Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy held his season-ending press conference on Wednesday and of course the future of his coaching staff came up.
Specifically, the question was about the future of defensive coordinator Dom Capers, who’s head fans have been calling for for some time. Well, those fans will probably be disappointed because it sounds like the status quo will remain at 1265.
“Dom Capers is an outstanding football coach,” McCarthy said. “I’m not looking to make big changes, but you go through the process. It’s important to look into everything.”
McCarthy had exit interviews with the players on Monday and Tuesday. Today, he’ll begin to evaluate the coaching staff.
One change seems imminent. Quarterback coach Ben McAdoo interviewed for the Cleveland Browns head coaching vacancy this week. While that job looks like a long shot for him, McAdoo will be a candidate for several offensive coordinator openings around the league and is poised to jump.
Of the remainder of the coaches, Capers and special teams coach Shawn Slocum are the most embattled, at least outside the building.
The Packers offense still managed to hold up its end of the bargain, even with Aaron Rodgers sidelined, finishing the season sixth overall in passing and seventh in rushing. Capers’ defense was on the other end of that spectrum. They finished 24th against the pass and 25th against the rush.
We’ve long blamed personnel for those failures, but we know many of you disagree with that assessment.
As for Slocum, his unit failed miserably in coverage this season. The Packers gave up the fourth-highest average per punt return (13.1) and per kickoff return (26.0) in the NFL.
We’ve never been a fan of Shawn Slocum, but you could certainly make the personnel argument here too. When you churn the bottom of the roster every season you have to put guys out there who don’t necessarily know what they’re doing.
Of course, it’s the coaching staff’s job to get them ready.