Coach Mike McCarthy has worked with practically every one of his coaches for all three of his seasons in Green Bay.
Nonetheless, after a 6-10 season that can be described only as a major disappointment, McCarthy swears he hasn’t decided what, if any, changes will be made to his staff.
“Absolutely not,” he said when asked during his season-ending news conference on Wednesday if he had made up his mind on the future of his staff. “I’m not going to sit here and hold back decisions. Once I make up my mind, then I’ll act accordingly.”
McCarthy was to begin meeting with his coordinators — Joe Philbin (offense), Bob Sanders (defense) and Mike Stock (special teams) — on Wednesday, then meet with the rest of the coaching staff next week.
While the knee-jerk reaction to a bad season would be to dismantle the coaching staff, that group was on board for last year’s 13-3 season, as well.
“The evaluation isn’t something where you just wait until the season is over and, ‘Let’s get together one time and talk about it and we’ll talk again next year,’” McCarthy said. “I think you look at everything. We have three years together as a football team, a number of players and coaches. We’ll look at all the different factors and we’ll evaluate and get ready to set our plan for next year.”
Self-assessment
No doubt, McCarthy will put himself under the microscope, too. But he had no interest in grading himself in front of reporters.
Asked to “self-assess” his job, McCarthy didn’t dodge blame but spoke in generalizations.
“Well, 6-10. My name is on the front door,” McCarthy said. “It’s not what we were looking for. It’s not what we prepared for. I’m not satisfied, and I’ll start from the top down.”
Later, McCarthy was asked if he could cite some examples of how his decisions might have played a role in so many close losses.
“Not today. I didn’t get the job done,” he said. “We are 6-10. I can’t stand up here last year and take the credit for our record last year. It starts with me. I didn’t do a good enough job, whether it was the disconnect between me, the coaches and the players.
“There is always a play or two that you would like to have back. I think our teams were prepared, our teams played hard, and it was clearly evident all the way through the season. There wasn’t one time that I walked off the field where I didn’t think that we were out there giving it everything we had. We didn’t get it done. It was close. I’m not looking for moral victories because they don’t count. We lost 10 games and I didn’t do a good enough job.”
Injury news
McCarthy ran down the laundry list of injuries to start the news conference.
— Linebacker Nick Barnett, who tore an ACL against Minnesota, is “doing very well with his rehab on his knee.” He might be ready for the start of training camp in late July or early August, but he likely won’t be 100 percent.
— Safety Atari Bigby’s ankle surgery “went very well.”
— Left tackle Chad Clifton will have a “couple” of surgeries. McCarthy said Clifton will have a “clean-out procedure” on one or both knees.
— Defensive tackle Justin Harrell’s back is being studied again. He needed back surgery in the offseason and again at the end of training camp.
— Defensive end Kenny Pettway is doing “very well” as he rehabs his knee after surgery.
— Right tackle Mark Tauscher, who tore an ACL against Houston, will have his knee operated on in the next 10 to 14 days. Tauscher is going through “pre-hab” to strengthen the knee before surgery.
— Center Scott Wells will have shoulder surgery.
Good luck to Moss
Assistant head coach/linebackers coach Winston Moss will be interviewing for the Rams’ coaching vacancy on Saturday. McCarthy said he’d help prepare Moss for the interview.
“I don’t think it’s right for me to talk about career advancement with your staff and trying to help guys and then, when the opportunity comes, you hope he doesn’t get the job,” McCarthy said. “That’s not the case at all. I think it’s a great opportunity for him. I think it is well deserved, and (general manager Ted Thompson) and I both, and as an organization, we wish him the best of luck.”
Bill Huber is publisher of Packer Report and PackerReport.com and has written for Packer Report since 1997. E-mail him at packwriter2002@yahoo.com.