McCarthy also told Demovsky that he 100 percent plans to continue coaching in 2020. The longtime Packers coach was reportedly a candidate for the Jets and Browns openings, and it’s still unclear if he pulled himself out of the running or if he just wasn’t able to land a job.
Here’s more from around the NFC North:
- With Trevor Siemian bolting for the Jets, the Vikings are still trying to figure out their backup quarterback situation. They met with quarterback David Fales on Friday, per a team announcement. Fales spent last year as Miami’s number three quarterback behind Ryan Tannehill and Brock Osweiler. Minnesota also hosted former Rams backup Sean Mannion on a visit last week, but he left without a contract. Even though there was no agreement, Mannion is still “VERY much on the Vikings radar,” tweets Darren Wolfson of 5News Minneapolis. As of this writing, Kyle Sloter is the only other QB on the roster behind Kirk Cousins.
- When T.J. Lang opted to retire, he left a big hole on the right side of the Lions’ offensive line. But Detroit is apparently confident they’ll be able to replace him, according to recent comments head coach Matt Patricia made, via Tim Twentyman of the team’s official website. As Twentyman and Patricia broke down, the team has a number of options. They have Joe Dahl and Kenny Wiggins returning from last year, and they added Oday Aboushi this offseason. Patricia also said that second-year offensive tackle Tyrell Crosby could play some guard.
- Speaking of the Lions and holes, they had a massive one at tight end last year after Eric Ebron left. They got virtually nothing from the position last year, so it won’t be surprising if they draft one early in this year’s draft. To that end, the team hosted Alabama tight end Irv Smith Jr. for a visit on Thursday, according to a tweet from Josh Norris of Rotoworld. Smith Jr. is most analyst’s third-rated tight end, and could go as high as the first round. He caught 44 passes for 710 yards and seven touchdowns for the Crimson Tide last season.
F McCarthy! He held onto his best friend capers at DC too long. His playbook was stale and unimaginative. He has wasted so many prime years of one of the greatest QBs to play the game.
You won a super bowl….congrats….but first off you didn’t do it yourself, you’re not bigger than the packers and that was also 9 years ago.
Just go away. You wanna be mad cause you sucked as a coach your last few years, then go ahead, but you stayed about 2 years past what you should have.
We are far better off without you than with you. Good riddance.
*slow clap* ………
F Rodgers
Why do people want to hold onto that stuff and rehash the past? Media scribes are pariahs….always. Stop giving those unathletic oafs the satisfaction of their power trips and stop reading their tabloid drivel.
“After surprisingly getting canned by the Packers midseason” Outside the goof that wrote this article and McCarthy find me 1 person that was surprised by the firing. Going 4-7-1 with Rodgers is absolutely unacceptable, this was years in the making I’m almost certain you can find a game from last season and it will look the same as one back in 09
I can’t imagine there is actually a great way to be fired as head coach. Maybe McCarthy would have preferred something subtle like a cyanide capsule on his desk with a note reading “Thanks for the memories”.
McCarthey coaches like its 1997. Guy will never be a HC in this leauge again.
When thinking of a coach that got less with more I think McCarthy.
Wrong. His teams were never supremely talented. Ever.
Their Super Bowl year was the one only year in his tenure where they had a top-10 defense to go along with Aaron Rodgers.
Perfect scapegoat for Rodgers lack of winning. Rodgers is a stat collector, not a winner. Fans, teammates, and even family can’t stand the dude. Hard to lead when no one respects you.