Packers Nation is receiving news that Dom Capers will reportedly not be the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator in 2018.
Now, the question is: Who will replace him?
The first name that jumps out: Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Don’t let the failures of his current employer fool you: Fangio can coach the 3-4 defense.
While with the 49ers, Fangio’s defenses finished top 5 in the NFL in points allowed three times. Even on one of the worst franchises in football this year, the Bears enter Week 17 ranked eighth in yards allowed and 10th in points allowed.
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Many other names are currently speculated, like Browns defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and his counterpart with the Giants, Steve Spagnuolo
But if for some reason Ted Thompson is also gone as Packers GM (probably by his decision), one really intriguing long shot possibilty exists: Longtime Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, who reportedly won’t have his job soon after today.
This scenario would mean some shifting around of the front office as well, as he reportedly sees his future in the NFL as a general manager – a job that’s not available in Cincinnati right this second.
This setup would have Mike McCarthy – a longtime and trusted friend of Lewis – becoming head coach and executive vice president of football operations, Eliot Wolf becoming GM – but in the way that the GM works for the coach, much like you see with Bill Belichick in New England and Gregg Popopvich with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, and Lewis coming in as both defensive coordinator and assistant GM, where he gets the chance to, as Bill Parcells put it, shop for the groceries.
Such a scenario could also lead to McCarthy only having a one-year extension to his contract which would then last until 2019, leading to him having new accountability after his first non-winning season in nine years.
Could there be internal candidates? After the report of Capers’ firing Monday, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky gave numerous names of members of Capers’ former defensive staff that could be lifted to the role.
One of those candidates, however, could be a candidate for the head coaching job in Detroit, according to USA TODAY.
This much we know – the January drama is just beginning on 1265 Lombardi Avenue.
Stay tuned.
