Before becoming the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Mike McCarthy was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers for 13 years.
McCarthy had quite a successful run with the Packers, with the team making it to the postseason nine times under him. From 2009 to 2016, Green Bay made back-to-back appearances in the NFL playoffs. McCarthy also led the franchise to their fourth Super Bowl title in 2011. But what led to his firing?
What Led to the Packers Firing Mike McCarthy?
The Packers made a mid-season decision to fire McCarthy on Dec. 2, 2018, after the team suffered a 20-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
After the game, McCarthy was asked about being in the position of being all but eliminated from the playoffs with four games to play.
“I mean, I’ve never been in this spot,” McCarthy said in his postgame news conference. “I’m not going to act like I know what the hell I’m going to do tomorrow when they get in here. So we’re going to do what we always do: We’re going to represent the Packers the right way, I know that. Other than that, we’ll focus on what’s in front of us.”
At the time, the Packers had a losing record of 4-7-1 and had lost five of their last six games. Green Bay’s struggling performances became the reason for McCarthy’s downfall.
After the loss to Arizona, the Packers fired McCarthy and promoted Joe Philbin to interim head coach. Team president and CEO Mark Murphy announced the decision no more than a few hours after the loss.
“The 2018 season has not lived up to the expectations and standards of the Green Bay Packers,” Murphy said in the release announcing the change.
“As a result, I made the difficult decision to relieve Mike McCarthy of his role as head coach, effective immediately. Mike has been a terrific head coach and leader of the Packers for 13 seasons, during which time we experienced a great deal of success on and off the field.”
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McCarthy departed Green Bay after posting a 125-77-2 mark in 13 seasons, including a 15-1 record a year after he led the sixth-seeded Packers on an unlikely playoff run that culminated in the team’s victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.
While McCarthy had a strong run with the team, it appeared that what worked in the past just wasn’t cutting it anymore.
As losses began to mount, there was a growing sense that McCarthy would be relieved of his role. After the Packers fell to 4-7-1, following a home loss to a Cardinals team that had won only two games, the team decided there was no use in delaying the inevitable.
It was the first time since QB Aaron Rodgers’ first season as a starter that Green Bay missed the playoffs without a major injury to their franchise signal-caller.
Tensions between Rodgers and McCarthy were also a likely reason for his firing. Rodgers had criticized the Packers’ offense and their game planning after a Week 4 win over the Buffalo Bills.
On Jan. 7, 2020, McCarthy was announced as the Cowboys’ new head coach after Jason Garrett parted ways with the team.
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