McCarthyism Reigns in Green Bay

Mike McCarthy's first play entered into the Green Bay Packers' playbook was the sweep. McCarthy started off his job by firing eight members of the coaching and general staff. The eight let go were: Secondary/safeties coach Joe Baker, offensive line coach Larry Beightol, special teams coordinator John Bonamego, linebackers coach Mark Duffner, offensive coordinator Tom Rossley, strength and conditioning coach Barry Rubin, director of football administration Bruce Warwick and weight room assistant Vince Workman.

One guy that wasn't fired was defensive coordinator Jim Bates. "He's a man I respect, and the job he did this past year speaks for itself," McCarthy said Thursday. "I'd love to opportunity to sit down and see if we could work out the possibility of him working here."

(Translation: I didn't have any close, personal friends that I wanted to hire for Jim's spot, so he stays.)

To recap: McCarthy was hired as the Packers' head coach after being the offensive coordinator for a 49ers team that was 32nd in offense. Defenders of McCarthy will argue that there wasn't anything he could do because he was working with a rookie QB playing behind a suspect line. Now in his upcoming first season with Green Bay, if things don't go well, he'll have the excuse of working with an aging QB on the downside of his career playing behind a suspect O-line. Then in his second year, he'll have the built in excuse of working with another first year QB (presumably Rodgers). Not a bad gig at all. But I'm not complaining in the least. Personally, I'm hoping McCarthy is able to stay in the media spotlight for at least four years, as that is when, according to Green Bay papers, his daughter Alexandra turns 18- although I suspect some Freddy Adu, Dominican Little League team birth certificate tampering in that report.